MN - Jacob Wetterling, 11, St. Joseph, 22 Oct 1989 - #15

[shergal]

I never heard of anybody being a POI for 30 years before they were caught. I agree with Trino, if they've found nothing on DR after 5 years of looking, they don't have any idea.

DR has only been a POI since Summer of 2010. He was publicly named a POI then after the search of his parent's farm and his room. So he has only been a POI for 5 years.

 

[livstabler]

A QUICK answer? It's been 26 years! Not exactly quick, eh?

A "quick" close attempt, as in rushing this late in the game to try someone on circumstantial evidence (without a body) and risking them getting off, never to be tried again, and PW never knowing what happened to her son. At this point, the perp has already had 26 years of freedom he didn't deserve and lived the bulk of his life. Maybe if they'd known in the first 5 years what they do now, there would have been more urgency to convict. Maybe they don't know any more now than they did then at all. But having the perp spend the bulk of his life behind bars is off the table now. Hopefully some closure for the family is not.

 

[livstabler]

A grown man of the type who snatches young boys isn't going to work around children for 30 years and not do anything that would lead to a complaint. None of his pupils or their parents have accused him of anything, and his employers are still happy to employ him. As for LE, their evidence is obviously not all that, otherwise he'd have been arrested.

If a grown man is smart enough to get away with this for 26 years, I'd think he'd be smart enough not to hunt at work and be caught for it. I don't think he meant to do it so close to home either, but the opportunity presented itself and was too hard to resist. The motive will always be circumstantial (unless he confesses), but the means and opportunity are undeniable.

 

[Trino]

If a grown man is smart enough to get away with this for 26 years, I'd think he'd be smart enough not to hunt at work and be caught for it. I don't think he meant to do it so close to home either, but the opportunity presented itself and was too hard to resist. The motive will always be circumstantial (unless he confesses), but the means and opportunity are undeniable.

There is no evidence that DR is homosexual. No evidence of being interested in children sexually. There must have been nothing on his computer, or he would have been charged. But, suddenly, with a man who has a perfect employment record as well, we're supposed to believe he sexually assaulted and abducted a young male? I think not.

 

[Cappuccino]

DR has only been a POI since Summer of 2010. He was publicly named a POI then after the search of his parent's farm and his room. So he has only been a POI for 5 years.

I'm well aware of that. I was responding to another poster who said that five years was nothing because criminals had been caught after 30 years. My point being that those cases weren't ones were the guilty party was under scrutiny for 30 years, unlike DR who has been under scrutiny for the last 5.

 

[Trackergd]

Can you say more?

What evidence I see in the print field, even the newer pictures do not in my mind and experience work with his account of his actions around the time of the abduction.

The fact he did not advise LE he had been in the driveway around the time of the abduction so that his vehicle prints could be verified, even when he knew the extent and severity of the abduction event. For all intents and purposes, he withheld evidence of his potential contamination of a crime scene, even if it was innocent.

I am wondering how LE cleared him if they could not match his tire prints to the prints in the driveway years later. The car and tires most likely were long gone. How many of us are 100% sure of the make and model of the tires on our vehicles unless we put them on ourselves?

 

[Trackergd]

I still don't understand why Kevin didn't come forward right away. He knew how high profile this case was and how desperate everyone was to solve it. Everyone knew they were looking for a car. Even if he really did speak with LE that night, as he claims, why wouldn't he still follow up a few days/weeks later and say "Hey, just re-confirming that I was at the scene, here is what my car looks like, here is what a saw, etc".

If he truly was innocent and had nothing to hide, he should have/could have come forward right away. What a waste of everyone's time (and possibly Jacob's fate in the balance) if his tracks are truly the ones they were looking for.

From all the pictures I have seen, there are a lot more than one set of tracks in that driveway. It would have taken a dedicated forensics expert to check every vehicle on the farm (including farm vehicles, hay wagons, carts etc) and indicate how many sets of tracks did not match those owned by the DR family, and these could have been anything from family friends over for a visit to the UPS delivery truck. When I have done this, in some cases it has taken days comparing photographs and plaster casts against tires. Just because two vehicles have the same tires, does not mean they make exactly the same prints (think wear, hunks out of the tread, width between tracks etc).

 

[HEY YOU!]

I wonder how long it took DR to get to work the next morning. If he did have Jacob in his car which wasn't searched as he left the next morning where could he have gone to get rid of the body/evidence before arriving at school. Although that's pretty brazen to assume he wouldn't get searched on the way out. Takes some stones to do it right under LE's nose.

