Remains found confirmed as Jacob Wetterling/Suspect led LE to Remains #1

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  • #1,081
My guess is he would only be followed for a short time. Not for a whole year.

Somewhee on here is the report by an FBI agent! I believe. He said they followed him for months. Heinrich stated he knew he was being watched,

There is a TV reporter imterviewimg Heinrich but I do not recall what year.

Media kmew agout Heinrich too. Everyone was cloaked. They could not see what was in front of them
 
  • #1,082
"He will not do that in a cushy federal prison; this will be a penitentiary," Heffelfinger said.

"And 20 years is a long sentence. It is an appropriate length sentence when you consider in exchange for that we were able to give the Wetterling family the closure that they have not had for 27 years."

http://kstp.com/news/tom-thomas-heffelfinger-former-us-attorney-jacob-wetterling-plea-deal/4256009/

So I'm getting a conflicting signal here, is he going to federal or straight penitentiary?
 
  • #1,083
One detail among many devastating ones today is: the three kids offering DH the videotape they had just rented at Tom Thumb. They must have been so confused and scared.
 
  • #1,084
One detail among many devastating ones today is: the three kids offering DH the videotape they had just rented at Tom Thumb. They must have been so confused and scared.

That just tore at my heart. Such sweet innocence.
 
  • #1,085
One detail among many devastating ones today is: the three kids offering DH the videotape they had just rented at Tom Thumb. They must have been so confused and scared.

He also said there was "no penetration" in which unsolved case was there penetration?
 
  • #1,086
"He will not do that in a cushy federal prison; this will be a penitentiary," Heffelfinger said.

"And 20 years is a long sentence. It is an appropriate length sentence when you consider in exchange for that we were able to give the Wetterling family the closure that they have not had for 27 years."

http://kstp.com/news/tom-thomas-heffelfinger-former-us-attorney-jacob-wetterling-plea-deal/4256009/

So I'm getting a conflicting signal here, is he going to federal or straight penitentiary?

I thought his whole deal was that he would go to cushy federal prison?
 
  • #1,087
Law enforcement and prosecutors are very satisfied with this deal that ended almost 27 years of mystery. So are the families. I'm certain they are not looking to pick apart the account in any way. They have been very adamant that this was the only way to resolve this case.

If I was a detective working this, I don't think I could just leave it at this. I would want time served for what he did to Jacob specifically. I mean, I totally understand and respect why the Wetterlings agreed to this, but if I could find a way to nail him to the wall for it, I would still be searching for it.
 
  • #1,088
One detail among many devastating ones today is: the three kids offering DH the videotape they had just rented at Tom Thumb. They must have been so confused and scared.

One of the local news reporters noticed this too.

They think maybe the kids thought it was a cop thinking they stole the video.

But neither AL nor TW mentioned this.



They also thought maybe Jacob thought he was being arrested because of the "chatter" he might have heard in the car from the scanner and that led to him asking "what did I do wrong"?
 
  • #1,089
I imagine it would be difficult to float an accidental death if Jacob was indeed shot execution style. And I do think picking at these details is very relevant. Finding him in a lie could result in him facing actual charges. If anyone can find a flaw in his testimony, it wouldn't surprise me if it was a WS member!

Exactly, if he lied on any detail it is perjury, and usually perjury nullifies plea deals. So he could then and likely would be charged with the murder.
 
  • #1,090
I think people are confusing this with the earlier assault on JS.

That occurred in the back seat of Heinrich's then car.

The January victim was put in the backseat of the car. I don't think we can believe anything that Heinrich says about what happened with Jacob. He's had 27 years to come up with a story that presents him as having done nothing to Jacob, with the added defense that he only killed Jacob because the police scared him into doing it.
 
  • #1,091
Hm To,me it says he did not. He said he saw someone in the front seat with cupping hands, Jacob was in the back with hand cuffs.

This is from Channel 9 Ted Haller's Twitter: Heinrich says he brought Jacob to his car, handcuffed him, put in front passenger seat. Jacob said "what did I do wrong ?"
 
