EP 220 - MINNESOTA: The Most Infamous Murder Case In Minnesota History: The Abduction And Murder of Jacob Wetterling

In October of 1989, a young boy went missing from a small town in Minnesota. As time ticked on, and no leads were found, the town, and the nation, grew desperate. However, when the answers to their questions were finally revealed, people were shocked at how their suspect had been hiding amongst them, in plain sight, for years... - Listen to our new show, "THE CONSPIRACY FILES"!: -Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5IY9nWD2MYDzlSYP48nRPl -Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-conspiracy-files/id1752719844 -Amazon/Audible - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/ab1ade99-740c-46ae-8028-b2cf41eabf58/the-conspiracy-files -Pandora - https://www.pandora.com/podcast/the-conspiracy-files/PC:1001089101 -iHeart - https://iheart.com/podcast/186907423/ -PocketCast - https://pca.st/dpdyrcca -CastBox - https://castbox.fm/channel/id6193084?country=us - Stay Connected: Join the Murder in America fam in our free Facebook Community for a behind-the-scenes look, more insights and current events in the true crime world: https://www.facebook.com/groups/4365229996855701 If you want even more Murder in America bonus content, including ad-free episodes, come join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/murderinamerica Instagram: http://instagram.com/murderinamerica/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/people/Murder-in-America-Podcast/100086268848682/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MurderInAmerica TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theparanormalfiles and https://www.tiktok.com/@courtneybrowen Feeling spooky? Follow Colin as he travels state to state (and even country to country!) investigating claims of extreme paranormal activity and visiting famous haunted locations on The Paranormal Files Official Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheParanormalFilesOfficialChannel - (c) BLOOD IN THE SINK PRODUCTIONS 2025 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 1:15Colin Brown?

  Warning: The following podcast is not suitable for all audiences. We go into great detail with every case that we cover and do our best to bring viewers even deeper into the stories by utilizing disturbing audio and sound effects.

• 1:27Courtney Brown?

  Trigger warnings from the stories we cover may include violence, rape, murder, and offenses against children.

• 1:33Colin Brown?

  This podcast is not for everyone. You have been warned.

• 1:39Courtney Brown?

  Ten-year-old Trevor Wetterling didn't know where he was going. His lungs burnt and his feet stung as he ran for his life. The man who had forced him, his brother, and his friend off their bikes had to still be watching him. He had pointed a gun in Trevor's face and told him to run for the trees. He told him that if he looked back, he would shoot him. The words clung to Trevor, fixing his gaze at the tree line ahead of him. But all he wanted to do was look back at his big brother Jacob. He wanted to see him and know that things were going to be okay. He wanted his brother to comfort him, to guide him like he always did.

• 2:21Courtney Brown?

  But it wasn't until Trevor slipped into the forest that he dared to turn around. And when he did, there was no sight of his older brother. The field Trevor had just sprinted through was nothing but a sea of moonlight. His friend Aaron gasped for breath beside him. He too had been told to run. But just as he started to head for the trees, he had seen the man grab Jacob. And now, they were gone. Eleven-year-old Jacob Wetterling was nowhere to be seen. Neither of the boys knew it then, but they would be the last people to ever see him. In the blink of an eye, everything changed.

• 3:03Courtney Brown?

  What started as an innocent bike ride down to the corner store to rent a movie, had transformed into one of the most devastating missing person cases of all time. A case that took 27 years to solve. And were it not for the persistence of a mother, a writer, and a victim, the man behind Jacob Wetterling's abduction would still be out there. So this is the story of the disappearance and murder of Jacob Wetterling. I'm Courtney Brown.

• 3:34Colin Brown?

  And I'm Colin Brown.

• 3:36Courtney Brown?

  And you're listening to Murder in America.

• 4:41Colin Brown?

  When you're a child, the trees, the creeks, the alleys, and the cul-de-sacs of your neighborhood are all so much more than landmarks around you. They're the boundaries of your adventures, the foundation of your budding imagination, and in many cases, the milestones you reach as you grow more into yourself and a member of your community every day. All parents yearn for a place where their kids can set out and explore, where they can create their own group of friends, and make the kind of memories that last a lifetime. St. Joseph, Minnesota offers just that. Located in central Minnesota, about an hour northwest of Minneapolis, St. Joseph offers access to the big city, but just enough distance to offer everyone living there a slice of small-town rural life.

• 5:27Colin Brown?

  With a population of around 7,000 residents, the town proudly declares itself as "Minnesota's Best Small Town," and they take that title seriously, hosting a variety of local events to bring residents together in the beautiful outdoors. A small, walkable downtown lined with brick buildings gives way to a town surrounded by woods, lakes, rolling plains, and farmland. St. Joseph is for families who want to embrace a slow, safe pace of life. It has everything they could possibly want. The crime rate is low and the streets are safe, offering kids an opportunity to learn independence biking to their friends' houses, adventuring in the woods, or walking to nearby creeks. When Patty and Jerry Wetterling moved to St. Joseph with their four children, like

• 6:12Colin Brown?

  many other parents, they saw it as the ideal place to raise their kids and watch them grow. Unfortunately, in 1989, they were faced with a horrible reality, one that most of us choose to ignore. No matter how safe a town seems, no matter how much we protect our children, evil will always be out there, and all it takes is one opportunity to change everything.

• 6:37Courtney Brown?

  Nineteen years before the town of Saint Joseph changed forever, Patty and Jerry Wetterling were practically two strangers, sitting on a bus together en route to Mexico. Patty King, as she was known then, had seen Jerry before. And to put it nicely, she hadn't been very impressed. Both of them had been in the same class at Minnesota State University, and they couldn't have been more different. Patty was always at the front of the class, pencil in hand, eager and ready to learn. Jerry, on the other hand, was a bit of a free spirit. In Dear Jacob, a book by Patty Wetterling and Joy Baker, Patty describes how Jerry would saunter into class, late and hungover.

