MN - Jacob Wetterling, 11, St. Joseph, 22 Oct 1989 - #7

[cGorg]

Wonder what his middle name is?

 

[ELOCsoul]

Did you find an article on this Dwayne H, in the Times or some other paper? Pretty weird his initials were DH.

Oops, my bad. It was a March 30, 1990 letter to the editor from Dwayne Hood. He wrote to tell his story and commend LE on their thorough efforts.

 

[Wisdom]

I think he was freaked out about the first car because it came all the way up to the house so fast, whipping a u turn and raced back out of the driveway. I am assuming he is used to people parking in the driveway, driving up thinking it is a road then noticing it isn't a road and turning around slowly (realizing they may be trespassing). It is an isolated area and most people who live in town know that his driveway is not a road. He may not get a bunch of people who come all the way up to the farmhouse. You are right though. It could have been someone from the Delwin who had been drinking from the polka fest.

I wonder why Kevin changed the story about turning around in the driveway entrance to going all the way up the driveway. It also varies a little from talking to a policeman on the scene from talking to "the new cop" parked at the dentist.

I know I've said this before but DR saying this below regarding that car is whats very suspicious in my opinion. Why on earth would he think this? The person driving that car wouldn't have predicted the boys to be riding by several hours later. We all know that was a last second decision. It's a complete garbage statement meant to further cloud the invesigation just like he did from the start!

“I’m convinced 100 percent whoever was driving that afternoon car…you have your kidnapper. No one drives like that in broad daylight,” Rassier said. “That is what I told police from the beginning.”:banghead:

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2013/05/14/for-1st-time-person-of-interest-goes-through-day-of-wetterling-abduction/

 

[Jbrown324320]

It seems like Dan never turns down an interview and is creating more details every time he tells the story. And shaming police publicly that they missed a bunch of stuff isn't helping his case either. In the CBS link Wisdom provided, DR indicates “How can I clear my name without getting the crime solved?" Then conflicting himself in the same interview he says, “We want to get this case solved.”

It also didn't help to clear his name when he told Patty Wettterling that his gravel pit would be a good place to hide a body. Why would he say that to a mother of a missing child? But a small part of me thinks he really has no clue how to relate to normal adults. None.

 

[Trackergd]

As I was recently reminded on a case I am working, the actors and their associates in some cases insert themselves into what ever activity is occurring. At the very least, it keeps them up to date with how close LE is getting to them. At worst they get some perverse sense of enjoyment out of "outsmarting" everyone else.

 

[human]

I am still mystified about Kevin. There are at least four adults who knew Kevin's story and yet with all the pleas not one came forward?????

Why? Those of us that were around know how intense the pleas were and how intense the coverage was by media as well as the free billboards all over.

Tracker, the tires could never be matched as it was revealed years later that. Kevin was there. Those tires would be long gone,

The imaginary car racing in the afternoon has to be fake. Otherwise LE would have another set of not identified tracks. So, BS on that one

 

[shergal]

A car could have raced in there that afternoon, but like Wisdom stated, it would have had noting to do with the abduction later that evening.

Besides, for someone who supposedly spent the day jogging and organizing his record collection, he seems to have spent an awful lot of time checking out his upstairs windows.

 

[human]

I agree that the car had nothing to do with the abduction, but I also think it did not exist.

Otherwise, they are another set of not identified tire prints. So, no way

 

[KeepHopeAlive]

It's possible an abduction was planned and then possibly foiled by the boys leaving the house. I don't know if I really feel that's what happened, but the possibility is there. There are so many scenarios with the vehicles, it's really hard to say whether one was involved or not. If a vehicle was used, maybe it was never in the Rassier driveway at all. I'm just stuck on Jacob's footprints abruptly ending in the driveway the way they did.

 

[ELOCsoul]

I am still mystified about Kevin. There are at least four adults who knew Kevin's story and yet with all the pleas not one came forward?????

Why? Those of us that were around know how intense the pleas were and how intense the coverage was by media as well as the free billboards all over.

