The Search For Jacob Wetterling

[RaVen Blackehart]

By Steve Irsay
http://i43.tinypic.com/2ywv5ue.jpg
All Jacob Wetterling wanted to do was rent a video. At age 11 he was savvy enough to know that if mom said no, dad just might say yes.

Jacob’s parents, Jerry and Patty, had left their house in St. Joseph, Minn. to attend a dinner party nearby. Jacob stayed behind to watch over his two younger siblings, Trevor, 10, and Carmen, 8. Jacob’s friend, Aaron Larsen, age 11, joined the group.

It was a warm and overcast Sunday night in St. Joseph, population 2,200. Trevor Wetterling was the first to telephone about getting permission to go rent a video from the Tom Thumb convenience store. Trevor figured he had a chance of getting mom’s okay. The store was only a ten-minute bike ride away, and besides, it wasn’t even a school night because of a teachers’ conference the next day.

Trevor’s pitch failed. Patty Wetterling was worried about drivers not being able to see the boys on the dark stretch of country road.
Jacob, left, with his older sister Amy, now 26.

Now it was Jacob’s turn. He called his dad. The boys had revised their plan. Trevor would carry a flashlight and Aaron Larson would wear a white sweatshirt. Jake, as his family and friends sometimes called him, would wear his father’s orange reflective jogging vest. And a 14-year-old neighbor would baby-sit for Carmen.

The plan seemed sound to Jerry. More important perhaps was that Jerry knew October 22, 1989 had been a tough one for Jake. His son had skated poorly at hockey tryouts for his youth league in nearby St. Cloud. Renting the comedy “Naked Gun” might be just the thing to lift Jacob’s spirits. Jerry decided to allow Jacob and Trevor to ride to the Tom Thumb. It was the first time the two boys had permission to ride after sundown.

At about 9:15 p.m. Jacob, Trevor and Aaron were making their way back from the store, videotape in hand. The older boys were on bikes; Trevor was on a push scooter.

As they approached a particularly dark stretch of road, where a long gravel driveway led to a farm, the boys heard a low raspy voice call out. They were ordered to stop. Trevor was told to turn off his flashlight.

A man wearing a stocking mask stepped out from the darkness. He had a gun. Next the boys were commanded off their bikes and scooter and ordered into a roadside ditch. The man looked into Trevor’s face and asked his age. Hearing the reply, the man told the younger Wetterling to run away and not look back. If he disobeyed, he would be shot, the man said. He did the same with Aaron.

But as Aaron fled he saw the gunman grab Jacob by the arm of his red St. Cloud hockey jacket. Moments later, both boys looked back as they ran to Wetterling home. There was no sign of Jacob, the masked man, or any sound from a getaway vehicle.

Charlie Grafft’s pager went off just as he was sitting down to watch the 10 o’clock news. A boy had been abducted. The crime scene was a mere four miles from the Stearns County Sheriff's house. When Grafft arrived, the sheriff was struck by the discarded bikes and the scooter laying in the ditch.

“I looked everything over and said, ‘Oh boy, this is going to be a job,’” said Grafft.

Grafft and his deputies searched with flashlights for three hours and only found a faint tire print.

As news of the disappearance spread, St. Joseph, a town dotted with porch swings, stone churches and candy-stripped barber poles, swarmed with FBI agents and National Guard troops. Helicopters sliced the sky. Bloodhounds barked. In all, 36 square miles of farmland, woods and quarries were searched. All the activity yielded absolutely nothing. continued at link

YouTube - Jacob Wetterling

http://www.courttv.com/news/hiddentraces/wetterling/wetterling_page1.html

http://wcco.com/coldcase/jacob.wetterling.cold.2.373596.html

[SoUncool]

So what do you think? Did this guy have any connection to the abduction of Jacob Wetterling or was he truly obsessed with finding missing kids?


Possible Wetterling Connection to Milwaukee Man's Deathbed Claim

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=8204562&version=3&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1


MILWAUKEE (FOX 9) -- A Milwaukee barber has made a deathbed claim that he killed two boys, and investigators have found several items relating to Jacob Wetterling's disappearance in his home. But the man died three weeks ago, before investigators could talk to him.