• 7:23Courtney Brown?

  He would plop down in the back of the room, seemingly uninterested. But now, a few months later, in December of 1970, she was looking at him a bit differently. The two were a part of a large group of students embarking on a trip to Mexico to teach English to children for a semester, which meant that for the next several days, they'd all have to get to know each other on the long drive down to Mexico. And that's what first caught Patty's attention about Jerry. There was so much to get to know about him, and every new thing she learned was surprising. He was different from her in every way, and different from any man she had ever dated. When the bus stopped in Kansas overnight,

• 8:07Courtney Brown?

  the college students stayed in a hotel. Naturally, their chaperones told them that they were all to stay in their own rooms. But of course, that's not what happened. Patty and her roommate decided to throw a party. And there, she finally got the chance to ask Jerry all of the questions that had been brewing in her mind. Through their conversation, she learned that they were polar opposites. He thought she was a teacher's pet. She thought he was a slacker. He teased her about being in a sorority. She teased him about being a hippie. But in those differences, sparks flew. From the get-go, in that smushed hotel room in the middle of Kansas, they knew they had found something special.

• 8:52Courtney Brown?

  They challenged one another, not in a mean way, and not to change one another, but to learn and to understand. By the time they reached Mexico a few days later and were forced to go their separate ways, Patty to Monterey and Jerry to Mexico City, all they could think about was one another.

• 9:12Colin Brown?

  It wasn't until three months apart in Mexico that the two got a chance to see one another again. During a holiday weekend, Patty and her fellow Monterey teachers decided to go to Mexico City, then Acapulco to hang on the beach. Immediately upon their arrival, Patty met Jerry at a local restaurant. As they laughed and caught up over delicious food, Patty was delighted to see the sparks hadn't faded. They were stronger than ever. She invited Jerry to join her and her group on their journey to Acapulco, and despite not having a ride there, he managed to hitch a ride with a local family who were on their way to the market. When he arrived, Patty had a surprise for them. As a thank you for all of the work he put in to join her, she got them tickets to a sunset cruise.

• 9:55Colin Brown?

  It was there, watching the sunset over the Pacific Ocean with the Sierra Madre del Sur mountain range behind them, that they really cemented their feelings for one another. But the journey ahead wouldn't be easy. When they returned to life in Minnesota, they were faced with reality away from the sun-swept coast of Mexico. The Vietnam War was raging. Jerry had been saved from the draft by attending school, but with the couple's senior year coming to an end, he was about to run out of time. Fortunately, he managed to file as a conscientious objector. Now, at the time, filing as a conscientious objector didn't negate your requirement to serve your country. Instead of serving in a military branch, you were required to get a job that served the country's greater good in some way.

• 10:40Colin Brown?

  For Jerry, that was a job in Washington DC at the National Jogging Association. He picked it because Patty was already nearby, working as a teacher for future Merchant Marines in Piney Point, Maryland. There, they really began their life together, enjoying the beauty of DC and the passion of their budding relationship.

• 10:59Courtney Brown?

  Three years after their conversation in that hotel room in Kansas, Patty and Jerry had already lived an incredible life together. They had sailed in Mexico, explored Washington DC, and spent plenty of time in Minnesota, where they had met. But on May 21st, 1973, they decided to embark on their next adventure. In Ramsey, Minnesota, the two finally became husband and wife. Three years after that, they welcomed their first child, a daughter named Amy. Then soon after, on February 17th, 1978, their first son, Jacob Erwin Wetterling, was born.

• 11:42Courtney Brown?

  By then, Jerry and Patty had lived in Long Prairie, Minnesota. When Jerry set forth to open his own chiropractor office, the young, growing family decided to move to St. Joseph, where they all felt their kids would be safe, their businesses would be supported, and they could grow into the life that they had always dreamt of. Now after Jacob, they had two more kids: Trevor, who was just a year younger, and lastly Carmen. By all accounts, the children had a beautiful childhood, playing outside, riding their bikes freely, and exploring the nature surrounding St. Joseph.

• 12:20Courtney Brown?

  Around 1989, the population was around 2,500 residents. And it was the type of community where everyone knew one another, where doors were left unlocked, and children could roam around freely, without fear. No child thought twice about riding their bike to their friend's house or the local park. In a lot of ways, it was just expected. And for Jacob, life was no different. At 11 years old, he loved exploring the neighborhood with his best friend, Aaron Larson. He was also close to his brother Trevor, who was just a year younger than him. The two often butted heads, but they also admired each other in that endearing way that only siblings can.

• 13:04Courtney Brown?

  Their mother stated, quote, "They played and they'd fight, and then they'd fall asleep, each with one arm wrapped around the other," end quote.

• 13:14Colin Brown?

  Jacob was, according to everyone who knew him, an incredible brother. When he and Trevor would play offense-defense, a football-inspired game their father invented to play with them, Jacob always played fair, giving Trevor advantages because he was so much smaller. Sundays in particular were the days that they loved playing offense-defense the most. After playing the game with their dad and other kids from the neighborhood at the center of their street's roundabout, the Wetterling would run inside, get decked out in their purple and yellow gear, and cozy up on the couch for a Minnesota Vikings game. Football was one of Jacob's biggest passions, so much so that if anyone asked him, he'd tell them that it was his dream to be a professional football player. He had a passion for football, but he also had dozens of other passions.

• 13:59Colin Brown?

