Suspect - Daniel Heinrich

[Sleutherish]

I don’t know who AL is; can you let me know?

I've been assuming AL is the non-sibling companion of Jacob's on the trek to Tom Thumb, but I could be wrong.

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[Sigrun]

I don’t know who AL is; can you let me know?

I've been assuming AL is the non-sibling companion of Jacob's on the trek to Tom Thumb, but I could be wrong.

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Correct.

 

[Sigrun]

BBM : Respectfully, why did his behavior not continue on this arc of violence ?

liz, curious where you're going. Do you think that the POI is not the right person? Or are you suggesting something odd happened?

 

[Hope1974]

Sigrun, no, I think DJH is the guy. The shoes, tires, voice, asking ages, and MO have me convinced. The more I learn, the more convinced I am that the police have been very careful in withholding key evidence from the public, so am not at all surprised nothing else was said about the car. Back in 1989/90, I think the police definitely thought they had him, but couldn't make a "beyond a reasonable doubt" case.

What puzzles me is why they waited so long to name him a POI. Maybe in the early years, they thought they'd get him on their own without the public's help. But after 10, 15, 20 years? That part confuses me the most.

 

[Sigrun]

Sigrun, no, I think DJH is the guy. The shoes, tires, voice, asking ages, and MO have me convinced. The more I learn, the more convinced I am that the police have been very careful in withholding key evidence from the public, so am not at all surprised nothing else was said about the car. Back in 1989/90, I think the police definitely thought they had him, but couldn't make a "beyond a reasonable doubt" case.

What puzzles me is why they waited so long to name him a POI. Maybe in the early years, they thought they'd get him on their own without the public's help. But after 10, 15, 20 years? That part confuses me the most.

Ah, got it. Yes, I find it a little confusing myself. And yes, I see your point now about the car. It could be that forensics were done and fibers consistent with JEW's clothes were found. This is thin but valuable evidence they would *not* want to disclose right now. They need to add it to other things first.

 

[MotherOcean]

....and the copycat would have had the same tires and same shoes as Heinrich...doubtful

Right. But, when my mind was speculating on the possibility, the info. about the tires and shoe print had not been released.

 

[liz b.]

liz, curious where you're going. Do you think that the POI is not the right person? Or are you suggesting something odd happened?

It certainly seems as though this POI could be JEW's abductor. What happened after the abduction I really don't know. Why was his usual pattern of abduction,assault and release of his victim broken with the abduction of JEW ? If he murdered JEW, was it part of his need for absolute control over his victim ? If he had reached that stage where he needed to kill his victims to satisfy his compulsion,why did he seemingly stop ? From everything I've read and heard, pedophiles cannot control their sexual compulsions. I am puzzled that he did not seem to continue abducting and assaulting boys. It doesn't add up,but jmo.

 

[Sleutherish]

It certainly seems as though this POI could be JEW's abductor. What happened after the abduction I really don't know. Why was his usual pattern of abduction,assault and release of his victim broken with the abduction of JEW ? If he murdered JEW, was it part of his need for absolute control over his victim ? If he had reached that stage where he needed to kill his victims to satisfy his compulsion,why did he seemingly stop ? From everything I've read and heard, pedophiles cannot control their sexual compulsions. I am puzzled that he did not seem to continue abducting and assaulting boys. It doesn't add up,but jmo.

I guess in my opinion, DJH may not have intended to kill JW, but something went wrong. Then, the biggest search in the state of MN history ensued. Maybe it scared the crap out of DJH, & that was enough to de-escalate his compulsions.

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[bmmcdonald87]

It certainly seems as though this POI could be JEW's abductor. What happened after the abduction I really don't know. Why was his usual pattern of abduction,assault and release of his victim broken with the abduction of JEW ? If he murdered JEW, was it part of his need for absolute control over his victim ? If he had reached that stage where he needed to kill his victims to satisfy his compulsion,why did he seemingly stop ? From everything I've read and heard, pedophiles cannot control their sexual compulsions. I am puzzled that he did not seem to continue abducting and assaulting boys. It doesn't add up,but jmo.

Could be that whatever happened with JEW scared him into not continuing the attacks, especially with the police on his tail.

He could of found another outlet by watching the child pornography/videoing young boys. That could have satisfied his urges.

Maybe he even went somewhere else not so close to where he lived and committed crimes similar to his initial attacks.

