Jacob Wettering, whose parents Patty and Jerry Wetterling became tireless advocates for missing children after his disappearance, was identified by dental records, the Stearns County, Minnesota, sheriff said in a statement. Additional DNA testing will be performed at the BCA. The station reports that investigators have been at a site in Stearns County for several days, but have made no official announcement.
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Authorities say they plan to release more details in the coming week. We are asking for your patience and respect for the Wetterling family’s privacy until that time.
Authorities called Daniel Heinrich a person of interest in Jacob’s kidnapping, he denied any involvement and was not charged with that crime. Heinrich was questioned about the case in 1990 but never charged.
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Jacob’s parents founded the Jacob Wetterling Resource Centre, which works to help communities and families prevent child exploitation following his abduction. He told us today he is glad the Wetterling’s have finally found Jacob, but he says he is outraged about how his and other cases in Paynesville were handled. It shines on in a different way. We are and will continue to be Jacob’s Hope.
Peterson wasn’t yet born when a masked man abducted Jacob as he rode his bike home from a Tom Thumb store.
Jacob was riding his bicycle near his home in the central Minnesota community of St. Joseph with his brother and a friend on October 22, 1989, when a masked gunman abducted him and ordered the other boys to run.
He told the boys to lie face down in a nearby ditch and asked each one his age.
On social media, Minnesota residents and businesses shared pictures of their porches and their own personal reaction to a case that has become a huge part of the collective consciousness the past three decades.
Heinrich has been in federal custody since October 2015 on child pornography charges. Heinrich was also a suspect in another 1989 kidnapping in nearby Cold Spring, Minn., that took place the same year, but he can not be charged because DNA evidence linking him to the case was discovered after the statute of limitations in place at the time had expired. “I want the Wetterlings to know I had no idea”, David told KARE. “My prayers are with them”.
Danny Heinrich remains incarcerated, awaiting trial next month on child pornography charges.
At the Holiday Stationstore on College Avenue North, clerk Jordan Minks, who grew up in St. Joseph, said it seemed there was a sense of grief, but also resolution.
Troy Cole was attacked and sexually assaulted three years before Jacob was taken, a block or so from his own front door. He has denied involvement.
And forensic experts confirmed Saturday that those remains are Jacob’s. Jon Petters, 63, the building’s owner, said he put them up after reading the news Saturday morning.
They always expected Jacob to come home safe and to be found alive.
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“I can’t imagine that he said, ‘Look, I’ve done this and I’ve lived with it for so long I’d like to get rid of it”.