  He loved basketball, Michael Jordan, hockey, and along with that, he loved school. Jacob was, according to his teachers, a wonderful student. He worked hard, got good grades, and was great to all of his classmates. But the thing he looked forward to the most was, of course, spending time with his family at home. Heading home from school on Friday, October 20, 1989, 11-year-old Jacob was excited to embark on a weekend doing just that. It was set to be a long weekend, with a day off of school on Monday for a teacher workday, and he and his family had plenty of fun planned to keep them busy until then. Sadly, though, those plans would drastically change.

• 14:39Courtney Brown?

  On Saturday night, October 21st, Patty Wetterling drove to a local ice skating rink to pick up Jacob, who had practice. On the way home through the winding farm roads, she noticed that Jacob was unusually quiet. He was a chatty kid, usually excited to talk about how practice went. But something was different today. When she asked what was bothering him, Jacob, exasperated, told his mom that he needed to skate faster if he was going to make the new team with his best friend Aaron. On the previous team, Jacob had been the goalie, meaning he wore goalie skates, which are much different from regular hockey skates. On the new team,

• 15:22Courtney Brown?

  all players took turns being goalie, which meant he had to learn how to use regular skates. As he sat in the backseat, he was frustrated and down on himself, telling his mom that he needed to practice if he was going to make the team. Now Patty doesn't remember Jacob being mean or snappy with her. Yet, about an hour after they got home, Jacob found her in the living room. According to her book, he apologized for, quote, "being crabby", and he asked his mom if she wanted to play a game with him so he could make up for it. Patty was touched by how thoughtful and empathetic her little boy was. He hated to see people hurting.

• 16:03Courtney Brown?

  At the time, Patty gave Jacob a hug and told him it was okay. She said that as much as she would love to play with him, she had some things she had to take care of. With four children, all taking part in their own after-school activities, she pretty much had four full-time jobs on her plate. So, she wouldn't be able to play with him. Jacob understood, but he left the room telling his mom that he, quote, "just wanted to do something to make her happy", end quote. In her book, Patty writes that not playing with Jacob that night is one of her biggest regrets. But she could have never known what was to come. No one in St. Joseph could have possibly imagined it.

• 16:49Colin Brown?

  Sunday, October 22nd was unseasonably warm for a Minnesota fall day. It was the kind that anyone in the Midwest dreams about. Temperatures in the low 70s, with the sun high in the crystal clear sky, and the vibrant leaves billowing in a warm breeze. Jerry wanted to enjoy one last day of fishing before the cold set in, so he and Jacob planned to wake up early and take the family boat to their favorite spot, Big Fish Lake. By the time Jerry came in from his early morning run, just as the sun had begun to rise, Jacob was already waiting to go fishing, dressed and ready. The two set out on the 25-minute drive to the lake, eager to see if they could bring home some keepers. And though the morning together on the smoothest glass lake was a great one,

• 17:32Colin Brown?

  the fish weren't biting, and by late morning, the sun was beating down on them. It felt more like summer than fall. So by noon, Jerry and Jacob packed up and returned home to watch the Minnesota Vikings take on the Detroit Lions, a typical Sunday tradition in the Wetterling household. Everyone got decked out in their purple and gold, curled up on the couch with snacks, and watched the game intently. Jake had a knack for narrating what was happening, much like the game analysts, and he was so accurate that sometimes, when the actual game analysts spoke, they'd repeat almost exactly what he had said. By halftime, you didn't need to be as knowledgeable as Jake to know that it wasn't looking good for the Lions. The Vikings had a good enough lead that no one had any doubt they were going to win,

• 18:17Colin Brown?

  and so, wanting more practice on his skates, Jake begged his dad to take him to the ice arena in nearby St. Cloud to practice. Jerry agreed, taking him and Trevor to the arena for a few hours. Because of the beautiful weather outside, the Wetterling boys practically had the whole arena to themselves, and Jake and Trevor enjoyed every minute of it. By the time they were done, Jacob seemed much more confident on his skates.

• 18:42Courtney Brown?

  At home, the blissful evening continued. The Wetterling kids played outside, while inside, Jerry and Patty reflected on their day. And dear Jacob, Patty remembers how much they both loved days like this. Days where the whole family was together, where there was nothing on the agenda but watching their favorite team's game, and where they, as parents, got to sit back and admire the wonderful people their children were becoming.

• 19:10Courtney Brown?

  But there was something else the couple had to discuss. And that was whether or not they were going out for the night, as they had been asked to, or if they were going to stay home. One of their friends was throwing a housewarming party in Clearwater, Minnesota, about twenty minutes away from their home. Now, their eldest child, Amy, was spending the night at a friend's house, which meant that Jacob would be the oldest kid at home, and therefore responsible for his two younger siblings. But Jacob was an incredibly responsible kid. So even though it would be his first time watching his siblings alone, his parents knew that he would be more than capable. When they asked him if he would be willing to babysit, he didn't even hesitate.

• 19:54Courtney Brown?

  Though he did have one request. He wanted to have his best friend, Aaron, come over as well. Patty recalls thinking that it actually sounded like a great idea. Instead of one responsible preteen in charge, there would be two. So that night, Aaron's parents dropped him off at around 7:00 PM. And shortly after, Patty ordered pizza for the kids. Now she didn't have the phone number for the house they were going to that night. So she promised them that as soon as she got there, she would call and leave the number with the kids. That way, if they needed anything, they were one phone call away. About twenty-five minutes later, when they got to the party in Clearwater,

• 20:37Courtney Brown?

  she made good on that promise. Jacob answered the phone and told his mom that everything was going fine. She gave him the phone number to call if he needed anything, which he wrote down on a notepad. However, Patty didn't expect that he would need to call. Living in such a small, close-knit town, they never imagined something would happen. It never even crossed their mind that danger could be lurking in St. Joseph.