The evidence found in 62-year-old Vernon Seitz's home is disturbing. Child porn, children's shoes, and pictures of missing kids -- including Jacob Wetterling. In 1989, 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling was abducted in St. Joseph and has never been found.

At this point, the evidence is circumstantial, but Milwaukee Police are investigating.

Seitz claims to have been involved in the murder of children -- but has since died. The suburban Milwaukee barber died of natural causes last month, just days after he gave his psychiatrist permission to tell police he was forced to murder two boys in 1958. It's a story his psychiatrist says may have been a figment of his imagination, as it's been told to her throughout the years with many variations.

"I'm extremely unhappy that I am quoted as saying to police that he confessed to crimes that he never confessed whatsoever," says Dr. Victoria Fetter, adding that Seitz never once mentioned Jacob Wetterling.

When Milwaukee Police searched Seitz's home, they found several pictures of Jacob Wetterling, "missing" posters, and a map of St. Joseph, Minnesota, where he was abducted.

There was also memorabilia of other missing children, a child's sneakers, human hair, books on cannibalism, and child pornography in the form of videos, photos, drawings, and paintings.

Hearing of the possible link, Jacob's mother Patty Wetterling said, "For me, I just take a deep breath, and let police investigators do their job."

Patty Wetterling says she actually met Vernon Seitz years ago. He claimed to be a psychic who wanted to help her find Jacob. Back then, she says, "We listened to anyone who thought they could help find Jacob."

In Seitz's basement, police found newly-poured cement and elevated dirt piles.

But Milwaukee Police says they don't believe there's a connection to Jacob Wetterling, or any other missing child. Authorities won't say whether they intend to or already have excavated any part of the Seitz home, but they do say they are close to wrapping up the case.

His psychiatrist points out that Seitz claimed he was forced to kill a child in Racine, Wis. in 1958, when he was only 12. But no evidence was found to support that.

In 1998, Seitz spent time in St. Joseph, helping search for Jacob. He spend a week there, staying at the Super 8 Motel.

A St. Cloud woman, who has followed the case closely, says that Seitz told her he was abducted as a child at the Milwaukee Zoo. He said he was forced to have sex with his abductor and forced to shoot another boy. The informant even recorded Seitz talking about the episode.

"It comes in a dream state but not so much if I take my drugs. But I also have waking flashbacks. Makes me very miserable. The reason I sought psychiatric help was that it made me suicidal," said Seitz on the recording.

Dr. Fetter says Seitz shared that incident in his childhood with her. Seitz claimed he had repressed memories of his own abduction, but Jacob's highly-publicized kidnapping brought his own memories back. At the time, that's how he explained his seeming obsession with the search for Jacob to people.

For years, a Jacob Wetterling "Missing" poster hung in Vernon Seitz's barber shop. A long-time customer told FOX 9, "Some people fish, some hunt and I guess, he just liked to look for missing kids."

[SoUncool]

Then this article debunks the whole connection theory...WTF??

http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=9628518


MILWAUKEE (AP) - Milwaukee police have investigated a suburban barber's reported deathbed statement that he was a child killer. But a police spokeswoman says no connection has been found with any missing child case, including that of a Minnesota boy abducted two decades ago.

Searches of the man's residence found newly poured cement in the basement, elevated dirt piles in the yard, bondage devices in the basement, child pornography on his bed and flyers and news articles about missing small children from nearby states.

Some materials involved the case of 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling, who was abducted from St. Joseph, Minnesota, in 1989 and has never been found.

Police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz acknowledged there were unusual things found in the search, but she told The Associated Press that the investigation didn't come up with anything to show a connection with missing children.

She says it's "absolutely inaccurate" to suggest the man had anything to do with missing children cases.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

I lived in the area when this occured. It was hysterical around there. (fear hysterical not funny).

His mother, Patty, has gone on to do wonderful things for missing children and child safety. She ran for public office (MN house or senate?) but I don't think she won the seat.

It is one of those mysteries that I often think about. I hope it's solved.