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[Onebest]

I guess in my opinion, DJH may not have intended to kill JW, but something went wrong. Then, the biggest search in the state of MN history ensued. Maybe it scared the crap out of DJH, & that was enough to de-escalate his compulsions.
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Is it possible he didn't stop and we just don't know about it?

 

[Sigrun]

It certainly seems as though this POI could be JEW's abductor. What happened after the abduction I really don't know. Why was his usual pattern of abduction,assault and release of his victim broken with the abduction of JEW ? If he murdered JEW, was it part of his need for absolute control over his victim ? If he had reached that stage where he needed to kill his victims to satisfy his compulsion,why did he seemingly stop ? From everything I've read and heard, pedophiles cannot control their sexual compulsions. I am puzzled that he did not seem to continue abducting and assaulting boys. It doesn't add up,but jmo.

The evidence is compelling enough against the POI that I am willing to accept this as a loose end; however, all loose ends need to be addressed eventually. My best guess, and it is just a guess, is that something odd happened with JEW and his M.O. changed as a result. Something about that M.O. made the reporting of sexual assaults less likely. Suppose, for example, that he really didn't intend to kill JEW. He was in the MN Guard and a video of a handgun in his safe was shown, so I am convinced now the firearm was real. Suppose JEW tried to escape and he shot him. In the boonies, at 10 p.m. I spoke to a gun nut about this. The agent called it a "pistol". Technically, that means a semi-automatic firearm. But the key point is that it was a handgun. The sound doesn't travel as far. He hastily hides the victim and flees the area. He comes back later to conceal the remains. But he is not murder material. So he changes his M.O. to avoid killing. To what I don't know, but it would be to something that doesn't result in the acts being reported or the nasty situation of what to do when your victim tries to flee. Or, maybe he just takes long road trips. But the event is stark enough to cause him to drastically change his M.O. All just conjecture, but one possible explanation for how an M.O. can change.

BTW: the first car had child safety locks, the second did not. The same thing could have happened to JS if he had been able to get out of the car. In other words, the intent here may have been no different than it was with JS, only that the POI intended to fully satisfy his urges this time. Same M.O. Same comfortable, "safe" place to do the deed.

 

[Sigrun]

Is it possible he didn't stop and we just don't know about it?

Yes, a pattern throughout MN should be sought. And I think the M.O. will be different but some things won't change. The victims will be male, about 12 years old, and they will not be missing or murdered.

 

[Hope1974]

I just noticed red markings on either side of DJH's nose in the mug shot. Did he wear glasses?

 

[liz b.]

The evidence is compelling enough against the POI that I am willing to accept this as a loose end; however, all loose ends need to be addressed eventually. My best guess, and it is just a guess, is that something odd happened with JEW and his M.O. changed as a result. Something about that M.O. made the reporting of sexual assaults less likely. Suppose, for example, that he really didn't intend to kill JEW. He was in the MN Guard and a video of a handgun in his safe was shown, so I am convinced now the firearm was real. Suppose JEW tried to escape and he shot him. In the boonies, at 10 p.m. I spoke to a gun nut about this. The agent called it a "pistol". Technically, that means a semi-automatic firearm. But the key point is that it was a handgun. The sound doesn't travel as far. He hastily hides the victim and flees the area. He comes back later to conceal the remains. But he is not murder material. So he changes his M.O. to avoid killing. To what I don't know, but it would be to something that doesn't result in the acts being reported or the nasty situation of what to do when your victim tries to flee. Or, maybe he just takes long road trips. But the event is stark enough to cause him to drastically change his M.O. All just conjecture, but one possible explanation for how an M.O. can change.

BTW: the first car had child safety locks, the second did not. The same thing could have happened to JS if he had been able to get out of the car. In other words, the intent here may have been no different than it was with JS, only that the POI intended to fully satisfy his urges this time. Same M.O. Same comfortable, "safe" place to do the deed.