• 21:06Colin Brown?

  But it didn't take long for the first call to come in. Concerned, Patty took the phone from the host, only to hear Trevor on the other end with a pleading tone. He asked his mom if they could ride to Tom Thumb, their local convenience store, about a mile down the road to rent a movie. Patty, concerned that it was already dark, told Trevor no. In response, he did what every child of the eighties and nineties did: he begged to ask his dad instead. Patty remembers laughing and chiding to Jerry, "Your son would like to talk with you," before she handed him the phone. Speaking to his dad, Trevor really pleaded his case. He told him that each of them had flashlights, and they were all either wearing white, or had on a high-vis vest, so that they would easily be seen.

• 21:49Colin Brown?

  Jerry had to admit, he was impressed that the boys had thought this far ahead about their safety. Now, the boys had biked this route numerous times before, and he knew that even though his son was young, he was responsible. Finally, Jerry agreed, but told the kids that they had to go straight to the store and straight back, with no detours and no lingering. Excited, Trevor thanked his dad profusely and hung up. Back at the party, Jerry and Patty laughed with the other guests about the call. But just five minutes later, everyone looked in their direction when the phone rang yet again. This time, it was Jacob. He told his mom that Carmen, his eight-year-old sister, didn't want to go to Tom Thumb.

• 22:30Colin Brown?

  However, he had called their next-door neighbors, the Jurzachs, to see if their teenage daughter, Rochelle, would be willing to watch Carmen while Trevor, Jacob, and Aaron ran to the store. Patty was impressed: they had hardly been at the party for an hour, and she had already talked to her kids three times. On top of that, rather than just going or forcing their sister to go with them, Jacob had actually gone out of his way to get a backup babysitter. So, she agreed, telling him to be careful.

• 22:58Courtney Brown?

  Back home in St. Joseph, Jacob, Aaron, and Trevor were on cloud nine. When you're a little kid, and you get to experience the freedom of doing something by yourself for the very first time, there's nothing quite like it. It's exciting and thrilling. That's what all three of the boys were feeling as they sped down the long farm-lined road to the convenience store. But little did they know, someone was watching them. As the boys made their way down 91st Avenue, Aaron heard a strange noise. It was coming from a field to the left of the road, near a farm owned by the family called The Racieres.

• 23:40Courtney Brown?

  Unfortunately, the area where the noise was coming from was pitch black. There were no streetlights. As the boys shined their flashlights in that direction, it only offered a small beam of light into a sea of darkness. The sound was odd, but Aaron brushed it off, perhaps believing it was his imagination or an animal rustling around in the tall grass. So, they continued. At the end of 91st Avenue, the boys made a ride at East Baker Street towards Tom Thumb. They stopped and parked their bikes outside the entrance and rushed inside to find the movie they wanted to rent, Major League.

• 24:23Courtney Brown?

  But as they looked around, they learned that it had already been rented. It was a bummer, but the boys shrugged it off and quickly agreed on another movie, The Naked Gun. After they grabbed the movie, they strolled the candy aisle, grabbed a few Blow Pops, and then took their items to the store clerk, where Jacob checked out the video. It was a few minutes after 9:00 PM when they got back on their bikes and pedaled towards the Wetterling residence. The boys joked and laughed as they climbed the hill on 91st Avenue. It was the only part of their journey that took some effort. But once they reached the top, it was smooth sailing the rest of the way home. As they cruised downhill, mere minutes from their home,

• 25:08Courtney Brown?

  their lives were changed forever. A dark figure leapt out of the shadows of a driveway, stopping only a few feet in front of the boys and ordering them to stop. Startled, the boys immediately hit their brakes, skidding to a halt in the middle of the road. Out of the darkness, the looming figure yelled out that he had a gun. Trevor quickly pointed the flashlight towards him, offering glimpses of the man behind the voice. He had a stocking cap pulled over his face, black gloves, and a dark puffy winter coat. At first, both Trevor and Aaron thought it might be a prank, but then they saw it: a small silver handgun,

• 25:53Courtney Brown?

  glistening in the beam of the flashlight. The man grew angry when Trevor flashed his light in his face, and he ordered him to turn it off. Terror shooting through his veins, Trevor obeyed without hesitation, plunging them all into the darkness with a click. The man then told the boys to get off their bikes and put them on the side of the road. Terrified and desperate to appease him, the boys decided to offer the man their candy and their movie. Think about that for a minute. These poor innocent boys, shivering in the dead of night, offering up their blow pops and their movie that they had just got with their own money. In their minds, that's what bad men did.

• 26:38Courtney Brown?

  They robbed people, but they had no idea just how evil this man truly was. They had no idea what he really wanted.

• 26:48Colin Brown?

  In a harsh, raspy voice, he ordered all three of them to lie face down in the grass on the side of the road. Terrified, they obeyed, laying in the cool grass on their stomachs as this man towered over them. Roughly, he asked their ages. All at the same time, the boys blurted out their ages, but the man stopped them. He pointed the gun directly at ten-year-old Trevor and growled: "No, you." Trevor responded that he was ten. After him, Aaron said he was eleven, followed by Jacob. The man contemplated this, then motioned with his gun, ordering Trevor, the youngest, to get up and run into the woods. He warned him that if he looked back, he would shoot him. Trevor did what any ten-year-old would do in that situation.

• 27:32Colin Brown?

  He ran like his life depended on it.

• 27:35Courtney Brown?