[crickett]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,477384,00.html

Mystery Remains After Wisconsin Man's Deathbed 'Confession'
Tuesday, January 06, 2009

MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee police have investigated a suburban barber's reported deathbed statement that he was a child killer but found no connection with any missing child case, including that of a Minnesota boy abducted two decades ago, a police spokeswoman said Tuesday night.

Search warrant documents obtained by WTMJ-TV showed the 62-year-old man told his psychiatrist of the killing and the psychiatrist notified police, but the man died from natural causes Dec. 15 before investigators could question him.

According to the station, searches of the man's residence since the death found newly poured cement in the basement, elevated dirt piles in the yard, bondage devices in the basement, child pornography on his bed and flyers and news articles about missing small children from nearby states.

Some materials involved the case of Jacob Wetterling, an 11-year-old boy who was abducted from St. Joseph, Minn., on Oct. 22, 1989, and has never been found.

No human remains were found in the basement or yard, the station said, and relatives said the man, a native of nearby Racine, had a great concern for child abduction victims, having been abducted as a child himself.

Police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz acknowledged that there were unusual things found in the search, but she told The Associated Press that the investigation didn't come up with anything to show a connection with missing children.

"To suggest that this guy had anything to do with these missing children cases is absolutely inaccurate," she said.

Jacob's mother, Patty Wetterling, told KARE-TV in the Twin Cities that she had met the man a long time ago when he came to Minnesota "with psychic information," indicating he wanted to help find the boy.

[MichaelJCheaney]

This involves the disapperance of Jacob Wetterling an Twin Cities area boy missing since 1989.

This is a very long story so I will neuter it the best I can. It does raise some VERY interesting questions though:



Police searching the home of a deceased St. Francis barber who claimed he was involved in murders of two boys 50 years ago found child pornography, newspaper clippings and fliers on missing children, bondage devices and paintings depicting child torture.
However, no physical evidence connecting the man to any murders was discovered during the search of the Bay View home, and Milwaukee police said they cannot prove Vernon Seitz was involved in any child homicides or missing children cases.
"We've exhausted all the leads in this case. This is not an active investigation," Milwaukee police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz said Tuesday.
"If we receive information from someone that gives us a concrete lead to follow, we certainly will, but at this point, there is no such information that has been shared with us."
Still, news of the search results traveled quickly to the Twin Cities, after several of the items in Seitz's Bay View home and St. Francis barbershop were linked to the name of a boy missing from there since 1989.


Police jack-hammered the basement and also searched Seitz's business, Vern's Barber Shop, 4243 S. Packard Ave., where they found a poster of Jacob Wetterling, a Minnesota boy abducted in 1989.
The boy's mother, Patty Wetterling, told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that Seitz came to visit her twice soon after the abduction. He claimed to be a psychic wanting to help and had even given her a painting of Jacob.
"He seemed to care, and he shared that he had his own personal reason to care," she said, noting that Seitz had had an abusive incident happen to him in the past, which she declined to speak of further.
"That's really not uncommon for people who came forward to talk to us. We heard that a lot," Wetterling said.
Wetterling stressed she did not want to jump to conclusions and noted that many people like Seitz had come to visit her after the abduction received national attention.

(http://www.jsonline.com/)
http://www.jsonline.com (http://www.jsonline.com/)

The story also goes on to say that the Barber confessed to abducting and killing 2 boys in Racine WI.

And that they found all sorts of bondage items child porn, and all sorts of other things no person should be interested in.

St. Francis WI is a very small community Southeast of Milwaukee with only a handful of Police officers. As is the Village of Bay View (However Police calls are Handled By the Milwaukee Police Dept)

So in a potentially HUGE case like this -albeit from 1989- do you continue to investigate, or do you let it go dormant and hope for some other Leads?

[MichaelJCheaney]

Then this article debunks the whole connection theory...WTF??

http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=9628518

Personally I think Ms. Schwartz is wrong. Now granted she is only the Spokesperson for the Milwaukee Police Department, (And a former Milwaukee Television Reporter) But I do believe that you NEED to investigate further.


