On Tuesday, Danny Heinrich pleaded guilty to a child porn charge in exchange for giving boy’s family the truth about what happened to their son.
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Patty Wetterling becomes a national advocate for missing children. Heinrich confessed Tuesday to abducting and killing 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling almost. “And, of course, we need to bring Jacob home”.
Heinrich told authorities he wore a mask when he abducted Jacob before handcuffing the boy in a vehicle and assaulting him in the woods, according to the Associated Press.
His 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 field in Paynesville. She says her son’s legacy will live on.
Patty Wetterling shared her story in Normal just one year ago.
October 26, 1989: Deputies on horseback and hundreds of people search for Jacob, but find nothing.
The JWRC was recently approached by a children’s soccer team who wanted to wear Jacob’s jersey number in their next soccer game.
Heinrich faces the statutory maximum of 20 years on the child pornography count, though Judge John Tunheim will decide his sentence. In the end, it was the only way to verify for certain that Jacob was dead, that Heinrich was responsible, and that he got a lengthy prison sentence.
When he returned to the grave site a year later, Heinrich said he could see Jacob’s red jacket.
A USA man has admitted to abducting and killing an 11-year-old boy almost 27 years after he committed the crime.
The statute of limitations had expired for charging him in the assault on Scheierl, but as part of Tuesday’s plea deal, Heinrich also admitted to that crime.
He said he told the two friends to run, before he handcuffed Jacob and drove him away.
Danny James Heinrich told a Minnesota court on Tuesday that 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling had one question 27 years ago when he was kidnapping him on a rural road: “What did I do wrong?”
He will not be charged in Jacob’s death due to a plea deal made with prosecutors and agreed to by the Wetterling family.
Allen Garber, the Federal Bureau of Investigation supervisor on the case at the time, said Heinrich came to authorities’ attention early on, and they put him under surveillance for several weeks.
Danny Heinrich’s status conference is set for 1 p.m. Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis. Heinrich panicked upon hearing a police vehicle, loaded his revolver, shot the boy and buried him in a place finally uncovered last week, federal authorities said.
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The buried remains were identified as Jacob’s on Saturday. Authorities expect to provide more details this week.