  With Trevor gone, the man ordered Aaron and Jacob to roll over, so he could get a good look at their faces. It's impossible to imagine how scared the boys were. And sadly, it only got worse from there. The man hovered over the two before he reached down and grabbed Aaron's genitals through his pants. This horrific detail would be a turning point in the investigation. But for quite some time, it was a secret that Aaron harbored. A secret that an eleven-year-old child should never, ever have to carry. After the man touched him, he ordered Aaron to run into the woods and not look back. Scrambling to his feet, Aaron did as he was told,

• 28:19Courtney Brown?

  running through the pitch-black field into the tree line in the distance. But he couldn't help himself. As he ran, he glanced back over his shoulder, just in time to see the man grab Jacob by the arm and haul him off the ground. Holding on to him, the man forced Jacob towards the Rossières gravel driveway. And this would be the last time that anyone saw Jacob Wetterling alive. However, at the time, neither Aaron nor Trevor thought that was possible. As Aaron burst into the woods, he discovered Trevor waiting there, terrified and breathless beneath the cover of the towering pines.

• 29:02Courtney Brown?

  They finally believed that it was safe to turn around and look. They were both hopeful that Jacob would be running towards them, having been sent towards the woods just as they had been. But instead, the night was still, and the field was quiet. Jacob, their brother and best friend, was gone.

• 29:23Colin Brown?

  Racing a half mile through the woods, the boys ran on pure adrenaline, their hearts pounding and breath labored. They didn't dare stop or look back as they darted between trees and stumbled over the fallen autumn leaves. By the time they reached the Wetterling residence, they were both gasping for breath and so frantic that Rochelle, the temporary babysitter, couldn't understand what they were saying. In between their sobs and gasps, she made out the important part. Jacob was gone. He had been taken. The boys sat down in the living room to catch their breath while Rochelle called her father, Merle Jurzak, and told him to come over as quickly as he could. Within a few minutes, Merle arrived and spoke to the boys.

• 30:04Colin Brown?

  Merle could see the fear on their faces as they recounted what had happened to them on the way home from Tom Thumb. He told the boys that he would take care of things and promised to get their parents home as soon as possible. He slipped into the other room and called the number for the housewarming party. It was a call that would change Patty and Jerry's lives forever.

• 30:24Courtney Brown?

  In Clearwater, twenty-five minutes down the road, the guests were getting ready to sit down for dinner. When the phone rang once more, all eyes swept to Patty and Jerry. It was their children calling again. Many of the people laughed, teasing them that the kids were calling for something silly. But when Jerry picked up the phone, he knew instantly that something was wrong. When he hung up the phone, he slipped into the dining room and grabbed Patty's arm, quietly but urgently telling her that they had to leave. In a hushed tone, Patty, completely oblivious, asked, "What? The kids aren't back?"

• 31:06Courtney Brown?

  Her husband responded, "Two of them are. Somebody took Jacob." From there, there were no more questions asked, no more hesitation. Without saying another word, the two rushed out of the party. Patty had never seen such a serious look on Jerry's face before. The sense of absolute urgency and panic that engulfed them as they reached the car was one that would follow them for years to come. The drive home wasn't long, but Patty remembers it feeling like forever. She urged Jerry to speed, to get them home as quickly as possible. But she had no idea that this was just the beginning of the waiting and desperate prayer for answers.

• 31:52Courtney Brown?

  Their ride home was 25 minutes. But that feeling she felt during the ride was one that would stay with them for over 25 years.

• 32:04Colin Brown?

  While the Wetterlings raced home to face an uncertain future, Merle called the police to report the kidnapping. At 9:40 PM, the first police officer, Officer Bruce Bechtold, arrived at the Wetterling residence. Officer Bechtold immediately interviewed Trevor and Aaron to find out what had happened. While he got the boys' initial statements, Patty and Jerry started down 91st Avenue, only to be met with a sea of flashing blue and red police lights. At the top of the hill, where the boys had been stopped, the police were hard at work cordoning off the crime scene with yellow tape. Driving by, the Wetterlings could see the boys' bikes, abandoned in the grass. The sight was nothing short of agonizing. When they arrived at their home just down the road, Patty jumped out of the car and ran inside.

• 32:49Colin Brown?

  Trevor tried to speak to explain what happened, but there was so much adrenaline pulsing through him that it was hard for him to get the words out. His mother and father held him, trying to comfort him, and meanwhile, Aaron stood in the corner of the kitchen, nervously biting his fingernails, his eyes hazy and far away. It was undeniable, looking at the boys, that they were traumatized. Not only did the Wetterlings have a missing son, they had a son who had experienced the unthinkable, a son whom they had to take care of while they could barely keep themselves together. At the same time, they had a mystery to solve, and both Patty and Jerry knew that time was of the essence if they were going to find Jacob alive. By the time they arrived home, it was past 10:00 PM, meaning that he had been gone for over an hour.

• 33:33Colin Brown?

  Desperate for help, Patty called her good friend Judy Novak. She told Judy what had happened and begged her to come over to help them search the surrounding woods. But Officer Beck told overheard and told Patty she would have to stay inside in case Jacob called. As for the search, he told her that the St. Joseph Police Department would handle it. As Patty was about to learn, things were well in motion. All of the St. Joseph Police Department officers were on foot canvassing the woods, as well as volunteers from the St. Joseph Fire Department and the Wait Park K-9 Unit. There were at least 50 people on the ground searching the woods and fields near the crime scene. In addition, a helicopter with a searchlight was brought in by the Minneapolis Police Department.

• 34:15Colin Brown?

  At that moment, no one knew that this case would become one of the most infamous child abduction investigations in American history, and the largest search effort ever in the state of Minnesota. But it was clear from the get-go that this was the most serious case St. Joseph had ever seen, and that there was a clock ticking faster with every second. Jerry and Patty were beside themselves. Apparently, Patty's friend Judy Novak had made several phone calls to other mutual friends, and soon people started arriving at the Wetterling residence in droves. Aaron's parents, Vic and Fran Larson, arrived with Aaron's two younger sisters. Jacob's older sister, Amy, came home from her sleepover, and other concerned friends raced over to console Jerry and Patty and help them make sense of things.