  • #1,092
TRUST!!!!!

People will be looking into this for YEARS to come.

Good and bad!
 
  • #1,093
I wish the court would put out the full transcript of Hienrich's confession because all we have to go on now is what reporters remember hearing and those in the overflow rooms tried to tweet during the session.

Do we really need any more details?

He abducted, assaulted, and murdered Jacob. For 27 years he sorted out the best story he could think of that would minimize his responsibility. Jacob has been found, and Heinrich will spent the next 20 years in prison. There is no guarantee that he will ever be released.

The family can now put this behind them.
 
  • #1,094
I'd like to hear more about how they "followed" Heinrich after he was questioned.

The local officials at the time seems to have gone silent.

I actually heard the retired Stearns County sheriff at the time has a note on his front door telling media to don't even knock!

The search warrant clarifies that neither the tire tracks nor the shoe prints were sufficient to draw a conclusion that Heinrich was responsible for Jacob's disappearance. There obviously was no evidence to convict Heinrich. If there was, he would have been charged and convicted. Instead, police had not choice but to make a deal.

What more should police say about it?
 
  • #1,095
I'd like to hear more about how they "followed" Heinrich after he was questioned.

The local officials at the time seems to have gone silent.

I actually heard the retired Stearns County sheriff at the time has a note on his front door telling media to don't even knock!


The FBI followed him for "weeks".

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2015/...y-wetterling-investigation-was-a-bad-mistake/

Seems like without the cold case review by FBI’s Child Abduction Rapid Deployment team, there's no telling how much longer this could have dragged out.
 
  • #1,096
Heinrich said he then handcuffed Jacob hands behind his back and forced him into the front seat. According to Heinrich Jacob asked, “What did I do wrong?”

There are actually conflicting news reports about front seat or back seat.
 
  • #1,097
Do we really need any more details?

He abducted, assaulted, and murdered Jacob. For 27 years he sorted out the best story he could think of that would minimize his responsibility. Jacob has been found, and Heinrich will spent the next 20 years in prison. There is no guarantee that he will ever be released.

The family can now put this behind them.

Likewise, there is no guarantee he will die incarcerated either. Personally, I want everyone looking for the flaw, the lie that could break this deal apart, what would insure he never took a free step again.
 
  • #1,098
Updated transcript based on new info. If the gravel pit is one mile up 23 from the farm, then the attached image shows where it is. And yes, it is just up the road and within sight of the "construction" business, which is an equipment supply store.

crime_Scene_1991_Homicide_And_SA_001.png

Transcript

1. Heinrich said that around 8 p.m. he was on a dead-end road when he noticed three boys on bicycles with a flashlight. He said the three boys passed him, so he turned around and faced the direction of the road they would be coming back on. He described pulling into a driveway after they passed him.
2. Twenty minutes later, they passed him again, so Heinrich got out of his car, put on a mask, reached for a revolver and confronted them.
3. Heinrich said the boys offered him the tape they got from the video store, but he knocked it down.
4. Heinrich testified that he jumped out of the car wearing a mask and holding a .38 revolver. He ordered them into a ditch with their bikes and asked their names and ages. "I told Trevor (Jacob's brother) and Aaron (Jacob's best friend) to run away, don't look back or I'll shoot." Heinrich recalled.

En route between DR’s residence and Paynesville, via some circuitous route:

