Author: Andrea Anderson and Danielle Kaeding / Source: Wisconsin Public Radio
Authorities have identified the suspect in the kidnapping of Jayme Closs and the killing of her parents as Jake Thomas Patterson, 21, of Gordon.
Patterson was being held Friday at the Barron County Jail on two counts of first-degree intentional homicide and one count of kidnapping.
He was arrested Thursday after Jayme escaped from a home in the Town of Gordon and gave Douglas County authorities a description of Patterson’s vehicle.
Patterson was arrested without incident, Douglas County Sheriff Tom Dalbec said at a news conference Friday morning.
Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald said Jayme was the target of the crime and that Patterson took steps to avoid being detected by law enforcement and the public.
Jeanne Nutter was walking her golden retriever Henry around a roughly two-mile loop of cabins near her home when she saw a young girl walking toward her wearing shoes too big for her, a sweatshirt and leggings.
“She said, ‘Please help me. I don’t know where I am. I’m lost,'” Nutter told WPR.
Nutter said it became clear as the girl came closer that she was Jayme, the 13-year-old girl that had been missing since her parents — James Closs, 56, and Denise Closs, 46 — were found dead Oct. 15 at their home in Barron.
When Nutter recognized Closs, Nutter asked her what kind of vehicle the person who took her was driving so they could be ready to run. The two then headed down the road to the home of a nearby neighbor, Peter Kasinskas.
“I said, ‘Don’t ask me any questions. Just call 911 because I have Jayme,'” Nutter said.
The Kasinskas called 911 and wrapped Jayme in a blanket. When asked how the girl was doing, Nutter said, “She’s a child who’s been traumatized.”
News of Jayme being found alive broke Thursday night after the Barron County Sheriff’s Department posted the news to Facebook at around 8 p.m.
Douglas County Sheriff Tom Dalbec previously told WPR that Jayme was found between 4:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. Thursday in the Town of Gordon, which is about 45 minutes southeast of Superior and an hour north of Barron.
The investigation of the killings and apparent abduction drew in members of the FBI and thousands of civilian volunteers who showed up to help search the area surrounding the Closs home.
The Investigation Continues
Eighty-eight days. That’s how long Jayme was missing for.
Since Oct. 15, law enforcement officers have been weeding through tips and claims that Jayme had been seen.
Sheriff Fitzgerald said his head was “spinning” at points from tips that were coming in from other parts of the state and sometimes the country.
The kidnapping garnered national attention and at one point there was a tip that Jayme was spotted in Miami, but that was quickly dismissed. The Town of Gordon wasn’t even on law enforcement’s radar, Fitzgerald said.
So what changed the case and brought Jayme home? Jayme.
“That is the will of a kid to survive. It’s the unthinkable,” Fitzgerald said at Friday’s press conference. “It’s amazing the will of that 13-year-old girl to survive and escape, and that comes from the hope and the prayers and this community.”
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office received the 911 call at about 4:30 p.m. from the Kasinskas household, Dalbec said, and deputies “immediately” responded “en masse” to the home.
Using Jayme’s description of the vehicle, a “short time later” an officer located Patterson’s vehicle “down the road” and Patterson was taken into custody, Dalbec said.
At the Friday morning news conference, law enforcement heads from the Douglas and Barron County sheriff’s offices and FBI stressed the investigation is ongoing, and that interviews with Patterson and Jayme are underway.
“This is a very active and fluid case, we are actively serving search warrants right at this moment in Gordon, in other areas for vehicles, looking for evidence,” Fitzgerald said Friday morning.
Fitzgerald said investigators are seeking answers to several questions, including what happened in the last three months, why Patterson targeted Jayme and if the…
The post ‘All I Wanted To Do Is Get That Kid Safe,’ Says Woman Who Helped Jayme Closs appeared first on FeedBox.