• 35:00Courtney Brown?

  Because sadly, there was a lot that the police needed from the panicked parents. First, they needed a photo of Jacob. Handing it over felt painful for Patty, for more reasons than one. It was Jacob's fifth-grade photo, a shot of him smiling sweetly at the camera, clad in a yellow shirt. But the Jacob in that photo was long gone. In just a year, he had changed so much. His new photo, his sixth grade photo, had been taken, but it hadn't been passed out yet. The family wouldn't receive it until several weeks after he disappeared. And when they did, they would see the Jacob that they had lost.

• 35:42Courtney Brown?

  In that sixth grade photo, he was wearing a sweater that he had picked out himself. And dear Jacob, Patty remembers Jacob grabbing the shirt off a rack when they were back to school shopping. It was dark navy with neon stars on it, an outer space adventure that was peak eighties. Jacob loved the sweater and excitedly begged his mom to get it. Patty recalled being taken aback because she would never thought he would pick that out. For her, it was a sign that her boy was evolving into his own person, developing his own style and sense of self. It was something bittersweet, a milestone of sorts, the kind that only a parent would notice.

• 36:24Courtney Brown?

  But for police, that old picture, the one with the sweater she had picked out, would have to do. Along with the photo, police also asked for a shirt for the canines to use to track his scent. And surprisingly, they also asked for something that contained Jacob's DNA. Now, in the late eighties, DNA was very much in its infancy. But eventually, it would become a vital part of the investigation. Initially, Patty was reluctant to hand over Jacob's mouthguard from his hockey bag. But she was willing to do absolutely anything if it meant finding her boy. And unfortunately, in those early hours, there wasn't much she could do.

• 37:08Courtney Brown?

  She comforted her children and anxiously watched out the window, longing for Jacob to come walking up the driveway like he had done so many times before. But as the hours passed, there was still no sight of him. Sadly, the search for Jacob was called off at around 3 a.m. on the morning of October 23rd. It was too dark to search for clues. Investigators decided it would be best to rest and try again once the sun came up. But for Patty and Jerry, rest was impossible. They both laid in their bed, staring at the ceiling in what can only be described as agony.

• 37:48Courtney Brown?

  And dear Jacob, Patty writes, "How could I sleep in a warm cozy bed when Jacob was still out there somewhere? Certainly not sleeping in a warm cozy bed. I felt guilty eating or showering, because I knew he wasn't enjoying those same comforts. Anything normal felt like a betrayal."

• 38:09Colin Brown?

  With the temperatures dipping down into the low 40s, she kept thinking over and over about the clothes Jacob had with him. He'd only been wearing a thin jacket that night. The idea that her baby boy was freezing somewhere, anxious and scared, it was maddening. Beside her, Jerry was spiraling with his own fear and guilt. He would later recount to Patty that he felt like Jacob was slipping away with every tick of the clock. He kept thinking, over and over, that his son could be in Canada by now. He could be halfway to Mexico, where his journey to being had begun before he was even thought of, so many years earlier, when his parents bonded over card games and each other's differences. Now, life was so different. That night was the beginning of the Wetterling's new existence.

• 38:53Colin Brown?

  An existence without answers, without their son. Now, early on in the investigation, Sheriff Graft put out a press release regarding the disappearance of Jacob Wetterling. But afterwards, Vern Iverson, a family friend of the Wetterlings, was contacting as many news outlets as he could to spread the word. He made the calls from Jerry's chiropractic office so that their home phone wouldn't be flooded with calls. And this was the beginning of a media firestorm, with several news outlets running the story daily, including the St. Cloud Times, who often reported Jacob's story as front-page news. It wouldn't take long for the story to gain national attention. Inside Edition, A Current Affair, People Magazine, Good Morning America, CNN, and

• 39:36Colin Brown?

  the CBS Evening News all talked about Jacob's disappearance. As news stations across the country awakened to cover Jacob's disappearance on October 23rd, searchers gathered to begin looking again in the morning light. By 8 a.m., the search was in full swing, with the nearby Delwind Ballroom serving as a command center for police and hundreds of volunteers who fanned out, searching a two-mile radius around the crime scene. Volunteers searched on ATVs, bloodhounds were brought in from Minneapolis, helicopters searched overhead, a tip line was created at the Tri-County Crime Stoppers, and thousands of flyers were printed with Jacob's picture, front and center.

• 40:16Speaker 07

  Jacob was abducted while riding his bike with his brother and a friend.

• 40:20Speaker 08

  He grabbed Jacob and then he told me to run as fast as I could into the woods or else he'd shoot. There's no explanation. I don't feel the anger yet. I just want him home.

• 40:29Colin Brown?

