Remains found confirmed as Jacob Wetterling/Suspect led LE to Remains #2

[Sigrun]

"Another warrant, obtained to search the Paynesville farm where Jacob's remains were found, indicates that an unnamed "source of information," who had access to Heinrich since he was taken into federal custody last year on child charges, told investigators that Heinrich had confessed to killing Jacob. That information was the catalyst for plea negotiations that led to the recovery of Jacob's remains. That "source of information" was not identified in the search warrants."

From SC times article ... so DH told someone since being in jail he did it.

Now the legal strategy makes more sense.

 

[Ray_of_hope]

Neighbors witnessed odd behavior at times. He is described as a hermit by some and "wouldn't let me get a word in once he started talking" by others.

"Over the years, she said, she saw police at the house when Heinrich had altercations with his brother, who she said lived there on and off.

“He’d sit outside and talk to himself. And he’d have arguments with himself,” she said.

“He’s fine one second and the next minute, he’s swearing up a storm,” she said."

http://www.wctrib.com/news/world/38...itnessed-surveillance-search-warrant-and-were

 

[Cappuccino]

It would all be conjecture but my first thought was that he said that because he was trying to appease the man's authority. I felt that he knew this man was out of control and dangerous the minute he was confronted by him.

A mixture of both maybe. DH made them all lie down and answer questions about their ages, which seems to have served no purpose other than to establish control over them. Children that age can be psychologically manipulated by adults into thinking they have to obey orders when they don't, and OTOH by the age of 11 they probably knew that police officers don't don masks and accost children on lonely roads. Its possible Jacob didn't really know what to think, whether this man with a gun, handcuffs and a police scanner was some kind of authority figure who had to be obeyed or one of those strange men he was always warned not to accept sweets off. Either way, he obviously knew had to be appeased, hence Jacob had the intelligence to act like he was talking to a police officer and ask what he did wrong.

 

[zencompass]

I think the source of information was the brother whom he had been having altercations with. The arguing could have been about the brother wanting the monster to turn
himself in. The brother could have found evidence.

The brother could have been the source of information. JMO

 

[zencompass]

A mixture of both maybe. DH made them all lie down and answer questions about their ages, which seems to have served no purpose other than to establish control over them. Children that age can be psychologically manipulated by adults into thinking they have to obey orders when they don't, and OTOH by the age of 11 they probably knew that police officers don't don masks and accost children on lonely roads. Its possible Jacob didn't really know what to think, whether this man with a gun, handcuffs and a police scanner was some kind of authority figure who had to be obeyed or one of those strange men he was always warned not to accept sweets off. Either way, he obviously knew had to be appeased, hence Jacob had the intelligence to act like he was talking to a police officer and ask what he did wrong.

You have a way of making sense out of confusing details. Thank you once again!

 

[otto]

Does my post that you're responding to say 'exact match"?

Thank you. This is from a government funded study on shoe print analysis where the task was to match a crime scene shoe print to a manufacturer's shoe pattern, make, year, and etc.:

"Two scenarios encountered by the forensic examiner were addressed: (i) in the investigative phase, to determine the source of an impression given a known set of outsole prints; which is useful in homicides and assaults where there are no known prints to match, and (ii) in the prosecutorial phase, to determine whether a particular impression evidence is from a known suspect’s shoe with a quantification of similarity and uncertainty.
...

The retrieval ask is to find the closest match to a crime scene print in a local/national database so as to determine footwear brand and model.
...

Identification is based on the physical match of random individual characteristics the shoe has acquired during its life. Evidence provided by a positively identified shoe mark is as strong as the evidence from fingerprints, tool marks, and typewritten impressions [1]."