A neighbor who refused to identify herself said the windows were being boarded up because Seitz had planned to move to Racine. Neighbors said he owned the house and had lived there for a long time.
"He was nice enough, that's all I'm going to say," the woman said.
Near Vern's Barber Shop in St. Francis, Lynne Bartholomew, owner of Lynne's Scizzory, a hair salon next door, said she knew Seitz for nine years.
"He would come in and ask for a cup of coffee and tell me about his life, which was pretty scary, actually," Bartholomew said.
She said Seitz told her he was abducted from the Racine zoo as a boy by men who molested him and forced him to shoot and kill another boy.
Bartholomew said Seitz also claimed to have shot and killed a man who robbed him in his home three years ago and that he had killed two men in Chicago some years ago.
Bartholomew said Seitz had a particular interest in boys that made her and some of her customers "uncomfortable."
She also said he had a strong interest in Jacob Wetterling and had a laminated poster of Jacob in his barbershop.


Obviously this person is creepy, that is NOT in doubt. However with him being someone who was interested in little boys, and even traveling to Minnesota, I believe that you REALLY need to look at him as a strong and number 1 suspect. How can you not?

How many time do you hear about killers keeping personal mementos in order to relive the "experience"? The laminated poster, the cannibal book, the bondage toys, the fact that he was "allegedly" abducted and molested and forced to kill. the creepiness factor, the fact that the shrink believes his stories, (Which is not an easy thing to do,) all all seems to fit.

This might be the guy.

[sanityslipping]

MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee police have investigated a suburban barber's reported deathbed statement that he was a child killer but found no connection with any missing child case, including that of a Minnesota boy abducted two decades ago, a police spokeswoman said Tuesday night.

Search warrant documents obtained by WTMJ-TV showed the 62-year-old man told his psychiatrist of the killing and the psychiatrist notified police, but the man died from natural causes Dec. 15 before investigators could question him.

According to the station, searches of the man's residence since the death found newly poured cement in the basement, elevated dirt piles in the yard, bondage devices in the basement, child pornography on his bed and flyers and news articles about missing small children from nearby states.

Some materials involved the case of Jacob Wetterling, an 11-year-old boy who was abducted from St. Joseph, Minn., on Oct. 22, 1989, and has never been found.

No human remains were found in the basement or yard, the station said, and relatives said the man, a native of nearby Racine, had a great concern for child abduction victims, having been abducted as a child himself.

Police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz acknowledged that there were unusual things found in the search, but she told The Associated Press that the investigation didn't come up with anything to show a connection with missing children.

"To suggest that this guy had anything to do with these missing children cases is absolutely inaccurate," she said.

Jacob's mother, Patty Wetterling, told KARE-TV in the Twin Cities that she had met the man a long time ago when he came to Minnesota "with psychic information," indicating he wanted to help find the boy.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,477384,00.html

[Pirelli Jones]

Attention Whore?

[theskyisfalling]

I remember Jacob's case from a post here. I think this man might have something to do with it they just need to dig deeper.

[Shellie435]

RaVen Blackehart brought this to the Cold Case forum
http://www.dreamindemon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11634
There's video and alot of talk about the old coot too.
Who knows about this guy..relatives say he was abducted himself, maybe he really did have a genuine concern for the cases he collected articles about?
You never know...

[Shellie435]

The show 20/20 on the WE network did a story on Jacob tonight, it repeats next Wed from 10-11pm est It's entitled "A Mothers Search" and talks about the case itself and the Jacob Wetterling Foundation. Just seeing his brother all grown up breaks my heart..that poor family.

[jo_momma_82]

The show 20/20 on the WE network did a story on Jacob tonight, it repeats next Wed from 10-11pm est It's entitled "A Mothers Search" and talks about the case itself and the Jacob Wetterling Foundation. Just seeing his brother all grown up breaks my heart..that poor family.

I watched that too and, his brother was heartbreaking ! When he spoke I just kept thinking that he seems like he's frozen in time, he had this child-like demeanor.

[wheresthebeef]

I have a Jacob. :frown:

[Jezebeth]

Investigators are at a St. Joseph property near where 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling was abducted in 1989.