Interesting thoughts. I want to say that as sexual predators go,this POI is far from the worst I've ever heard about. He didn't seem to ever torture his victims, and nor did there seem to be heavy sadism involved. He didn't actually seem to get much time alone with his victims either. I can see him resorting to shooting JEW if he had tried to escape.that does make sense. I've just never heard of a pedophile being too scared to act on his/her compulsions though. jmo

 

[Sigrun]

Interesting thoughts. I want to say that as sexual predators go,this POI is far from the worst I've ever heard about. He didn't seem to ever torture his victims, and nor did there seem to be heavy sadism involved. He didn't actually seem to get much time alone with his victims either. I can see him resorting to shooting JEW if he had tried to escape.that does make sense. I've just never heard of a pedophile being too scared to act on his/her compulsions though. jmo

Agreed, this is not the worst. He appears to be supremely confident in his ability to get away with crimes and overwhelmed with his urges. I think he has a gross misapprehension of risk and probably did not believe anyone would try to flee. I don't think he was too scared to act on his compulsions, I just think he might have found a different method (M.O.) for pursuing them. If he was not homicidal (possibly not even APD) or sadistic, then there are any number of ways he could have satisfied his urges. If doing so means not committing murder then it is far easier to commit those acts and remain under the radar (as in, not be connected back to the cases near his home town). But I also agree this question needs to be answered in any case.

 

[Dave K]

I thought the same thing when I read this quote. Along with they will " never " pin the Wetterling case on me.
To be honest, reading him say NEVER made me feel afraid & sad all at once. He seemed so sure of himself.

If I’m reading your comment right; you’re thinking that DJH proclaiming that ‘they’ll Never pin Jacob’s abduction on him’ is bothersome, because you think that maybe he knows that he’ll get away with it. If that’s the case, I just wanted to say that, that doesn’t bother me. My thinking when I read that, is that it sounds like a guy who is guilty a lot more than someone who actually had nothing to do with it.

The press conference the other day had a U.S. Attorney (federal), FBI special agent in charge, Superintendent of BCA, and Sterns Co Sheriff. They don’t do that for a single arrest on child pornography. In fact, as I hate to say it, they really kind of barely mentioned Jared, which to me is a really big thing. I think highly of Jared, and am so glad for him; at the same time; he may have had enough of the publicity and now that the case is confirmed, he may well just want the public part of it to be over with…. Following that, looking at the case, it’s not even that major in the area of an arrest for child pornography; they talk about he 3 ring binders and some on his computer; but, there’s not even any mention of him being a part of a major ring or anything. Sometimes they bust rings with like 48 people in 17 countries, etc… and there’s nothing about him producing any porn himself as in, filming himself attacking children or anything. The point, I’m thinking about is that, that whole press conference, which they knew would make national news, was pretty much to announce Heinrich as a person of interest in the abduction of Jacob Wetterling…. I feel pretty certain that they would not have done that if they didn’t feel very strongly that they have a case… His being really sure of himself will only go so far in court, presuming that that's where he's headed, meaning that, I'm 'assuming/presuming' that they plan to upgrade his POI status to defendant in Jacob's case.... At least that’s my thoughts….

 

[Lotus]

Could Heinrich be connected to this story from Paynesville in March 1992 involving a 12 year old boy? http://www.joybaker.com/2015/04/25/a-lifetime-lesson/

 

[Sigrun]

Could Heinrich be connected to this story from Paynesville in March 1992 involving a 12 year old boy? http://www.joybaker.com/2015/04/25/a-lifetime-lesson/

This extends the new POIs dates of activity, potentially, to March of 1992. Notice he did not kill the boy.

Update: and if this is how they treat these cases, finding an ongoing pattern could be tricky, even if it existed:

"Mom and dad were also shook up when I told them what happened, and when my dad finally picked me up, we went straight to Officer Drager’s house. I had to tell him everything that happened and try to describe what I saw. He was supposed to meet me again to get an actual statement, but that was the end of it. Not much else was ever said about the whole issue. My parents and I did drive around for a short time that evening to see if we could spot the man or the green car. We never had any luck."

 

[livstabler]

Does anyone know why Heinrich was initially interviewed after Jared and Jacob abductions? Had he ever been in trouble with the law before? Is that why the police wanted to take him in for questioning? They obviously new something about him that made them suspicious.

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This officer tipped them just because poi had a new blue car and wore fatigues around town. Then they went and looked in his car windows at work and used a photo of him in a lineup, but didn't talk to him until 11 months later (Dec 89), as far as I can tell.

 

[livstabler]

Joy recounts this incident in post at her blog.

Interesting that DH's Mercury Topaz looks a lot like a Pontiac 6000, but it was repo'd in March 89. Also interesting that he was driving a big 1975 gray Ford Granada after that (then he got the EXP, but since he sold it to his mom, I'm sure he still had access to it)...