All such information is indexed into a database so as to be matched against shoe-print evidence. An automatic footwear identification system accepts as input shoe-print evidence and retrieves the most likely matching prints."​

https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/233981.pdf

The small detail that is really important here is that a crime scene print can be matched to a data base, such as shoe sole pattern database, typewritten marks database, or fingerprint database. The accuracy of matching a shoe print to a shoe pattern data base is really good, as good as a fingerprint database. The accuracy of matching a shoe print to a specific shoe should not be assumed.

Perhaps the Detective Website's quote claiming that a crime scene shoe print can be an exact match an individual shoe is an exaggeration?

I'll look for more studies on shoe print analysis - maybe there is another article that specifically addresses matching a shoe print to a specific shoe. I wonder if that accuracy is measured in probabilities similar to DNA probabilities. DNA is never a 100% match. Even though the probability is so high there is no doubt, can we really say that a shoe print can be a 100% exact match to a specific shoe, but DNA cannot be matched 100%.

Clearly there is conflicting information, so it's not surprising that there are different viewpoints.
Cheers

 

[Sigrun]

The story of the second burial makes no sense, The jacket was found with animal bones. The rest was found like 15 feet away, I doubt if an animal dug him up and covered up the hole. What is this story all about and why?

Agreed. The burial narrative doesn't add up.

 

[otto]

Thanks, IB. I was just wading through Forensic Files abstracts.

What articles were you able to find related to matching a shoe print to a shoe database, and matching a shoe print to a specific, used shoe?

 

[Sigrun]

I have a feeling it was his own sick joke. Or maybe it just came to me... the jacket wasn't added till much later and he kept it as a trophy? Then when he possibly got worried or paranoid he went back to put the jacket with the remains, came across bones yet again as in the first gravesite and freaked out burying what he thought was his remains but was actually an animal that had passed away. So many questions after the confession. I don't see most of it as true or at least he left out a lot of details. If this was the case for example they found someway to tie the jacket to his home with forensics... would that in fact destroy the plea agreement and he could be charged with the murder?

Fascinating. Still thinking through the animal bones clogging up the narrative, but fascinating.

 

[IBsleuthin]

Thank you. This is from a government funded study on shoe print analysis where the task was to match a crime scene shoe print to a manufacturer's shoe pattern, make, year, and etc.:...snipped for space and time.


Cheers

I already posted a very detailed and clear case where the EXACT MATCH OF A SHOE WAS FOUND AND SOLVED A CASE. I'm not exactly sure why this continues to be an issue.

 

[Sigrun]

I already posted a very detailed and clear case where the EXACT MATCH OF A SHOE WAS FOUND AND SOLVED A CASE. I'm not exactly sure why this continues to be an issue.

I think an exact match between shoe and shoe impression is possible, but not inevitable. It depends on the fidelity of the impression to the shoe.

 

[kaen]

The source is someone who had access and gained his trust. LEO have said he trusted his lawyers (I think even in the press conference). The lawyers knew the bounds and consequences of truthfulness. I can not imagine the monster befriending or trusting someone in jail, let alone his brother who he fought with.


This is a cut and paste from the warrant application--- (typos are from the copy to paste)----https://cbsminnesota.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/6-heinrich-1.pdf


On August 30, 2014 hw enfurcement was provlded lnformatlon from a source of infonnatisn {Sol), who shall remain anonymsus, relatlve to the lrwestigrtion of the tfilatterllng abductlon. the SOI has a personal relationship wlth Danny Heinrich and has regular contact wlth him.

Accondlng to the SOl, on August 30, 2016, the SOI spoke wlth Helnrtch. Helnrlch told the Sol that approxlmately 25 years ago, he burlcd the physlealttmains, to include bsnes and clothlng of Jacoh Wetterllng in a chndesgne grave located at the land on27725 Buslness 23 Eart, Paynesvllle, stearns County, descrtbed as a frrm operatlon slte. The 5ol pmvlded a detalled descriptlon of where these remalns were buried by Heinrich.

