Suspect - Daniel Heinrich

[Sigrun]

I am concerned he will never confess. So, I have created a scenario in my head that JW did fight back before he was molested/attacked. In my little story, he died from gun shots and never knew the pain of molestation and, then, a slow torturous death. Having read too many accounts that are horrific and done to so many other innocents....I will stick with this unless he does tell what he did to this young man.

jmo, but knowing what I know now, I don't think JEW was molested beyond what groping the POI could do while driving.

 

[GreenTeam]

The voice: Did JS ever hear DH's voice, as part of a lineup identification thing?

Wouldn't it be helpful to have AL identify the voice if possible? (And did they do this back in 89-90, and if not, why not?)

 

[dexter75]

Reading through some of these again. ( Not all yet )
When DJH was questioned back in 89-90, did LE or anyone else ever assign any type of 24 hour patrol to him?
Obviously they couldn't put a GPS on his vehicle, however IF he were suspect maybe they could have went " Beverly Hills Cop " on his @$$ for a bit to see where he went and what he did for a while. ( Having issues with the " we had a feeling for 26 years but couldn't do much " scenario )

 

[bessie]

:seeya: No copy and paste from blogs, please.

Thank you.

 

[dexter75]

Why all the riddles anyway??????
A 26 year old Missing person investigation of a helpless 11 year old child.
YES, it IS a mystery. A very DEVASTATING, sad and TRAUMATIC mystery.
Personally, I do not find photos of jesters, or referencing riddles while already picking apart clues, amusing.
JUST my OPINION of course..

 

[bufflehead]

The voice: Did JS ever hear DH's voice, as part of a lineup identification thing?

Wouldn't it be helpful to have AL identify the voice if possible? (And did they do this back in 89-90, and if not, why not?)

That's a great question. In that article about AL that you linked to, he says that investigators have never contacted him to ask him anything about DJH. That's so odd, now that we know how much they actually knew about him. (emphasis is mine)

 

[Simplemama]

So, I am wracking my brain trying to figure out a "good" reason for LE to not have pursued DJH more at the beginning. They had all this evidence with the shoe prints and tire tracks. They had two boys who had heard the abductor's voice. What were they thinking?! The only thing I can come up with is that maybe they suspected him, but also had reason to believe that JW was alive and wanted to find him. Maybe they thought if they went after DJH too fast in those first few weeks they would compromise JW's safety. I don't know... I am just trying to come up with something that makes some sort of sense. Are they really *that* incompetent? With all the FBI agents working on the case, it is hard for me to believe they were all in some sort of conspiracy to keep the truth hidden. It's hard to believe not a single one of them thought there was enough evidence to make DJH the POI back then. Could they have been looking for accomplices and JW (alive) and kept this info quiet? No evidence of murder was ever found (that we know of); JW just disappeared.

Was DJH ever in any sort of line up? Obviously AL never had the chance to identify him.

 

[RainCheck]

In the search warrant, items of clothing with Jacob's first AND last name on them were listed. It dawned on me DH could have been stalking Jacob if he saw him wearing clothing with his full name on them. Maybe where he played hockey across from Fingerhut? DH seemed very obsessed with Victim K so it seems logical he probably fixated on certain children. I wonder if DH had been watching Jacob?

Also, I went back and read some of the old reports on the case because I thought I remembered there was evidence Jacob began to struggle before even entering the car. Sure enough, I found reports saying there was evidence in the gravel that Jacob had put up a struggle and had to be dragged and pulled to get him into the car. I think this probably infuriated DH and he blew up. I mean power is what drives people like DH to do what they do. Jacob putting up a struggle was taking power from DH. I think he killed DH to obtain ultimate power over him. I think he was always destined to kill a child, but it was probably Jacob because Jacob was a brave little fighter.

 

[RainCheck]

So, I am wracking my brain trying to figure out a "good" reason for LE to not have pursued DJH more at the beginning. They had all this evidence with the shoe prints and tire tracks. They had two boys who had heard the abductor's voice. What were they thinking?! The only thing I can come up with is that maybe they suspected him, but also had reason to believe that JW was alive and wanted to find him. Maybe they thought if they went after DJH too fast in those first few weeks they would compromise JW's safety. I don't know... I am just trying to come up with something that makes some sort of sense. Are they really *that* incompetent? With all the FBI agents working on the case, it is hard for me to believe they were all in some sort of conspiracy to keep the truth hidden. It's hard to believe not a single one of them thought there was enough evidence to make DJH the POI back then. Could they have been looking for accomplices and JW (alive) and kept this info quiet? No evidence of murder was ever found (that we know of); JW just disappeared.

