MN - Jacob Wetterling, 11, St. Joseph, 22 Oct 1989 - #16

[Sasquatch321]

Charlie Grafft's pager went off just as he was sitting down to watch the 10 o'clock news. A boy had been abducted. The crime scene was a mere four miles from the Stearns County Sheriff's house. When Grafft arrived, the sheriff was struck by the discarded bikes and the scooter laying in the ditch.

"I looked everything over and said, 'Oh boy, this is going to be a job,'" said Grafft.

Grafft and his deputies searched with flashlights for three hours and only found a faint tire print.

http://edition.cnn.com/2002/LAW/11/19/ctv.wetterling/index.html

 

[Sasquatch321]

Then there was the problem of child witnesses and the gun.

"What was unique about it was that we never had a kidnapping where there were witnesses and someone at gunpoint took the child in front of other children," said Paul McCabe, a Minnesota FBI agent.

What Trevor Wetterling and Aaron Larsen described -- a mask, a gun and a selection process -- spawned a variety of theories.

The use of a mask suggested to some that the kidnapper might have been known in the community and was trying to shield his identity. Perhaps the boys even knew him.

But the boys were in close physical proximity to the kidnapper, and heard his voice several times. They never identified the criminal as someone in particular.

http://edition.cnn.com/2002/LAW/11/19/ctv.wetterling/index.html

 

[Sasquatch321]

"But the boys were in close physical proximity to the kidnapper, and heard his voice several times. They never identified the criminal as someone in particular."

This would lead you to believe they may know what DR sounded like because he was a neighbor. I'm going to say they never knew or seen him much, and probably never heard him talk until after this happened. This would be supported by the fact that it took 21 years for Patty and DR to sit down and talk about what he saw and if he did it.

 

[Sasquatch321]

Grafft and his deputies searched with flashlights for three hours and only found a faint tire print.

http://edition.cnn.com/2002/LAW/11/1...ing/index.html

Now this is interesting. "Only found a faint tire print". Is that all? Was the footprint not located until later the next morning? Was the footprint not there yet before they called it a night?

 

[chaplain1]

People find it suspicious that DR did not want to help search for the missing. In fact, there was no "search" at that time, at least one involving civilians. I can guarantee that the response from Law Enforcement at an active crime scene to the inquiry of a concerned neighbor would be to tell him to go home or otherwise leave the area at once.

Far too much has been made of DR's behavior at the time of the abduction based on reporter's accounts of what DR told them 15 years after the fact. What DR said during the 911 call and and account of his contact at the crime scene would be interesting. The 911 tape was destroyed, presumably because no one thought it was terribly important and all indications suggest that there was nothing about DR interaction with any Law Enforcement officer at the crime scene that night that aroused any suspicion.

I was thinking about this last night. There aren't that many police officers. If you are thinking swat teams were there, like in the Fugitive or something, you would be wrong.

 

[chaplain1]

The circumstantial evidence in this case is so damning.

 

[chaplain1]

Hypothetical: If DR is the perp, who is Jared's?

 

[Sasquatch321]

Hypothetical: If DR is the perp, who is Jared's?

He says he knows but they aren't getting specific, I wonder why?

 

[chaplain1]

I've heard him say it was a serial molester at Moose Lake, presume it's DAH, he didn't pick him out of a lineup and the victimology would be very complicared

 

[MotherOcean]

Or the perp said he had a gun. I agree with chaplain, it doesn't add up.

I think he may not have had a gun. But, was DR told that he did? If so, DR must be very brave to go looking in the outbuildings all alone, in the dark.

 

[emeraldine]

I think he may not have had a gun. But, was DR told that he did? If so, DR must be very brave to go looking in the outbuildings all alone, in the dark.

Agreed - after a conversation in a previous thread, I started to think it might have been a fake gun. A very convincing toy, maybe?

D.R.'s choice to do his own "hunting" for the perp on his property is very strange, to me, whether he knew about the gun or not. It is so very stupid and dangerous. Maybe he already had searched, and was trying to make a huge production about how "interested" he was in the case to avoid suspicion.

 

[emeraldine]

Hypothetical: If DR is the perp, who is Jared's?

I don't know, but I would no longer think there was any relation between the two abductions if it was D.R. - Jared was asked if he could identify his perp, but he was still let go. Jacob's perp wore stockings on his head to prevent identification and still chose to either keep him for decades or take his life.

 

[shergal]

I don't know, but I would no longer think there was any relation between the two abductions if it was D.R. - Jared was asked if he could identify his perp, but he was still let go. Jacob's perp wore stockings on his head to prevent identification and still chose to either keep him for decades or take his life.

And DR supposedly has an excuse for the night Jared was taken. (Playing in a band.) Although I don't think we've ever heard if he played all night. But I have never suspected DR for Jared.

 

[chaplain1]

And DR supposedly has an excuse for the night Jared was taken. (Playing in a band.) Although I don't think we've ever heard if he played all night. But I have never suspected DR for Jared.

There are a lot of differences in the cases which makes me think we are dealing with different perps.

 

[emeraldine]

The things that Jacob's perp and Jared's perp both said to their victims were similar, and Jacob's abduction was almost certainly just as sexually motivated as Jared's...that's what made me decide there could be a connection. It seems unlikely to me that two crazy, child-raping predators would be "working" in the same region around the same timeframe(though it's happened).

There is no doubt in my mind that D.R. didn't take Jared, though. I'm not sure why he'd even need an excuse for the night it happened, when nothing puts him in that place at that time.

 

[bucshunter]

Then there was the problem of child witnesses and the gun.

"What was unique about it was that we never had a kidnapping where there were witnesses and someone at gunpoint took the child in front of other children," said Paul McCabe, a Minnesota FBI agent.

What Trevor Wetterling and Aaron Larsen described -- a mask, a gun and a selection process -- spawned a variety of theories.

The use of a mask suggested to some that the kidnapper might have been known in the community and was trying to shield his identity. Perhaps the boys even knew him.

But the boys were in close physical proximity to the kidnapper, and heard his voice several times. They never identified the criminal as someone in particular.

http://edition.cnn.com/2002/LAW/11/19/ctv.wetterling/index.html

BBM interesting...

 

[ELOCsoul]

There are a lot of differences in the cases which makes me think we are dealing with different perps.

It would be interesting to know exactly what made LE change their position on the sure link between the two cases.

 

[Sasquatch321]

It would be interesting to know exactly what made LE change their position on the sure link between the two cases.

Disguised vs Undisguised
Vehicle vs No Confirmed Vehicle
Gun/Toy Gun vs No Gun (just a threat at least)
Kid returned to safe drop vs Kid never returned

And then you have to ask, is there proof yet it was sexual in jacobs case or just plain violent?

It's not a sure link but the M.O. is similar.

 

[Sasquatch321]

BBM interesting...

Can you explain what you mean? Do you think the boys knew DR before this?

 

[emeraldine]

Disguised vs Undisguised
Vehicle vs No Confirmed Vehicle
Gun/Toy Gun vs No Gun (just a threat at least)
Kid returned to safe drop vs Kid never returned

And then you have to ask, is there proof yet it was sexual in jacobs case or just plain violent?

It's not a sure link but the M.O. is similar.

There is no proof that it's sexual, I don't think.

Normally, that'd be enough for me to doubt, but I just can't see why the appearance of the boys would have mattered so much to the perp(or why he'd make them lie down on the ground and grope them, according to what they said) if he wasn't planning to molest someone.

The circumstances just have that certain "sickening" feeling.