Agent McDonald belleves the$e statements to be rellable: The ldenfity of the SOt ls known to taw
enfcrcemenl The SOI is kncwn to be ln a posltlon to haw directly obtrincd thls lnformailon from Helnrlch. The SOI knEu, that thls information was golng to be provlded to law enfisrcement for the purpose of conductlng a search to recover the rcnrains of Jacob Wetterllng. The SOI ls well awore of the serious adverse cansaquences of provldlng false lnfarmatlon to law enfurcernsnt about thls mattar. Tha SOlwoutd have no reason to provide lnfomatlon that would bting negatlve consequences to Hehrlch or to the sot. Accordlng to the SOL Helnrtci was awar€ that thls lnformatlon would be pro.dded to taw enforcement by the sol.

 

[otto]

The animals bones found with the jacket smacks of him messing with burial place. Maybe he separated the two so that if the jacket was found (without his help) no bones from Jacob would be there. It is probably not worth discussing or expending brain cells on ...but, why bury the jacket near the top of the burial site if erosion will continue to expose it? Unless he got thrills from going back to the place and seeing the evidence of what he did. I am trying to wrap my head around his thinking and decision making.

I wondered whether he used an existing animal grave, and that's why a freshly dug grave would not get much attention on the owner's property.

 

[ELOCsoul]

I think the source of information was the brother whom he had been having altercations with. The arguing could have been about the brother wanting the monster to turn
himself in. The brother could have found evidence.

The brother could have been the source of information. JMO

The SOI was Heinrich's attorney.

 

[Sigrun]

So, it is fair to say that:

1. A red jacket was found buried with no other actual evidence (animal bones beneath, but no crime evidence)
2. Two days later, about 15 feet away, Jacob's remains were found along with a shirt with the name "Wetterling" on it.
3. DH was careful to point out that investigators would never find Jacob's shoes at any burial site.
4. Reading the warrant receipt, it doesn't sound like anything else was found other than "fabrics", which will require forensic examination to identify as far as what parts of clothing it was.
5. It is unlikely animal bones would just happen to appear beneath the jacket by chance. They were probably placed deliberately, but possibly ignorantly (being buried by someone who thought they were something else).
6. Combined with 5, the fact that the jacket was buried 15 feet from the actual remains suggests the person burying it was knowledgeable but also ignorant of some details, like the exact spot of the original burial.

The simplest explanation for this is that DH returned to the site some time much later, say, about a year, and buried the jacket. This would be about a year after having buried Jacob without his jacket. He may have mistaken the animal bones for Jacob's bones, which he surmised had naturally been unearthed since he buried them. I think the previous suggestion along these lines is plausible. But if true, it makes DH's dual burial (of Jacob) seem even more dubious.

 

[Sigrun]

The SOI was Heinrich's attorney.

Wouldn't he be disbarred?

 

[kaen]

Wouldn't he be disbarred?

According to the search warrant application, the monster knew that the SOI was going to LEO.

 

[Sigrun]

According to the search warrant application, the monster knew that the SOI was going to LEO.

Ah, ok, that makes sense.

 

[otto]

Disturbing questions alert.

1. We have not heard about his underwear. We know he kept Jared's as well as the pants. Where is his trophy room?

2. Maybe it is simply reporting. They talk about his teeth. Were they separate from the skull? If so, that brings up a ehole new nightmare. Teeth do not leave the skull

Maybe it was the shoes?

 

[otto]

"Another warrant, obtained to search the Paynesville farm where Jacob's remains were found, indicates that an unnamed "source of information," who had access to Heinrich since he was taken into federal custody last year on child charges, told investigators that Heinrich had confessed to killing Jacob. That information was the catalyst for plea negotiations that led to the recovery of Jacob's remains. That "source of information" was not identified in the search warrants."

From SC times article ... so DH told someone since being in jail he did it.

Thank you! If I understand correctly, a jailhouse confession (moment of sharing) led to confirmation that Heinrich was responsible for Jacob's disappearance.