It also takes some stones to abduct 1 child and let 2 go. The same mentality that says I better call 911 and go out to offer help before they come to my house and search. The same type of person who lifts up crime scene tape after knowing that a boy was abducted from that spot and walks all over the scene. The same personality who says on the nightly news to the reporter that he 'didn't want to waste his time' when asked why he didn't want to help search. The same guy who collected new articles, videotapes and pictures of everything related to the abduction but did not join in numerous searches or offer any support at all to the Wetterling family. The same guy who offers up a 2nd and 3rd car at the scene of the crime to law enforcement when the evidence only showed 1 set of unidentified tire tracks. The same mentality that said a car that drove up his driveway in the afternoon was 100% the guy who did this...

 

[Trackergd]

Cappuccino, I would rather you not leave. While this case can cause frustration, every set of eyes evaluating the known facts has merit. We ALL just need to ensure that our responses are civil and respectful of others opinions. None of us are 100% correct all the time, even those of us with a boatload of experience.

While DR is the only named POI and he is what is referred to as an "odd bird", without knowing what evidence LE has, we are pretty helpless to rule him in or out as the abductor. I do agree that tunnel vision is the last thing we can afford while looking at this case. I will say that he is his own worst enemy each time he opens his mouth and discusses the case.

 

[Sasquatch321]

What evidence I see in the print field, even the newer pictures do not in my mind and experience work with his account of his actions around the time of the abduction.

The fact he did not advise LE he had been in the driveway around the time of the abduction so that his vehicle prints could be verified, even when he knew the extent and severity of the abduction event. For all intents and purposes, he withheld evidence of his potential contamination of a crime scene, even if it was innocent.

I am wondering how LE cleared him if they could not match his tire prints to the prints in the driveway years later. The car and tires most likely were long gone. How many of us are 100% sure of the make and model of the tires on our vehicles unless we put them on ourselves?

His girlfriend and firefighter brother somehow never came forward with the information as well. Three people withheld that information for 15 yesrs.

 

[Cappuccino]

Cappuccino, I would rather you not leave. While this case can cause frustration, every set of eyes evaluating the known facts has merit. We ALL just need to ensure that our responses are civil and respectful of others opinions. None of us are 100% correct all the time, even those of us with a boatload of experience.

While DR is the only named POI and he is what is referred to as an "odd bird", without knowing what evidence LE has, we are pretty helpless to rule him in or out as the abductor. I do agree that tunnel vision is the last thing we can afford while looking at this case. I will say that he is his own worst enemy each time he opens his mouth and discusses the case.

Its okay, I'm just taking a break. There's no point in having exactly the same conversation about DR yet again, it just feels like Groundhog Day. If there's something new to say about him I'm all ears, but there's only so many times you can go over the same ground.

 

[HEY YOU!]

Ok, let's bring back the cadaver dogs. When did they first go to the DR farm? How many times were they there? What was the result of the cadaver dog search?

 

[Cappuccino]

His girlfriend and firefighter brother somehow never came forward with the information as well. Three people withheld that information for 15 yesrs.

Four people if you believe his account of speaking to a police officer at the scene.

 

[Trackergd]

His girlfriend and firefighter brother somehow never came forward with the information as well. Three people withheld that information for 15 yesrs.

And that is something that should be looked into a bit further. How much do we know about each of them? We can't name them, but we sure can dig a bit and see if any of them have developed a record in the years since the abduction.

 

[Sasquatch321]

Four people if you believe his account of speaking to a police officer at the scene.

That cop is a failure as well. If your not LE noone else should have seen those bikes before LE secured the scene, and if you told a cop you did, that cop should have shifted to alert mode.

 

[HEY YOU!]

Its okay, I'm just taking a break. There's no point in having exactly the same conversation about DR yet again, it just feels like Groundhog Day. If there's something new to say about him I'm all ears, but there's only so many times you can go over the same ground.

I hear what you are saying but some things don't make any sense at all with regards to DR. And I have mentioned things over and over because they have not been explained. Like the 2 different stories regarding the cars in his driveway. Can you offer a reasonable explanation for what DR stated? He said a tan sedan came tearing up the driveway the afternoon of the abduction and that if we find that guy, he is the guy who did this. What is YOUR explanation for that statement? He also stated that night around the time of the abduction that a small blue car with close together headlights drove up and all the way around the driveway with a small passenger covering their face. He called 911 at 11:23 that night, when told a boy was abducted at the end of his driveway, he made no mention of the car that came through at that time with the small passenger...What is YOUR explanation for him not mentioning that to the 911 operator? He then went down to were the cops were on the driveway and still did not mention the car with the small passenger that drove up his driveway at the time of the abduction. Why?