  On day two of their search for Jacob, bloodhounds were able to track his scent up the gravel driveway towards the Rassier residence, roughly 75 yards from the mailbox. Investigators discovered a fresh tire track, a child-sized Nike shoe print, and an adult-sized shoe print. Detective Steve Munn quickly made plaster casts of the evidence, but by that point, many people in the town already believed they knew who the print belonged to. When someone is kidnapped from the end of your driveway, naturally, people are going to be looking in your direction. But the suspicion and judgment that fell on 34-year-old Dan Rassier was as cruel as it was life-changing. The home at the end of the driveway belonged to his parents, Robert and Rita, who were vacationing in Europe,

• 41:13Colin Brown?

  meaning that at the time, he had been the only person home. Naturally, Dan was one of the first people questioned. He had no problem admitting that he had been home the night of the kidnapping. In fact, Dan told investigators that on the night of October 22nd, around 10:45 p.m., he was awakened by the insistent barking of his dog, Smokey. When he looked out the window, he noticed several flashlights moving around a woodpile near the gravel driveway. He assumed that someone was trying to steal the wood. Now, Dan had worked hard chopping that wood up, so he wasn't going to let that go without a fight. Keeping the house dark, he slowly walked towards the movement on his property. But suddenly, he noticed it wasn't just a few flashlight beams cutting through the darkness

• 41:56Colin Brown?

  of his yard, it was dozens. Rather than confront the people in his yard, he dialed 911 to report the theft. It was 11:23 PM. The 911 dispatcher informed Dan that a child had been abducted in the area and that the flashlights were from police officers searching. When he learned of the seriousness of the issue, Dan walked back outside with his flashlight, spoke with Officer Bechtold, and told him that he would search some of the outbuildings near his residence. However, when he failed to find anything out of the ordinary, Dan assumed there was little more he could do. With an early workday ahead of him, he returned inside and went to sleep.

• 42:33Courtney Brown?

  Dan Raciere was a music teacher in Cold Spring. For some, his involvement with kids was another red flag that had people looking in his direction. But Dan had been a teacher for over 10 years, essentially for his entire adult life, and there had not been one single disciplinary action taken against him. No student ever reported any inappropriate conduct, and according to reports, he was well-liked by everyone. But that didn't seem to matter to the public. Around 8 AM on the morning of October 23rd, investigators pulled Dan out of class. They searched his vehicle and questioned him for roughly 45 minutes.

• 43:17Courtney Brown?

  Dan told them that on the afternoon before Jacob's abduction, he had seen an unusual car in his driveway while he organized his music collection. It caught his attention. Dan said that the driver was driving "like his life depended on it." Now for the car itself, Dan described it as a tan 1970's Chevrolet Monte Carlo. But this wasn't the only car Dan saw that day. A few hours later, he went for a jog, and when he returned, he stopped at the mailbox to pick up the Sunday newspaper. By that point, the speeding car he saw earlier was already out of his mind.

• 43:59Courtney Brown?

  But after he finished eating dinner, he heard another vehicle coming up the driveway. Curious, he looked out the window and saw a small blue car. In the passenger seat, he thought he saw either a woman or a young boy. But strangely enough, it looked as if the passenger had their hands raised near their face, almost as if they were shielding their eyes. Then, the car turned around and sped off down the driveway towards 91st Avenue, the same direction that first vehicle had gone. Now, after telling investigators this story, Dan was allowed to go back to work, but his life was forever changed.

• 44:41Courtney Brown?

  Though police had absolutely no evidence that he was involved, several members of the community had essentially found him guilty in the court of public opinion. Though he answered all of their questions, took a polygraph, and allowed police to search anywhere they wanted, people refused to stop looking his way. Because of this, in 1989, Dan had a pretty bad reputation. But over the next decade, the suspicion on him would only grow worse.

• 45:13Colin Brown?

  By Tuesday, October 24th, investigators were at a dead end. Although Jacob's scent had been traced down the Rassier driveway, the presence of tire tracks suggested that it was likely that Jacob had been driven to a different location. The entire community of St. Joseph was on edge. Children were too scared to go outside, and parents believed it would be best to keep a tight leash on them. An 11-year-old classmate of Jacob's, Jason Icoff, was interviewed by the St. Cloud Times and said, "The guy who did that probably came from somewhere else. Nobody around here would do something like that." In an attempt to quell children's fear and give parents tips on handling their questions, a meeting was held at Jacob's school, St. Cloud North Community School.

• 45:57Colin Brown?

  Over 200 students attended alongside concerned parents and school administration. Principal Ray Potenon stated that there would be psychologists and social workers to counsel children as they navigated through their new reality. Jacob Wetterling was missing, and there were no answers. But this didn't offer the comfort many needed. The St. Cloud Times reported, "The voices were pained, passionate, and helpless. Tears were shed. The questions were many, the answers few." One child, a classmate, Wes Carles, told reporters, "I was up half the night worried about it. I couldn't get any sleep." When he was questioned further, he told them tearfully that he was laying in bed, wondering whether Jacob was alive or dead. And although hundreds of volunteers continued to search for Jacob,

• 46:42Colin Brown?

  going door to door to neighbors' homes and searching on foot, by Sunday, October 29th, there was still no sign of him or his abductor. People were doing all that they could in spite of the horrible reality they were facing, and that included offering donations to both the family and to aid in the search efforts. The entire community banded together. Businesses donated items and helped fundraisers and events. Professional sports teams, including the Minnesota Twins, North Stars, and Vikings auctioned off tickets and jerseys, and the Minnesota State Outdoor Advertising Association donated several billboard spaces to display Jacob's picture and information. A few weeks after his disappearance, the Minnesota Vikings dedicated the football to Jacob,

• 47:25Colin Brown?

  and the stands were filled with photographs of Jacob that read, "Please Bring Jacob Home." For everyone that knew Jacob, it was bittersweet. There's nothing he would have loved more than to be a part of his favorite team's game, but the way he found himself there was heartbreaking. His face was splashed across the stadium, across the entire state of Minnesota, and soon enough, across the entire country. The Conspiracy Files is the most explosive show on the internet. I'm your host, Colin Brown, from The Paranormal Files on YouTube, and I'm inviting you to take this twisted journey down the rabbit hole with me. Together, we will dive deep into some of the world's most dangerous and disturbing conspiracy theories, from suspicious suicides to hidden pedophile rings and high-profile cover-ups.

• 48:08Colin Brown?

