Robert M. Dudley - Finding Jacob Wetterling: The 27-Year Investigation from Kidnapping to Confession

Jefferson, North Carolina

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUING DATA ARE AVAILABLE

BRITISH LIBRARY CATALOGUING DATA ARE AVAILABLE

e-ISBN: 978-1-4766-2836-3

2016 Robert M. Dudley. All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Front cover photograph 2016 iStock

Exposit is an imprint of McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, Jefferson, North Carolina

Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.expositbooks.com

For Jacob,
all the missing,
and all who search.

The author wishes to express his sincere thanks to the following for their contributions to this book:

My family, for their patience, support, and understanding throughout the process.

Dianne Rassmussen, Trish VanPilsum, and Patrick Marker for pushing me at all the right times.

Liz Collin, Ellarry Prentice, and Madeleine Baran for their objective and original reporting of the Jacob Wetterling kidnapping case. They are truly credits to their profession.

The staff at the Stearns County Museum, St. Cloud Times, St. Joseph Newsleader, and St. Cloud Public Library.

Everyone who assisted with the book in any way, whether it was with research, suggestions, inspiration, ideas, information, encouragement, or constructive criticism. A special thanks goes out to Sheryl, Pat, Jim, Aubrey, Natalie, Kyle, Paula, and Natalie.

A very special thank you to Liz Collin at WCCO Television in Minneapolis. She was the first journalist to listen to what I had to say, and one of the few with the resolve to break away from the pack, reporting on the Wetterling case from original and important perspectives.

Other recommended reading:

Three Boys Missing by James A. Jack

Mind Hunter by John Douglas

Striving To Be The Best by Allen Garber

This book is a comprehensive record of the investigation into the October 22, 1989, abduction of Jacob Wetterling from St. Joseph, Minnesotasecond only to the collection of boxes held in the basement of the Stearns County Law Enforcement Center.

Anyone who was living in the Midwest in the fall of 1989 was familiar with the Wetterling kidnapping. It was all over the news. There were newspaper articles, television news stories, posters, billboards, buttons. The story quickly spread across the entire country, even to other parts of the world. Jacob was everywherebut he couldnt be found.

Although I lived a few hours away from the St. Joseph area, there were many reminders of Jacobs kidnapping over the years. Some came from news reports about new information or leads in his case. Sometimes his face flashed across a screen, such as the scoreboard the Metrodome Stadium in Minneapolis.

But one reminder affected me more than any of the others. A news story I heard on the radio in 2010 piqued my curiosity because, until that moment, I had never given a great deal of thought to the details of the abductionthe location where it had occurred, or the circumstances. My assumption had always been that the kidnapping took place in some suburb of the Twin Cities area, and that Jacob had probably become separated from his parents for a moment somehow, and then grabbed by an opportunistic stranger.

After doing a little research, I was surprised to learn that Jacobs kidnapping occurred in the small town of St. Joseph, Minnesota, on a dead-end road near his home. And that he was taken by a masked gunman in front of two witnesses.

What began with curiosity later evolved into more serious research. That research ultimately led to the name of the man who was a suspect from the very beginning of the case, but who had apparently been lost in the shuffle through the changes of investigative teams during the nearly three decades that had passed since Jacobs kidnapping.

This chronicle of the investigation looks at the case from several perspectives. The account begins with the day of the abduction and the massive media attention that followed. It details the show of support from the local community, then moves on to the investigative effort to find Jacob and his kidnapper, concluding with the story of how an early suspect in the case resurfaced after more than a quarter century.

It should be noted that this book was written without input from the Wetterling family or the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center. As a researcher, my goal has been to make this an objective, dispassionate work. Quotes attributed to Wetterling family members or acquaintances, and persons associated directly with the investigation are credited to their respective media sources. In cases where individuals are mentioned who were involved or questioned during the investigation, but were never publicly named by the media, their names have been changed.

The story of Jacob Wetterlings abduction and the 27-year search for him and his kidnapper is compellingas mysterious as any such crime could be. Every question that was answered during the course of the investigation seemed only to raise more questions. For millions in the Midwest and across the nation, what happened to Jacob changed the world. No longer would small-town America consider itself safe from the exploitation of children.

I flashed the flashlight at him. He told me to turn it off. I thought it was a joke. I kept thinking somebody else was going to jump out at us.Trevor Wetterling

The weather forecast for Sunday, October 22, 1989, promised a beautiful, unseasonably warm day. Jerry Wetterling had spent a little time on Saturday evening planning a Sunday of family events. He talked to his boys about heading to the lake in the morning to do some fishing. It would probably be the last good opportunity of the fall season.

Jacob, 11, was the oldest son and was the fisherman of the family. He agreed to the plan from the start. Younger brother Trevor, 10, opted to sleep in instead. Patty Wetterling, mother of the four children, planned to stay home with eight-year-old Carmen, the youngest. Amy, 13, was away at a friends house.

As predicted, the weather was glorious. The early morning sun peeked through the autumn-leaved trees that surrounded the Wetterling home. The temperature was already well into the forties and was climbing quickly.

Jerry was the first one awake that morning. He ventured out on a four-mile jog while the rest of the family slept. He was a chiropractor in St. Joseph, a budding small town just west of St. Cloud. An avid sports fan, Jerry was active and athletic.

He returned from his run to find Jacob eagerly waiting in the kitchen, already dressed for fishing with his equipment sitting by the garage door. They ate a light breakfast, loaded up their gear in the family boat and made the ride to nearby Big Fish Lake. It was a 25 minute drive to the lake, which was located a couple miles north of the communities of Cold Spring and Richmond.