Was DJH ever in any sort of line up? Obviously AL never had the chance to identify him.

I hate to say, but I think they're just that incompetent. I think they got focused on DR and put on blinders to anything else. I mean obviously at one point they really looked at DH because he was arrested for Jared's assault, but then they had no evidence to keep him. I would hate to have the job of deciding which pervert out of so many might be the one. I don't think I could sleep at night realizing how many sickos there are even in a small town.

 

[bessie]

Lack of evidence doesn't equate to incompetence.

 

[kemo]

At the time, in a photo line-up, Jared could not i.d. Heinrich and actually someone else was closer. Thus, there was no evidence that Heinrich had any propensity to sexually assault or abduct young boys. The tire and shoe tracks are a match but hardly any kind of exclusive match.

The DNA match clearly establishes his participation in a similar crime near the time of Jacobs abduction.

 

[BINTC]

Wetterling friend: "It’s tough to be patient" for answers http://kstp.mn/8gop1

 

[bufflehead]

Lack of evidence doesn't equate to incompetence.

This is going to be a dumb question, but before DNA tests came into being, what would constitute evidence sufficient enough that it would be worth it to charge someone?

We know that DJH was arrested on February 9, 1990 for the kidnapping and assault of JS, but ultimately never charged. On that same day, the FBI indicated that a synthetic fiber found on JS's snowsuit had "microscopic characteristics and optical properties" that matched seat fibers taken from the Mercury Topaz that DJH drove at the time JS was taken - they said the two fibers were "consistent with having originated from the same source".

So it's likely that getting confirmation about the fibers led to the arrest that same day, I would think? And JS had been taken to see the Topaz and said it was an 8 or 9 (on a scale of 10) in similarity to the car that he had been assaulted in. And even though he rated another man higher in one lineup, he did identify DJH in two lineups (the first was a photo lineup right after the abduction) as a possible suspect. And the thing that really got me in the search warrant (or maybe it was the criminal complaint) - JS was overall pretty right on with the physical description - and he said that his assaulter had "cheese teeth". The official description of DJH's teeth indicated that they had black spots due to tobacco use - so they probably looked liked swiss cheese to a young kid.

I have absolutely no background in any of this, so if anyone does, I would love to know what it would have taken to press on with a case against DJH at that time. Obviously they thought all this wasn't enough. Or did they think that if they charged and convicted DJH in JS's case, maybe they would never have a chance to find out more about JW?

 

[ELOCsoul]

I've been swamped at work lately, and haven't had much time to absorb the news over the last week, but I noticed some were speculating about other cars Heinrich had. Here's a list I put together recently, of all the cars that were reported on or in someway discussed during the investigation.

It befuddles me now more than ever, why LE did not seek help in finding the cars DR saw that day and night.

 

[shergal]

The voice: Did JS ever hear DH's voice, as part of a lineup identification thing?

Wouldn't it be helpful to have AL identify the voice if possible? (And did they do this back in 89-90, and if not, why not?)

Aaron was interviewed on the 10 pm local news tonight (on Channel 5 ABC / KSTP) and he said he has not had a chance yet to hear DJH's voice. But he is working with investigators to help, and LE will be playing it for him so he can hear it. He also said this was the closest he had ever felt to them having the right guy.

 

[JoeTV2015]

What do you guys make of page 53 (interview took place 2/5/90) of the indictment where the FBI talks to the father of those boys whose photos were found in the search of the home of DH's father on ( search was on1/24/90). He says two of his sons used to stay with their aunt who lived in Paynesville. He recalls DH's younger brother playing football with them (at the aunts house) and DH coming over, but not playing football. The aunts house was burglarized twice. The last time it was also set on fire. The date for the last one was approximately 11/89. The first was 5 or 6 years before. Last break-in and fire right after JW was abducted (10/22/89). If DH did the break-in why set the fire? Some sort of warning maybe? I hope some of those people talk to the police again...if they already haven't.