And lastly, why were cops looking for only 1 set of unknown tire tracks? If what DR said was true, there would be 3 sets of unknown tire tracks not 1. Explain that in a way that makes sense to me and I will stop rehashing it.

 

[HEY YOU!]

Four people if you believe his account of speaking to a police officer at the scene.

I think cops dropped the ball. They should have IMMEDIATELY secured the scene. Whoever Kevin spoke to should have had him come to the station to get a cast of his tires and an account of his story with the timeline and witnesses. DR's property should have been searched that night for Jacob, weapons and any other evidence and DR should have been interviewed in detail that night. Nothing should have been allowed to leave the property until everything was searched. Like DR stated, 'if they had come into the house that night, it would have been all over.'

 

[Cappuccino]

I hear what you are saying but some things don't make any sense at all with regards to DR. And I have mentioned things over and over because they have not been explained. Like the 2 different stories regarding the cars in his driveway. Can you offer a reasonable explanation for what DR stated? He said a tan sedan came tearing up the driveway the afternoon of the abduction and that if we find that guy, he is the guy who did this. What is YOUR explanation for that statement? He also stated that night around the time of the abduction that a small blue car with close together headlights drove up and all the way around the driveway with a small passenger covering their face. He called 911 at 11:23 that night, when told a boy was abducted at the end of his driveway, he made no mention of the car that came through at that time with the small passenger...What is YOUR explanation for him not mentioning that to the 911 operator? He then went down to were the cops were on the driveway and still did not mention the car with the small passenger that drove up his driveway at the time of the abduction. Why?

And lastly, why were cops looking for only 1 set of unknown tire tracks? If what DR said was true, there would be 3 sets of unknown tire tracks not 1. Explain that in a way that makes sense to me and I will stop rehashing it.

Wrt the tyre tracks, I refer you to post 687.

Wrt the apparently conflicting statements from DR, this is exactly what I hate about trying to assess someone's guilt or innocence from media reports. All that really matters is what he said to the police in his interviews with them. The various things he's said in different media interviews are neither here nor there, especially in the print media because we don't know way his words have been edited or misreported.

 

[HEY YOU!]

Wrt the tyre tracks, I refer you to post 687.

Wrt the apparently conflicting statements from DR, this is exactly what I hate about trying to assess someone's guilt or innocence from media reports. All that really matters is what he said to the police in his interviews with them. The various things he's said in different media interviews are neither here nor there, especially in the print media because we don't know way his words have been edited or misreported.

The fact that you discount interviews that are still available to see with DR's actual words is strange. And in what context would it ever be normal to say that 'I didn't want to waste my time' in regards to searching for an abducted child? And you should explain that if you are believing everything DR has stated, then why didn't he tell 911 about the small blue car with the little passenger while he was on the phone with them? Why did he not tell the cops at the end of the driveway when he went up that way the same night?

I am looking for a plausible explanation for these 2 facts. Not even mentioning tire tracks. Just explain how that makes any sense at all.

 

[Trackergd]

Four people if you believe his account of speaking to a police officer at the scene.

I am thinking that LE at the time had no idea how to manage or contain an event of this nature. I think we can all agree that this was the watermark event that focused attention on child abductions and set the ball rolling on methodology and procedure for first responders, containment and forensic analysis.

Frankly, I think Sterns County is in a bit of a pickle. Almost anything they do at this point, other than finding Jacob, makes them look incompetent at some level, and if they clear DR because they never had any hard evidence, he may be able to file suit for damage to his reputation. If they name other POI's this late in the game, it gives the appearance that they were not thorough in the initial investigations. The only reason I am a bit critical of them is because they refuse to share any evidence with experts, or to even admit they have had outside resources look at the evidence. It gives the impression of a cover up to save face.

While I do not completely advocate this path, I am wondering (if they had agreement from the family), to give DR limited immunity if he comes clean with any details of his potential involvement, name others involved and of course if there is a body to recover, the location. If he still claims innocence, we can start looking in another direction. However, if later a link is found to DR, the limited immunity would be violated and he would be arrested and prosecuted. If is far past time to give the family closure. Stonewalling on the part of SC is no longer an option and should not be acceptable to the Governor and State Legislature.