Do you remember what their pleas were for specifically? The reason I ask is, I've read through all the St. Cloud Times articles I can get my hands on, and as far as I can recall, there was never any mention of police looking for a car that turned around or was at the scene of the abduction. There were other pleas for many other cars, but none for a car that I would categorize as Kevin's car.

 

[ELOCsoul]

A car could have raced in there that afternoon, but like Wisdom stated, it would have had noting to do with the abduction later that evening

But if a car did go into the yard......there was never any mention of it in the media.....and that seems odd to me that there was no public plea for information about this car.

 

[shergal]

Slightly off topic, but they've busted a large child *advertiser censored* website ring that had mostly pictures and video of 13-15 year old boys.

http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/Fede...ild-*advertiser censored*-bust-250853251.html

 

[cGorg]

I am still mystified about Kevin. There are at least four adults who knew Kevin's story and yet with all the pleas not one came forward?????

Why? Those of us that were around know how intense the pleas were and how intense the coverage was by media as well as the free billboards all over.

Tracker, the tires could never be matched as it was revealed years later that. Kevin was there. Those tires would be long gone,

The imaginary car racing in the afternoon has to be fake. Otherwise LE would have another set of not identified tracks. So, BS on that one

This is perplexing. Something odd about all of it. Kevin, his girlfriend and her brother(a firefighter no less-he would be aware of Kevin's public responsibility to disclose info relative to the case) and his wife....knew that he drove on + over the abduction scene yet for 15 years nobody said anything about it? Kevin said he was worried about being labeled a suspect....why if he was simply a curious passerby? They collectively harbored this information for 15 years knowing full well that LE was looking at those tracks. In his defense, he did say he talked to a cop (at the scene? or actually later after seeing the 'medical cop' at the Tom Thumb? I assume it to mean the cop waiting for the Wetterlings to return from Clearwater-if so, the cop didn't file a report). So he assumed they would identify the tracks and find him sooner or later. So he waited + waited. But they never did identify the tracks and trace them to him. As he said himself he could have been the perp. And yet after 15 years, Kevin comes forward and LE takes his word for it as the tires are most logically long gone. So why come forward? According to Kevin he was talking to someone from LE at some event and mentioned it and that someone encouraged him to come forward with the info. Why even bring it up? Guilt over not reporting it in 1989? IDK. I do know that this scenario plants seeds of doubt in my mind as to what is reliable information.

 

[cGorg]

Slightly off topic, but they've busted a large child *advertiser censored* website ring that had mostly pictures and video of 13-15 year old boys.

http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/Fede...ild-*advertiser censored*-bust-250853251.html

I heard it on the radio driving home tonight. Immediately thought of Jacob's case. Not that there's any connection but that there's this undercurrent of pedophilia in society which is for the most part concealed from the general public.

 

[shergal]

This is perplexing. Something odd about all of it. Kevin, his girlfriend and her brother(a firefighter no less-he would be aware of Kevin's public responsibility to disclose info relative to the case) and his wife....knew that he drove on + over the abduction scene yet for 15 years nobody said anything about it? Kevin said he was worried about being labeled a suspect....why if he was simply a curious passerby? They collectively harbored this information for 15 years knowing full well that LE was looking at those tracks. In his defense, he did say he talked to a cop (at the scene? or actually later after seeing the 'medical cop' at the Tom Thumb? I assume it to mean the cop waiting for the Wetterlings to return from Clearwater-if so, the cop didn't file a report). So he assumed they would identify the tracks and find him sooner or later. So he waited + waited. But they never did identify the tracks and trace them to him. As he said himself he could have been the perp. And yet after 15 years, Kevin comes forward and LE takes his word for it as the tires are most logically long gone. So why come forward? According to Kevin he was talking to someone from LE at some event and mentioned it and that someone encouraged him to come forward with the info. Why even bring it up? Guilt over not reporting it in 1989? IDK. I do know that this scenario plants seeds of doubt in my mind as to what is reliable information.

