Heinrich is a sadist who attacked male children for his own pleasure.
"Investigators thought it
probable the same man had abducted both Jacob and Jared, based on the crimes’ similarities, and saw Heinrich as “a likely suspect,” said Al Garber, the FBI investigator who supervised the Wetterling case, “so we investigated with everything that we could.”
...
One day, Heinrich invited Wall and her two sons, then about 11 and 14 years old, over to see the knife collection he had covering his walls. It was extensive.
Machetes, swords, daggers.
He chuckled about how he had been a suspect in the Wetterling investigation. “I remember that being kind of strange,” said Wall, now 51. “You’ve got all these knives and swords and now you’re telling us that you were a suspect in Jacob Wetterling’s abduction?”
...
State court records show no charges against Danny Heinrich for decades. That changed in 2015, after authorities matched Heinrich’s DNA to evidence found on the sweatshirt Scheierl was wearing during the 1989 assault. Investigators then searched Heinrich’s home, discovering computer folders and
19 three-ring binders containing child pornography — the crux of the charges against him.
...
Heinrich sexualized the kids he filmed, zooming in on their buttocks and genital areas, the charges say. He baited newspaper boys, dropping coins on stairs so that he could capture them bending over to get them, according to the documents. Investigators also found four bins of boys’ clothing.
http://www.startribune.com/behind-the-person-of-interest-in-the-wetterling-investigation/364008661/