Link to indictment is below.

http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/wjon.com/files/2015/10/DanielHeinrichIndictment-Optimized.pdf

Been checking in on this case since I was a kid growing up in MN, and just read the disturbing court documents yesterday. Right off the bat, let me say how impressive all the work everyone here's doing. Have to believe it's helping push this case closer to getting solved. Hope that my fresh eyes can be of use here for those of you who've been bogged down under the weight of various theories and speculations for years. One angle that I think might help is to read the indictment from the authorities' perspective. What are they trying to convey with the way the evidence is laid out? We know the big thing, that this child *advertiser censored* addict is also a POI in a decades-old abduction, but if you read between the lines... what are the smaller points that LE telegraphs in their presentation of the evidence?

Specifically, the point quoted above. What is the relevance of the brothers who lived next door to the POI (beyond the surface answer of the pictures being found on in the POI's trunk? Given the nature of these crimes, we know LE found more pictures in those trunks in 1990... local children, yearbooks, family members, etc.) So why this picture... that was taken ten years before, in 1980, no less? And to then take the effort to go door to door around the POI's father's house (until presumably, a neighbor recognized the boys in the picture as 'nephews that sometimes visited an aunt who lived next door to the POI's father'?). I think LE is backing into something here. Could one of these boys somehow provide a link from POI to JW? Did one of them report something unusual they saw at the father's house in late '89 and then recant after a threat? Was LE at the time trying to get them to talk? Are they trying to get them to talk now?

The things that pop out to me reading the indictment for the first time are the specifics within the fields of generalities (i.e. the 'Kraemers' place' in the JS story, 'Victim K', and the brothers who lived next door.) I think LE is getting at something with the people mentioned by the POI. They had options on what to include in their retelling... why include what they did?

One more thing. I know the local and federal LE has been working this case for years, so I always err on the side of they know what they're doing; but I have to say, if LE didn't keep AL's pants (pants groped by the POI that could link him to JW directly, which cops in 1989 would have known were valuable, as the first conviction by DNA occurred in the mid-80s). If those pants, touched by stubby, saliva-covered, tobacco-chewing, DNA-covered fingers, aren't preserved in a zip-locked, vacuum-sealed bag somewhere awaiting DNA technology to catch up... that is incompetence, no two ways around it.

 

[Sasquatch321]

Aaron was interviewed on the 10 pm local news tonight (on Channel 5 ABC / KSTP) and he said he has not had a chance yet to hear DJH's voice. But he is working with investigators to help, and LE will be playing it for him so he can hear it. He also said this was the closest he had ever felt to them having the right guy.

AL has said previously that he has vetted numerous leads. But with the suspect, vehicle, prints found 26 years ago, they're only seeing it now?

 

[dexter75]

I think it is a very legit question.
There have been a FEW convictions I have read about, or seen on the news that have been based on circumstantial evidence. No body, DNA, etc.
And eye witness accounts have been proven time and time again to be less than credible, in the eye's of the law anyway. There was a time however, when eye witness testimony was considered wonderful evidence ( so to speak ).

 

[Sasquatch321]

DR could have been killed because of this. His family received death threats, he had absolutely nothing to do with this.

 

[Sigrun]

This is a tough case on many levels. If I were accused of a serious crime I'd hope no jurors on this forum would convict me on the basis of the fact that my shoes and tire prints are consistent with some found at the crime scene, that my car kind of matches the one a witness saw during the crime, and that my personal behaviors (minus the pervert stuff) are also consistent with those of an anonymous but known to exist criminal.

Now, and imo, the strongest evidence tying "me" to the hypothetical crime would be the out of the park, aberrant behavior like groping little boy's crotches in the town square. Not many people exhibit that kind of behavior, so it would be a trademark behavior that I would expect you to likely convict me over. It's just too rare and specific. Problem is, in 1989 they didn't have a name. It was just clear that the "groper" was almost certainly the same guy in all these cases. Not until you know that it is me that was doing the groping - even in just one of those cases - would I expect to be convicted. And there is no way the Courts or LE could have anticipated the arrival of touch DNA 25 years later. So, only if we're lucky were the clothing and other items preserved for some other reason.

This is my cautionary tale based on my own missteps. I've seen how these cases are hard to figure out, and I have the advantage that I can talk about "odds" and "hypotheticals". But when you take me to Court I expect more than that. And I hope we all would.

I understand the frustration about the case, but I think we're (or maybe some of us) applying 20/20 hindsight in a kind of unfair way.