I think the marshall Kevin talked to at the party encouraged him to come forward because he knew they only had ONE SET of tire prints that had never been identified. If that set was from Kevin's car, it would change the whole investigation, because it would mean it could have been someone on foot.

The fact that these 4 people, plus the girlfriend's mom and or parents never said anything to LE about this makes me wonder how many other people in town "knew something" or "saw something" but never came forward because they didn't want to be involved.

To answer ELOC's question, the pleas on radio and at the end of newscasts were to "please come forward with any information you may have, no matter how unimportant you may think it is." Followed by phone numbers to call and the assurance that they could even call in anonymous tips.

 

[cGorg]

Do you remember what their pleas were for specifically? The reason I ask is, I've read through all the St. Cloud Times articles I can get my hands on, and as far as I can recall, there was never any mention of police looking for a car that turned around or was at the scene of the abduction. There were other pleas for many other cars, but none for a car that I would categorize as Kevin's car.

And yet LE looked for a vehicle for 15 years until Kevin came forward. It is odd as you infer that there never was a mention for this car that drove through the driveway of the farmstead. The pleas for identification of the many other cars were for cars seen in the general neighborhood but not specifically mentioned to be on DR's driveway. If Kevin's tracks at the time were considered critical evidence then I assume LE hoped to connect these tracks to some of the cars seen by locals in the days/weeks prior to the abduction. They probably couldn't make a public plea for simply a tire track? JMHO. However, you make a good point-why didn't LE stress that there was a car that had not only driven all the way to the farmstead but also left tracks at the scene of the abduction? My assumption is since they subscribed to the abduction by car theory that it would be wise to keep it low key and not raise a stink about it while at the same time looking for that vehicle.

 

[cGorg]

I think the marshall Kevin talked to at the party encouraged him to come forward because he knew they only had ONE SET of tire prints that had never been identified. If that set was from Kevin's car, it would change the whole investigation, because it would mean it could have been someone on foot.
.

Thanks shergal. That is profound. Even so, LE was looking at DR early on despite the unknown tire tracks.

 

[shergal]

Thanks shergal. That is profound. Even so, LE was looking at DR early on despite the unknown tire tracks.

But the public never knew they were looking at DR until 2010, when the sheriff announced after they searched his farm and home, that he was an official POI. Then his name was printed in papers locally and DR started mentioning in interviews that they had been looking at him for quite a while. DR and his immediate family knew they had looked at him early on, because in interviews he has mentioned he has been looked at "for twenty years" - but he wasn't named publicly until 2010.

IMO, they started looking at him more closely in 2004 after Kevin came forward and that last set of tire prints was eliminated. Does anyone know if the date is stated anywhere on when they did the lie detector test and hypnosis? If it was right away in 1989, or later in 2004? (I'm thinking it may have been in 2004.) Because I think in 1989 they just checked his car at school that next day and interviewed him. DR says now that he told them right away about this car in the afternoon speeding through his yard, but he didn't feel LE placed much importance on that.

I do find it odd that DR says in one interview that he has never been told the results of his lie detector test. So he doesn't know if he passed or not.

 

[Trackergd]

If I was able to view very good photographs (that LE refuses to share), I could tell by the type of tire print what type of vehicle it most likely was on and how heavy it was. I might even be able to tell how old a tire it was based on the style tread and width.

From human prints, I could tell height, weight, left or right handed, carrying something or not and a couple of other things.

Time does not diminish what are on those photographs.

The one picture I did see was covered with ATV tire prints and horse prints.

 

[celticthyme]

Thanks shergal. That is profound. Even so, LE was looking at DR early on despite the unknown tire tracks.

So what is troubling about this is IF DR was being looked at from the beginning, why not SEARCH HIS HOME, HIS PROPERTY and not just take his word for what he saw or didn't see.
They were pretty blaze' about him and his involvement.
The timing of Jacob's disappearance with the fact that Rassier was home alone with his
parents being out of the country is also suspicious to me. Lord this case is just so frustrating.