Here is an excerpt from "It Can't Happen Here" detailing the information that Trish VanPilsum reported on:
WCCO TV aired a two-part report in May 1992, which leaked information about some early suspects in Jacob's abduction. The report, titled Dimension: A Look Inside the Wetterling File, leaked information that had come from Ron Marotte, former executive director of the Jacob Wetterling Foundation. Marotte contended that the information released was harmless because it was information that law enforcement had already investigated fully. He reasoned that the public was curious about the investigation and deserved to know more details about the investigation from behind the scenes.
Investigators, however, were concerned that the WCCO report would cause the public to become apprehensive about reporting potential leads. The release of information could be viewed by potential informants as compromising the confidentiality of tipsters, or could possibly lead to more prank calls from people claiming to be Jacob. Furthermore, the program suggested that investigators did not follow up on some leads.
Patty Wetterling called out WCCO for using the story for ratings purposes. “This is not about leaks. This is not about sweeps. This is about Jacob. We've got to stay focused. I am,” she said.
The details revealed in the WCCO series included information about Jacob's footprints in the dirt driveway, tire tracks, and a man in black with a gun. The tire tracks were right at the edge of Jacob's footprints, and were presumed to be those of the kidnapper's vehicle. The presence of the fresh tracks next to Jacob’s footprints was an important clue that investigators quietly keyed on. Trish Van Pilsum, broadcaster at WCCO, said the station's coverage was intended to showcase “some of the highs and the lows in the most intensive search ever conducted in Minnesota.”
Here is an excerpt from the book that explains the same, except from the viewpoint of the JWRC:
A two-part television news report on WCCO in May 1992, revealed previously unreleased details of the investigation. Ron Morotte, former executive director of the Jacob Wetterling Foundation, provided the station with the information. Morotte said that the leads revealed in the news reports had been thoroughly investigated and were not part of the ongoing investigation.
“Often times, there are huge question marks about what's going on,” said Morotte. “I feel the public was served and that providing the information in no way jeopardized the investigation.”
Authorities were wary of the report, however, because they felt it could result in false leads and might even discourage people with relevant information from calling it in. Morotte was fired from the Wetterling Foundation two weeks before the story aired, although Foundation officials said the timing was merely coincidental. (Riiiiighhht!....)
The WCCO program was called Dimension: A Look Inside The Wetterling File. The report said that more than 26,000 leads had been received in the nearly three years since Jacob's abduction. WCCO investigative reporter, Trish Van Pilsum, revealed during the broadcast that a case detective had received a phone call from a woman about a week after the kidnapping. The woman claimed she knew a man who often wore black clothing and carried a gun, and told the detective that the man had changed all the tires on his car the day after Jacob's abduction. Sheriff Jim Kostreba was interviewed for the program and he indicated that his department was actively investigating three or four main suspects in Jacob’s case. There were about two dozen more that have been investigated but not yet cleared. Van Pilsum’s report revealed that at that point of the investigation law enforcement officials had executed a total of eighteen search warrants, including raids on suspects' homes and automobiles.
I can tell you from personal experience, that the JWRC has done much to exercise control over what the media reports and who they talked to. It all started with their comments on a 1/14/15 WJON report, in which Alison Feigh made 4 claims, 3 of which she knew to be untrue. A week later, the JWRC coerced cancellation of a book club author discussion with the Granite City Book Club in St. Cloud. Two days earlier, Joy Baker emailed me, threatening that if tried to publish my book that I would face "an uphill battle all the way."
Following the arrest of Danny Heinrich, and after I had been interviewed by Fox9 Television, the JWRC issued warnings to several media organizations that they were not to talk to me or about my book. According to a Kare11 reporter, who called me despite the warning, they were warned specifically that if they talked to me the family would not do interviews with that station. The premise, I learned later from this reporter, was that the JWRC did not feel it did any good to criticize investigators. That was very ironic because in the book I only question what investigators did. In reality, it was questioning of LE (and not just by me) that eventually drove the FBI to take the case over from Stearns.
In another instance, when my book first hit the market and I donated the first $200 to the NCMEC, their Chief Legal Counsel contacted me (although she hid her title from me at the time) and returned that first donation. So...I waited a month and used a different form of my name and a different credit card. I received several "Thank You" letters from the NCMEC. Fast forward a year, and I'm in my second meeting with the Kare11 reporter, and she asks me if I had any trouble donating money to the NCMEC? So...how do you suppose she knew to ask me that question? Kare11 read my book, they desperately wanted my information, but were careful to not send someone so close to the family as Caroline Lowe, so they sent someone else. They wanted to know what I knew, but they were secretive about meeting with me because it had been forbidden. Why?
If you listen to the podcasts of In The Dark...Episode 4 even quotes the Wetterlings from this past July, saying it would do no good to question investigators. Sorry, but I wholeheartedly but respectfully disagree.
The JWRC has a history of manipulating media coverage, and I have absolutely no doubt that their activity had the unintended effect of prolonging the investigation. Look at Trish's story - it was 1992. Trish was the very first reporter to rock the boat and investigate the case. How many times did she interview the Wetterlings after that story?
What does all of this mean to you, anyone?