Attached is an updated timeline, accounting for information that was recently made available from court documents. It's very clear here that Stearns was looking at Hart beginning in 2013, and it was the FBI taking over the case that brought Danny Heinrich back into the picture.
Jul 8, 2012 - A BCA report indicates that a DNA profile was obtained from Jareds snowmobile suit, sweatshirt, and shirt. Results indicated the presence of DNA from an unknown male on the sweatshirt.
Aug 2, 2012 - Dan Rassier sends a 5-page letter to 14 different local and state agencies complaining of violation of his civil rights in being named a person of interest in Jacob's kidnapping. Rassier singles out several officials, but does offer some praise for local FBI Agent, Shane Ball as someone willing to listen.
May 14, 2013 - In a televised interview on WCCO, Dan Rassier describes the 2 cars he says he witnessed on the day of Jacob's abduction. One car was in the afternoon; the other was in the evening at about the time of the abduction.
Jun 24, 2013 A Websleuths.com member sends an email to Joy Baker, with a suggestion to consider Duane Hart in Jacobs case.
Aug 9, 2013 Amateur sleuther Rob Ebben finds articles about Duane Hart and the Paynesville assault cluster in the online archives of the Paynesville Press. Ebben shares the information with blogger Joy Baker.
Aug 2013 Joy Baker contacts Stearns County about the Paynesville assaults, and begins a push to publicize those assaults, and tie them together along with Duane Hart to Jareds assault, and to and Jacob Wetterlings abduction.
Dec 2013 Stearns County Captain Pam Jensen and BCA agent Ken McDonald interview Duane Hart at the sex offender treatment facility in Moose Lake, Minnesota. Hart denies involvement in Jacobs case, Jareds case, and the Paynesville assault cluster. He denies knowledge of the baseball cap left behind in one of the Paynesville cases. Hart voluntarily provides a DNA sample.
Mar 5, 2014 - A BCA laboratory report indicates that DNA profiling was performed on a sample collected from a baseball cap that the suspect had left behind during the May 17, 1987 attack on a juvenile boy in Paynesville. Results indicate the presence of DNA from 3 or more individuals.
Mar 2014 DNA results indicated that Duane Hart cannot be excluded as a contributor to DNA found on the baseball cap left behind during the May 17, 1987 Paynesville attack.
Apr 22, 2014 Rob Ebben sends email to Stearns County Sheriffs department suggesting that a man was arrested for Jareds assault in 1990, per Al Garbers book, Striving To Be The Best.
May 15, 2014 - In a televised interview on WCCO, Jared reiterates his belief that his case is related to Jacob's, and suggests it may also be related to the cluster of assaults in Paynesville 2-3 year prior.
Aug 2014 BCA agent Ken McDonald once again goes to Moose Lake to interview Duane Hart.
The Wetterlings meet with Stearns County Sheriff John Sanner Captain Pam Jensen, and they ask that Jacobs case be reviewed from the beginning.
Aug 22, 2014 BCA agent Ken McDonald secures a search warrant to monitor phone calls, visitor logs, and patient records for Duane Hart. The phone calls and visitor logs to be monitored date back to July 2013.
Aug/Sep 2014 - The FBI later proposes to assemble a task force to take another look at the Jacob Wetterling abduction case. The FBI, BCA, and Stearns County agencies meet to determine a course of action to follow up on the FBI's proposal, and prepare for a surge in tips expected from an upcoming television program featuring the Wetterling case. No specific suspects are discussed during the meeting. An FBI agent who worked the Wetterling case in 1989/1990, currently stationed in Oklahoma, brings up Danny Heinrichs name to the local FBI in St. Cloud.
Sep 6, 2014 Rob Ebben sends Hart Notes to Stearns County Sheriffs office, and offers to meet to discuss the notes. There was no reply.
Ebben sends Hart Notes to Joy Baker. Baker then forwards the documents to Patty Wetterling.
Sep 10, 2014 Rob Ebben sends a copy of the Hart Notes to local FBI agent Shane Ball. The Hart Notes are a 25-page set of handwritten notes made by a private investigator working on behalf of Duane Allen Hart's defense Team. The notes were written in February 1990 and were thought by the investigator to have been lost many years earlier in an office purge of files. In the notes, Hart appears to be assisting investigators in identifying likely suspects in Jacob's and Jareds cases. The notes include particular emphasis on Daniel Heinrich as a suspect. The notes also contain references to other unsolved cases in the area including the 1976 bombing of the Post Office in Kimball, MN and the 1983 murder of Scriver Olson from rural Belgrade, MN.
