Jacob Wetterling
| Jacob Wetterling | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
Jacob Erwin Wetterling February 17, 1978 |
| Died | October 22, 1989 (aged 11) Rural Paynesville, Stearns County, Minnesota |
| Cause of death | Gunshot |
| Body discovered | September 1, 2016 Paynesville, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Parents |
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Jacob Erwin Wetterling (February 17, 1978 – October 22, 1989) was a boy from St. Joseph, Minnesota, who was kidnapped from his hometown and murdered at the age of 11 on October 22, 1989. His abduction remained a mystery for nearly 27 years.
On September 1, 2016, the FBI recovered human remains from a pasture near Paynesville, Minnesota, about 30 miles (48 km) from the site of the abduction. On September 3, the family announced the remains were those of Jacob, and local law enforcement stated that confirmation of their identity had been obtained through dental records. The location was revealed by Danny Heinrich, a long-time person of interest in the abduction of another boy, Jared Scheierl, in the nearby town of Cold Spring. On September 6, 2016, Heinrich confessed to kidnapping and murdering of Jacob Wetterling, as well as the abduction and assault of Jared Scheierl.
On Sunday, October 22, 1989, just after 9:00 p.m. (CDT), Jacob Wetterling (11), his younger brother Trevor (10), and a friend, Aaron Larson (11), were biking home from a Tom Thumb convenience store where they had gone to rent a video, when Danny Heinrich, who was wearing a stocking cap mask and was armed with an unloaded revolver, came out of a driveway and ordered the boys to throw their bikes into a ditch and lie face down on the ground. He then asked each boy his age. Jacob's brother was told to run toward a nearby wooded area and not look back or else he would be shot. Heinrich then demanded to view the faces of the two remaining boys. He picked Jacob, and told his friend to run away and not look back otherwise he would shoot. This was the last time Jacob was ever seen alive.
Ten months prior to the Wetterling abduction another boy had been kidnapped, placed into a car and sexually assaulted before being released. The modus operandi was similar to the Wetterling case: The perpetrator, who was later identified as Heinrich, used a gun and upon releasing the boy told him to run and not look back or else he would be shot. That incident occurred ten miles from the location where he stopped Wetterling, his brother, and friend.
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