1. Heinrich then put Jacob in the back of his car and handcuffed him with his hands behind his back. Heinrich said Jacob asked, “What did I do wrong?” (at some point on the trip). Alternative account: Heinrich handcuffed Jacob and put him in the passenger seat of his vehicle. Yet another account has it as: Heinrich said he brought Jacob to his car, handcuffed him and put in the front passenger seat. A fourth account states that he “forced him into the front seat” [The 1982 Ford EXP he was driving did not have a back seat].
2. In an attempt to avoid police searches, Heinrich then drove Jacob for about 45 minutes from St. Joseph onto Interstate 94 heading west 15 miles to Albany. He then drove him 30 miles south on country roads towards his own hometown of Paynesville.
3. Two miles east of Paynesville, off of what was then state Highway 23, he stopped at what was back then a gravel pit. He then had Jacob strip and molested him.
4. Heinrich had a police scanner in his vehicle and after hearing police respond to the kidnapping he decided he'd better drive back to his home in Paynesville.
5. Heinrich said he drove out of St. Joseph with the police scanner on the whole time. He ordered Jacob to duck down and lean forward in his seat until they got out of St. Joseph.
6. Heinrich said he drove taking a series of back roads that wound through several small central Minnesota communities and thence to Paynesville and turned off on a sewage pond road, stopping near a gravel pit in the area. Once there, Heinrich said he uncuffed Jacob and took him to a grove of trees.
7. Then, he forced Jacob to disrobe and perform a sexual act on him and asked him to masturbate until Jacob told Heinrich he was cold. In another account it was stated that he said there was no penetration or oral sex. In any case, Heinrich answered, “Ok, you can get dressed”. This ended the sexual assault, which had lasted about 30 minutes.
8. Afterward, Jacob asked whether he was taking him home. At this point DH became visibly emotional when replied:
9. "I said, 'I can't take you all the way home,'" Heinrich said. "He started to cry. I said, 'Don't cry.'" It is reported that he also said, “it is too far”. It might have been more accurate to say that St. Joseph was too HOT.

The Murder

1. Heinrich then said a patrol car with siren and lights came down the road, and he “panicked.” He said he drew a .38 caliber revolver from his pocket. He said he loaded his revolver with two rounds and told Jacob to turn around because he had to go to the bathroom. [this could be interpreted as he saw police speeding past, then reacted after the police had passed.]
2. “He didn’t know what I was doing,” Heinrich said in court.
3. Heinrich said he raised his gun to the back of Jacob's head and fired one round but the "first shot didn't work." [misfire or empty chamber]. He fired again. Heinrich described how Jacob was still crying after the first round discharged, so he fired again [this leaves unclear whether or not the first round struck Jacob – and is telling]. Heinrich said he fired a third [two discharges total], and Jacob fell to the ground. Heinrich said he checked to see if Jacob was dead.
4. Oddly, Heinrich claimed that he looked away when he fired the first time [misfire, dry fire], turning his head away from his target. With his head still turned away, he said he fired again. Then he says he looked back and Jacob was still standing (and crying). He then fired again, killing him.
5. Heinrich said he wasn’t under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time and that his actions “were voluntary” and "of his own free will.”

After the Murder

1. Heinrich said he then went home to Paynesville but returned to the site a few hours later (about midnight) with a shovel. Heinrich said he dragged Jacob about 100 yards to the northeast of where he was shot.
2. Heinrich said his shovel wasn’t big enough, but he remembered there was a construction company nearby, so he went to see if a shovel was there. Heinrich said he found a Bobcat and knew where the company kept the key, so he returned to the site and dug a hole using the Bobcat, which is where he buried Jacob. [depends on how remote this is, and how close the Bobcat was. He could not tow it, so he had to drive it]
3. Heinrich said Jacob was buried in a reflective vest, red jacket and blue sweatpants.

Post Murder (about 1 year later)

1. About a year later, Heinrich said he drove by the site where Jacob was buried and noticed that the grave was partially uncovered and that he could see Jacob’s red jacket above the ground. Heinrich said he “gathered as much as he could” of the clothing and remains, placed them in a garbage bag, and walked across the highway to a farm, a distance from the gravel pit to the new grave site of about 1 mile, where he dug a 2-foot-deep hole in the ground and reburied the remains covered by the red jacket.
2. Heinrich showed police that second burial site while he was in custody. This is the burial site that was covered in the recent news stories.
 
  • #1,099
  • #1,100
PS this is now in my humble opinion a premeditated murder.

Yes, I always knew it was.

Poor Jacob, you didn't do anything wrong, sweet boy!

I'm sick DH will only be put away for a couple of decades. He could very possibly get out of prison and live another 20 years as a free man.
 
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