Sep 13, 2014 - FBI agent Shane Ball contacts Rob Ebben requesting the source of the Hart Notes. Informant responds with detailed information about the source.
Sep 14, 2014 Rob Ebben follows up with email to FBI agent Ball that the private investigator's impression was that Hart was indicating Daniel Heinrich as a likely suspect due to his car, camouflage clothing, fascination with police scanners, rough and raspy voice when excited, and that he had been arrested in early 1990.
Nov 2014 An FBI CARD (Child Abduction Rapid Deployment) team is implemented by FBI Agent Shane Ball and begins work to review the Wetterling case.
FBI Agent Shane Ball concludes that it is unclear why Daniel Heinrich was not the prime suspect in the kidnapping of Jacob Wetterling.
May 12, 2015 - Hair samples that had been collected from Daniel Heinrich on January 12, 1990 are submitted to the BCA for nuclear DNA testing.
Jul 10, 2015 - DNA samples from Jareds sweatshirt are found to match the DNA of Daniel Heinrich. Heinrich's DNA was found to be an 80.5% match to DNA found on the cap that was recovered from the May 17, 1987 assault in Paynesville.
Jul 28, 2015 - Law enforcement officers execute a search warrant on the home of Daniel Heinrich located at 55 Myrtle Avenue South, in Annandale, MN. They were looking for a wide range of items related to the abduction of Jacob Wetterling. Investigators seize 19 three-ring binders containing child *advertiser censored*, home video footage of children delivering newspapers, news reports about the abduction of Jacob Wetterling and other missing children, a set of military-style camouflage pants and shirt, and several bins of children's clothing. Heinrich spoke with investigators during the search, acknowledging that they would find child *advertiser censored* and things that are "pretty damning," and that he was a "dirty old man."
Oct 28, 2015 - Executing a criminal complaint filed by FBI agent Shane Ball, Daniel Heinrich is arrested by investigators and charged with multiple federal counts of possession of child *advertiser censored*.
Nov 4, 2015 - In Federal Court in St. Paul, Judge Tony Leung rules that Danny Heinrich be held in jail without bail in connection to multiple counts of possession of child *advertiser censored*. FBI agent Shane Ball testifies that investigators decided to review the Wetterling case about a year ago and by November 2014 it was unclear why investigators were not still looking at Heinrich as a suspect. Ball said that cast impressions of shoe prints and tire tracks at the abduction scene were consistent with shoes belonging to Heinrich and tires on the 1982 Ford EXP that Heinrich owned at the time.
Dec 16, 2015 - Additional child *advertiser censored* charges are added to a federal indictment against Daniel Heinrich, bringing the total number of charges against Heinrich to 25.
Feb 22, 2016 - Danny Heinrich pleads not guilty in Federal court on 25 charges of child *advertiser censored*. A trial is scheduled for July 11, 2015.
Jun 27, 2016 Danny Heinrichs lawyers request additional time to prepare a change of venue appeal and to seek suppress of evidence seized at Heinrichs home in July 2015.
Jul 11, 2016 Danny Heinrichs trial is postponed until October 11, 2016. U.S. District Judge John Tunheim grants Heinrichs legal team additional time as requested on Jun 27.
Aug 31, 2016 Danny Heinrich leads investigators to the location where he buried Jacob Wetterling. Jacobs red jacket and bones are found. The bones are tested and determined to be animal bones.
Sep 2, 2016 Danny Heinrich returns to the burial site and investigators expand the search for Jacobs remains. Jacobs remains are positively identified as his.
Sep 3, 2016 Authorities confirm that the remains of Jacob Wetterling have been found in a field north of Paynesville. Danny Heinrich led authorities to Jacobs grave after striking a plea agreement on child *advertiser censored* charges.
Sep 6, 2016 Danny Heinrich confesses in federal court to the kidnapping and murder of Jacob Wetterling on October 22, 1989. Heinrich pleads guilty to one count of child *advertiser censored* in a plea agreement with prosecutors that involved a grant of immunity from prosecution in Jacobs murder. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov 21, 2016.