The Stearns County Sheriff's Office and the FBI are on scene at 29748 91st Avenue in St. Joseph conducting a search warrant.

Neighbors report seeing several unmarked law enforcement vehicles at the property on Wednesday morning. Aerial photos taken by the St. Cloud Times show as many as 17 vehicles, all-terrain vehicles and trailers on the property.

Stearns County Sheriff John Sanner told the newspaper the county attorney's office had advised him that a court order prevented him from saying why investigators were at the residence.

A sheriff's office squad car is parked at the entry to the driveway.

http://wcco.com/local/wetterling.site.abduction.2.1781571.html

[Valasca]

Wait a sec.... when the hell was Raven banned... and for what?

[Dakota Valkyrie]

http://i48.tinypic.com/o3cdy.jpg http://i45.tinypic.com/tah8g2.jpg
Shortly before 6:30 a.m. Thursday, investigators began returning to the St. Joseph area farm near where Jacob Wetterling was abducted, and which they had searched most of the day Wednesday.
[...]

At 7:30 a.m., the 54-year-old man who lives on the farm and whom authorities have questioned before and taken DNA samples from, drove away from the site, with his father and mother in the car.

On Wednesday, investigators and earth-moving equipment descended on the farm near where the 11-year-old boy was abducted by a masked man at gunpoint more than two decades ago.
[...]

Patty Wetterling, Jacob's mother and a longtime activist for missing children, said authorities had alerted her to their plans Wednesday.

"I'm grateful the investigation is still going on, and I'm grateful people are still willing to help," she said.

Stearns County Chief Deputy Bruce Bechtold said that a court order prevented investigators from discussing why they were at the spot, located about a half mile from the Wetterling home in St. Joseph, or what, specifically, they hoped to find.
[...]

Authorities involved in the investigation said the search came after two young agents working the case took a fresh look at the file.

There were no new tips that sparked the search, "no nothing, just young cops looking at the file and they said 'Maybe we should go take a look,' " said an official familiar with developments.

Asked if the agents were merely working off a hunch, the official said, "Yeah."

He also said that as of Wednesday night, it didn't appear investigators found anything significant.
[...]

The property searched Wednesday has been targetted by Stearns County investigators before.

In 2004, they began questioning a man who lives there and obtained DNA samples from him, according a relative who spoke with the Star Tribune at that time. The man, now 54, lives with his parents, both in their 80s.

The relative also said the man received an envelope back then with the return address of the Stearns County Sheriff's Office. The envelope included a handwritten letter signed by Jacob's mother, Patty Wetterling.

It implored anyone with information about Jacob's disappearance to come forward.

The relative said the man called authorities the night of the abduction to report a suspicious car turning around in his driveway.

Authorities didn't call the man a suspect in 2004, and the relative said then that he believed the man was innocent, adding, "He just wouldn't do something like that."
[...]
http://www.startribune.com/local/97577234.html

http://i49.tinypic.com/28lgsbt.jpg

[akika666]

Wait a sec.... when the hell was Raven banned... and for what?

what? she was banned? i'm not surprised i don't know, cuz i don't know any scuttlebutt (i like it that way)... but i'm surprised she was banned. sorry to go off topic.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

http://i47.tinypic.com/11gslys.jpg
Investigators used a backhoe Thursday to dig up the central Minnesota property near the site where 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling was abducted nearly 21 years ago; his mother waited for answers at her home just a half-mile away.

Patty Wetterling said she hoped they would find something at the property in St. Joseph, but she wasn’t sure what.

“It’s kind of like, what do we want to happen? What do we want them to find?” Wetterling said. “Clothes, a shoe, a body? Ick. It’s all troubling.”
[...]

The search concluded Thursday evening, Sheriff John Sanner told the St. Cloud Times. He said the phase of an investigation focusing on the property near where Jacob was abducted was complete and no arrests had been made.
[...]

The property itself was blocked off to media, and is hidden behind a grove of trees. But aerial footage by KTSP-TV and newspaper photographs showed a backhoe excavating the land. A dump truck hauled away loads of dirt.

