AMBER ALERT WI - Jayme Closs, 13, Barron, missing after parents found shot, 15 Oct 2018 *endangered* #23

[flute4peace]

Exactly. Could have been many things. Could have been an uncle's friend told the girls that he got a text from a coworker who's grandma's home health worker heard from her ex-daughter-in-law who was on her way home from work and drove by and saw 6 cop cars on US 8 not far from Anderson's Dairy Farm.

I work for the newspaper in a small town and this made me guffaw.

 

[thaddeusjames80]

Some people have pointed out that some small towns continue to use the old analogue technology, so I don't know. All I know is that mine hasn't worked in well over a decade. You'd think that this upgrade would have been the first thing that any police department would do, but apparently not.

Thinking of technology, is it possible to look into the nearest cell towers data and see what phones made calls in that area around that time? Maybe the perps made a call or sent a text. If that phones number was never used in that area it might stand out from all the phones numbers that make calls on a daily basis. Probably not possible, but might work if it was

 

[Jabarn]

IDK what SOP is for LE, but I'd guess they secure the outside, have a look around, discuss who is covering where/what, etc. first, just to make sure it's not an ambush situation. IDK though.

There would be protocols in place once the first responders arrived, the initial impressions, and once crime tools were implemented to look at the rest of the house, and discovered another homicide, Denice.

We are in 2018 where the amount of investigative tools at hand are staggering. Even for the small town of Barron, those tools were used quickly.

What is confusing is, and where I am leaning, the murders went down quickly and the abduction of Jayme went down fast, too. From the evidence available to us online sleuthers, that’s about the best I can make of it,

James (Jim) was shot dead at the entry way. Gun shot evidence was found in the front door (not hearing much about if the gun shot evidence was from the outside of the door, or came from the inside of the door). Mom was shot as well, and Jayme was likely very awake by this point. Fwiw.

Something has to make sense.

Night everyone.

 

[flute4peace]

Some people have pointed out that some small towns continue to use the old analogue technology, so I don't know. All I know is that mine hasn't worked in well over a decade. You'd think that this upgrade would have been the first thing that any police department would do, but apparently not.

It can cost a fortune to switch over to 800hz - new master system plus radios for all people & vehicles. It’s about half & half for agencies in my area. Many of the larger agencies that are on 800hz will have an online feed so can still be heard.

 

[kay74]

It's interesting that you have such a strong opinion. Do you mean in the disgruntled coworker sense or in the stalker-pedo-pervert sense or other? Just wondering...

I think either James or Denise got someone in trouble at work or complained about someone and they either were fired or quit because of it. They don't live in a big city just a tiny community and I'm sure everyone there has been checked out and relatives as well, but their workplace has people from all over, I believe even Minn.!

 

[kay74]

I believe LE needs to make things more public to get this solved.

 

[Vaderman]

It doesn't seem like they deal with their neighbors too much since the ones who spoke said they didn't realize Jayme even existed.

This made me think of something, just to chew on. I work a lot. I keep to myself. My apartment is pretty much where I sleep; I don't spend a lot of time in my town.

But I am very aware of my neighbors, their family, and how frequently they're out and about or visited by other family. I'm not constantly peeping out my window, I just notice it from when I walk from my car to my door, or in reverse.

How were the Closs' neighbors so clueless?

 

[Vaderman]

I bet LE regrets specifying a hamburger, when giving examples of things one might notice while searching. If they really thought the killer had stopped at McDonalds, they would deal directly with them. And why wouldn’t a perp eat the whole thing...

Was it even the law enforcement that made that comment? I thought it was a fellow poster who used it as an example of things people would be searching for. It's been driving me crazy every time I see it pop up as a "curious" piece of evidence.

 

[Nerissa]

I was a 13 year old gal with a friend of my brother who was 4-5 years older
He sorta liked me, I knew it...but he was okay, a nice guy...& my brother would have you-know-what if he'd made a move
I was flattered...

Now: what if my brother wasn't my brother, this guy wasn't 'nice', and all this tech & cell phones were involved...
Quite possible something could go on & no one would know...

I was also an 18 year old: I wasn't some girlie girl but i'll tell you not a single friend sat up to listen to their scanners, lol. Nor would we budge if someone said something was happening...
I'd be there if it was something I was curious to know, expecting, etc. OR
yeah, me & a friend just happened to be cruising along (at that age none of my friends had their own car....someone would have to steal their parents keys to do so..)

Everyone is a suspect to my mind...these gals wouldn't get a get outta jail free pass if I were LE
(having said this - yep I know - probably it's nothing, right? JMO)

 

[Jabarn]

This made me think of something, just to chew on. I work a lot. I keep to myself. My apartment is pretty much where I sleep; I don't spend a lot of time in my town.

But I am very aware of my neighbors, their family, and how frequently they're out and about or visited by other family. I'm not constantly peeping out my window, I just notice it from when I walk from my car to my door, or in reverse.

