MINNEAPOLIS – Danny Heinrich, the man who led authorities to the remains of Jacob Wetterling, admitted in U.S. District Court Tuesday that he abducted and killed the 11-year-old boy some 27 years ago, according to The Associated Press.
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Appearing in court, he admitted abducting Jacob from a road near the boy’s home in the central Minnesota community of St. Joseph on October 22, 1989.
“We love you Jacob”, Patty Wetterling said.
Heinrich, 53, was in federal court to plead guilty to child pornography charges unrelated to Jacob’s killing.
Heinrich faces the statutory maximum of 20 years on the child pornography count, though Judge John Tunheim will decide his sentence.
At a press conference following Heinrich’s court appearance, both authorities and the Wetterling family said that they’re thankful for closure. He could not be charged for assaulting Scheierl because the statute of limitations in place at the time of the crime had expired. Charging anyone for murder, meanwhile, would be impossible without a body.
Heinrich accepted the plea deal, which was two parts, according to U.S. Attorney, Andrew Lugen, part one required him to tell where Jacob was, as well as a full detailed confession.
“Janelle recognized that the best way to get the truth about Jacob was to seek federal charges and we would not be here if she had not made that phone call”, Luger said.
“Heinrich was open for the moment to tell us what happened …” It was following that arrest that he was officially named a person of interest in Jacob’s disappearance.
In federal court Tuesday in Minneapolis, 53-year-old Danny Heinrich of Annandale coldly recounted the events dating back to October of 1989.
He had been at home with his two younger siblings, Trevor, 10, and Carmen, 8, and Jacob’s friend Aaron Larsen, 11, while his parents Patty and Jerry Wetterling attended a dinner party about 20 minutes away.
After kidnapping the boy, Heinrich said, he handcuffed him and put him in the front seat of his vehicle.
The boy, who had been forced to strip, said he was cold, and asked if he could go home.
When asked if Heinrich was literally getting away with murder, Luger said: “He’s not getting away with anything”. He then loaded his revolver, telling Wetterling to turn around before he shot him in the head, he said. He shot the boy twice.
It was there, Heinrich said, that he removed the handcuffs and Jacob’s clothes, and molested him.
A year after the kidnapping, Heinrich returns to where he buried Jacob and notices his jacket is partially exposed, according to his 2016 testimony.
For MPR, Brandt Williams and Jon Collins say, “Asked why Heinrich killed Jacob after sexually assaulting him, Luger said authorities believed he panicked that night after hearing a police vehicle”. He maintained his innocence for years, and prosecutors never had enough evidence to charge him.
A tire track and shoe print were found at the scene, but investigators said they could not scientifically match them to Heinrich.
Heinrich’s testimony capped a week of dramatic developments in Jacob’s case, which began last week when Heinrich led investigators to the boy’s body in a field in Paynesville. No remains were found.
The boys were on their way back home when they hit a dark stretch of road and a man in vehicle pulled over, accosted them at gunpoint, told them to turn off their flashlight and after asking their ages, told them one-by-one to run and not look back or he would shoot them.
Also as part of the plea agreement, last month Heinrich took authorities to the site in Paynesville where he buried Jacob in 1989. Evidence, however, was flimsy.
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Scheierl has said he’d like to talk to Heinrich; in court Tuesday, he said that he now finds objective in helping others, according to MPR’s Williams.
