The family of Jacob Wetterling in Minnesota finally gets some kind of closure – no matter how painful – 27 years after the 11-year-old boy went missing.
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Danny Heinrich, 53, admitted he kidnapped, sexually assaulted and fatally shot the boy, authorities said on Tuesday.
A timeline of events related to the abduction of 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling of St. Joseph, Minnesota: Oct. 22, 1989: Jacob Wetterling is abducted from a rural road by a masked gunman as he rides bikes with his brother and a friend near his home about 80 miles northwest of Minneapolis.
Heinrich pleaded guilty to a child pornography charge.
State authorities did not have the proof of murder they needed under Minnesota law, so they enlisted federal authorities to bring 25 counts of child pornography against Heinrich, with a maximum sentence of 20 years for each count, said US Attorney Andrew Luger.
February 2004: Authorities interview a local, unnamed person of interest, bringing renewed energy to the investigation. In its second edition, Answers in the Sand, Dudley reveals the circumstances tying Dan Heinrich to Jacob’s case from the very beginning. He then pulled out his revolver and loaded two rounds. The victim was still standing and crying after the first shot, so Heinrich shot him again.
Within two days, after re-interviewing Heinrich at length, they located bones, teeth and a T-shirt with the name “Wetterling” stenciled on it.
“He’s taught us all how to live, how to love, how to be fair, how to be kind”, Wetterling said.
Heinrich made Jacob duck down into the seat as he listened to a police scanner, which, after the other boys ran the half-mile back to the Wetterling home, crackled with news of the abduction.
January 2009: News clippings and photos of Jacob are found among the belongings of a recently deceased Milwaukee man, Vernon Seitz, who previously had confessed to killing children in the 1950s.
His remains were found and officially identified by dental records on Saturday.
Nine months before Jacob hopped on his bike for a quick trip to the video store, a 12-year-old boy in Cold Spring – Jared Scheierl – was walking home from the Side Cafe when a man forced him into the back seat of his auto and sexually assaulted him.
Late August 2016: Heinrich’s attorney reaches out to federal prosecutors to say Heinrich is open to a plea agreement.
Jacob asked to go home, but Heinrich told him he couldn’t take him all the way home, at which point, the boy began to cry, the Star Tribune reported.
His admission came in federal court in Minneapolis as he pleaded guilty to a child pornography charge.
Heinrich denies involvement in Jacob’s disappearance and is not charged in the case.
But DNA testing on Scheierl’s clothing last year helped to definitively tie Heinrich after all these years, police said.
She sounded content with the deal even though it ensured Heinrich would not be prosecuted for Jacob’s death – his confession being the only solid evidence of the crime. No remains were found. They also say they want his trial on pornography charges moved.
1994: Congress passes into law the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offenders Act.
Sources told CBS Minnesota Heinrich’s lawyers have always been in talks with federal prosecutors over some kind of plea agreement.
“Each of us working on this case stopped in our tracks”, Luger said, “and I will never forget that moment last Wednesday afternoon”.
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Authorities last October named Heinrich a person of interest in the disappearance and suspected homicide of Wetterling, whose parents, Patty and Jerry Wetterling, have become advocates for missing children since his disappearance. Authorities expect to provide more details this week.