How were the Closs' neighbors so clueless?

One last thing, the neighbors were separated by a field of trees, maybe. The family didn’t want to be bothered by the social niceties of some neighborhoods, and preferred to go it alone, with their daughter. Plenty of examples she was well cared for and her mom took her to her activities.

 

[Reverie]

Another thought that occurred to me is if these girls who were driving by were there because they knew the family/were related and wanted to know what was going on then why didn't they stop and ask instead of driving by multiple times?

Teenage curiosity is powerful...whether or not they’re related. However, gallivanting at that hour on a school night is unusual. When I was 17, there was a ghastly murder in a mansion just out of my neighborhood. My girlfriend and I did the same, driving by the crime scene but not until daylight the next day. We even walked into the woods nearby up to the yellow tape! Eek. We were so young and foolish. If we’d seen cops/flashing lights there is no way we would’ve stuck around.

If LE had to tell them to go home, I’d simply chalk it up to foolish curiosity.
IMHO

 

[MsBetsy]

The hardest crimes to solve have no motive.

Or at least not one that makes sense. Such as a random killer who targeted this family for no other reason than to murder two people, abduct a child never to be seen again, just for the pure thrill. With each passing day I'm thinking this is what happened. The house was isolated and had a number of escape routes to evade police. Someone mentioned there was a perfect location to park and observe them through the woods. Some of the more recent murderers had no particular preference for a certain type of victim, and picked them purely based on convenience. The location of this house is perfect. It can't be seen by the neighbors and there was an easy way in and out. They were gone fast. LE has still not located those vehicles. I hope they find this guy soon so at least this family can get justice, if that will be any consolation. It's not likely they will see Jayme again. Imo

 

[MsBetsy]

Shouldn't that have been the first thing they did so they would know if an ambulance was needed? Or maybe the ambulance was already coming?

No, they were both deceased when LE arrived.

 

[Nerissa]

The one thing I don't want to think about here is that it is random....
give me a so-called 'boyfriend'
or some older known-to-the family guy....
otherwise.....

 

[MsBetsy]

It wasn't really classified a suicide.
-First officers on scene knew they were responding to a home of last known address (Ms./Miss/Mrs.?) D. Closs, because of a hang up 911 call with yelling.
-Before entering, they see James (feet?) down, near the open door, house is quite they advise dispatch of "possible" suicide.
-They don't know the marital status, or who is supposed to be there.
-DV and Suicide is far more common in Barron than double homicide/kidnapping.
-They may have been dispatched to this call a year before: Murders, suicide stun community; Fitzgerald: ‘It’s heartbreaking, It’s bad’

Soon after clearing the house, things changed.

Edit to add: Officer advised dispatch of possible suicide, not the other way around.

Right, many people have speculated they were shot in the head or chest, but either way, it was apparent they were deceased as soon as they arrived. It had to have been bad to be described as such a horrific crime scene. Jmo

 

[daisy6441]

One last thing, the neighbors were separated by a field of trees, maybe. The family didn’t want to be bothered by the social niceties of some neighborhoods, and preferred to go it alone, with their daughter. Plenty of examples she was well cared for and her mom took her to her activities.

It seems like a lot of their neighbors were meth heads so I don't blame them for not wanting to have anything to do with them.

 

[Vaderman]

Oh I think it's awesome that someone just wanted to find out their ancestry and any possible relatives and they ended up inadvertently catching a serial killer and closing a case cold, lol. I'm on a few ancestry sites because I've always been curious since I was adopted as an infant, and I just like history and genealogy in general. If someone I'm related to commits a crime and my DNA helps catch them, I would be ecstatic. Too bad so sad for them.

Agreed! I just recently did the ancestry.com DNA test. Part of it was inspired by the serial caught.

 

[Reverie]

This made me think of something, just to chew on. I work a lot. I keep to myself. My apartment is pretty much where I sleep; I don't spend a lot of time in my town.

But I am very aware of my neighbors, their family, and how frequently they're out and about or visited by other family. I'm not constantly peeping out my window, I just notice it from when I walk from my car to my door, or in reverse.

How were the Closs' neighbors so clueless?

This is a rural area with 10-20 acres of land between them. Very different from apartment living. Also family and friends have said the Closs family was peaceful and kept to themselves.

 

[MsBetsy]

Was it even the law enforcement that made that comment? I thought it was a fellow poster who used it as an example of things people would be searching for. It's been driving me crazy every time I see it pop up as a "curious" piece of evidence.

LE used it as an example to demonstrate that even something seemingly insignificant can be important. This was very early on during the searches.

 

[daisy6441]

Agreed! I just recently did the ancestry.com DNA test. Part of it was inspired by the serial caught.

Ancestry isn't the site they used though. Ancestry doesn't allow that type of thing. GEDMatch is the one that can be used by LE.