The property is owned by Robert and Rita Rassier, who are in their 80s. Their 54-year-old son, Daniel, lives with them. A phone message left at the house was not returned Thursday.
[...]
http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/283689/

[Jezebeth]

Person Of Interest' Named In Wetterling Hunt
The St. Cloud Times Reports That The Sheriff Wants To Know More About Dan Rassier

Officials in Stearns County said a number of items were seized in the two-day search of a St. Joseph property near the site of Jacob Wetterling's abduction. And a newspaper reported that a man who lived on the property at the time is a "person of interest."

The sheriff's office issued a news release Friday confirming that the search is in connection to Wetterling's case. It also said in the 21-year history of the case, the commitment to solving it has never wavered.

Authorities said Friday that the items seized will require additional processing and analysis, and that could take several weeks or months.

The St. Cloud Times reported Friday that the Stearns County Sheriff John Sanner said that Dan Rassier is a "person of interest" in Wetterling's disappearance.

Rassier has lived on the property with his parents since before the abduction. The newspaper quoted him as saying: "I had absolutely nothing to do with anything with Jacob. I didn't do it. I had nothing to do with it."

Rassier also told the newspaper his family is cooperating with authorities.

"For over 20 years, we have experienced our own never-ending nightmare," he told the St. Cloud Times. "We realize that it's nothing like what the Wetterlings have gone through."
http://wcco.com/local/wetterling.abduction.site.2.1784980.html

[Whisper]

Wetterling investigators complete search of dirt from farm
Authorities finished sifting through six truckloads of dirt today that are part of the Jacob Wetterling abduction investigation.
Items of interest were found and will be sent to forensic labs for additional testing, according to the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office.
On June 30 and July 1, investigators executed four search warrants at a farm at 29748-91st Ave. in St. Joseph Township. Authorities took the truckloads of dirt and several other items from the farm.
The sheriff’s office has not identified what those items are.
The search breathed new life into the 21-year-old investigation of Wetterling’s disappearance.
Eleven-year-old Jacob Wetterling was abducted Oct. 22, 1989, when a masked gunman stopped him, his brother and a friend as they returned home from a store.
Wetterling’s brother and friend were let go by the man who took Wetterling.
The abduction happened at the end of the farm’s driveway. The property is owned by Robert and Rita Rassier. Their son Dan Rassier, 54, lives with them.
Sanner has named Dan Rassier as a person of interest; Rassier has told the Times he is innocent.
[...]

http://www.sctimes.com/article/20100726/NEWS01/107260053/-1/RSSTOP

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Forensic tests on dirt and ash unearthed from farm property near the Jacob Wetterling abduction site have turned up no evidence that might lead to an arrest or a break in the long-running mystery, Stearns County Sheriff John Sanner said Tuesday.

Sanner said his office received preliminary results from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension forensic crime lab late Monday. Additional testing on some items will continue.

“Various testings conducted were unable to establish, distinguish or identify potential evidence,” he said in a statement released this afternoon. “This does not exclude the possibility of further testing at a later date as ongoing research provides opportunities that are unavailable to us today.”

Because the investigation is ongoing, he said, the items tested and the type of testing to be done will remain confidential.
[...]

Sanner wouldn’t say at the time what prompted the search. He declined to elaborate today.

“I really can’t talk about it,” he said.
[...]

When the sifting was complete several weeks later, Stearns County authorities said that investigators had found "some items of interest," but did not elaborate on what was found.

A source close to the case, however, said that investigators found a variety of animal bones from a garbage pit or fire pit on the property.

The source said at that time that quite a few bones or fragments were discovered, typical of a garbage pit or dump site.

Recent advances in DNA technology now make it possible for investigators to pull DNA from bone fragments, teeth, hair or even fingernails if more common sources, such as blood, semen or skin, are unavailable.

The new technology, which dates back a decade, can even unlock DNA potential in cases as old as the Wetterling kidnapping.
http://www.startribune.com/local/103712384.html?elr=KArks:DCiUo3PD:3D_V_qD3L:c7cQKU iD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

[AngelFire]

The accounts of his disappearance are creepy and every parents worse nightmare