  On my show, no story is off limits, and no detail will be spared. And trust me, after listening to just one episode, you will never look at the world the same. So, if you like conspiracies, mysteries, true crime, and chaos, then this is the show for you. Listen to The Conspiracy Files now on all streaming platforms, or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 48:36Courtney Brown?

  With so many people invested in Jacob's disappearance, hundreds of tips started to pour in. In the beginning, everyone was treated as a suspect, including Jerry and Patty Wetterling. Both were taken into the Comfort Inn Hotel in question for several hours, sometimes together, other times alone. Their private life was now fully on display. No question was off limits. They were questioned about their sex life, extramarital affairs, domestic disputes, and their finances. Jerry submitted a polygraph and it determined he was not being deceptive. But that didn't stop the public from making comments.

• 49:19Courtney Brown?

  For years, people claimed that Jerry had to be behind Jacob's disappearance, in spite of the fact that he was 25 minutes away when his son disappeared. But despite the public's opinion, both Jerry and Patty were quickly ruled out. Investigators theorized that whoever had Jacob had fled the area and that he had likely stalked Jacob for a few days before his abduction. Now at this point, sadly, no one could deny that the only plausible motive for the crime was a sexual one, as much as it pained them to think about. And soon, a few days into the investigation, they got confirmation of that.

• 50:02Courtney Brown?

  Like we mentioned, on the night of the abduction, Aaron Larson had been groped by the abductor just before he was told to run. In his shock and shame, it was hard for him to admit. But finally, after being questioned by police a few times, he revealed what had happened. Aaron was an 11-year-old boy scared and traumatized. And he had no idea that that important detail would confirm investigators and Jacob's parents were his fears. FBI Agent Jeff Jamar stated, "I'm not an expert on pedophiles, but that's one indication to me that this person is a pedophile. There is no question.

• 50:45Courtney Brown?

  The child was abducted for a specific purpose."

• 50:50Colin Brown?

  Soon enough, several released inmates from the St. Cloud Reformatory were investigated. One of the former inmates had been a convicted sex offender, but after a close inspection of his car, it was determined that the tire tracks did not match those found at the scene. Now, after looking at all of the evidence, Stearns County Deputy Sheriff Jim Kostreba believed that Jacob, Trevor, and Aaron were followed from the Tom Thumb convenience store. He stated, "It's difficult to say that someone just happened to be in that area at the time. It's a fairly remote area, and it's not traveled by everybody. You'd have to say the person followed the three boys from somewhere." Being such a small town, everybody talked, and soon there were several tips that came in regarding a mysterious red car.

• 51:34Colin Brown?

  Apparently, the car was seen leaving 91st Avenue on the night of Jacob's abduction. Not to mention, someone had seen it parked at the Delwind Ballroom, only a few blocks from the Tom Thumb convenience store. A description of the driver was given to investigators. A Caucasian male, 25 to 30 years old, 185 to 190 pounds. But after a few weeks, and investigating over two dozen red cars in the area, nothing of importance was discovered. Meanwhile, Patty did her best to try to keep her family together as they navigated through their grief. In her book titled Dear Jacob, she admitted that his disappearance took a toll on her children. 13-year-old Amy grew quiet and spent a lot of her free time with her neighbor, Rochelle Jurzak.

• 52:18Colin Brown?

  8-year-old Carmen started sucking her thumb and wanted to be close to her parents at all times. As for 10-year-old Trevor, who had been there the night Jacob vanished, he spent his free time playing sports to get his mind off of everything. But at night, he found it hard to sleep. He refused to sleep in his old room, the room he and Jacob had shared, and instead, slept with his parents or on a mattress in the living room. Often, both he and Amy would sleep next to each other, one on the couch and one on a mattress on the floor. He never stepped foot in his old bedroom again, something that really speaks to the trauma of what that poor boy experienced. Everyone had to find their own way to cope, and for Patty, that was in writing letters to Jacob.

• 53:01Colin Brown?

  On Monday, October 30, 1989, Patty wrote this to her missing son.

• 53:06Courtney Brown?

  Dear Jacob, Each morning I wake up, I feel drugged, weighed down, troubled. The bad nightmare is still here. My heart hurts as days pass by without you. I wrestle over the details again and again. Who could have done this? Where are you, Jacob? No one has slept much. Psychics started calling almost right away. Your dad talks to them. I can't. Amy, Trevor, and Carmen are surrounding themselves with friends. No one wants to be alone. I'm struggling with trying to find anything I can do. Some days I feel like I can't even get out of bed. But I force myself. That might be all I accomplish in a day.

• 53:50Courtney Brown?

  Just getting up. Normal things are impossible. I feel guilty crawling into a cozy bed at night. I think about you not being able to crawl into your own cozy bunk bed downstairs with Trevor. I'm afraid to close my eyes at night. The dark is so dark and ominous. All the scariest thoughts that I managed to overcome during the daylight hours come back as the sunlight fades. And I feel smothered by this thing that feels like a cold blanket of the darkest dark. I see your face, but as I drift off to sleep, it sometimes gets distorted, and I jerk wide awake again. I see your eyes closed, and I will open them.

• 54:34Courtney Brown?

  I need to see you, hear you, feel your skinny little body snuggled up next to me in your favorite rocking chair. I can smell your sweaty hair. You were so close, but so very far away. I love you, Jacob, and I promise I will never stop searching for you. Love, Mom.

• 54:53Colin Brown?

  This heartbreaking letter was just one of many. Eventually, some were published in local newspapers, as much a message to Jacob as they were to his abductor. The family was in shambles, and at this point, all they had was one another as they navigated the landmines of calls that flooded their home every day. Some were tips and leads, some were from wannabe psychics, and others, unfortunately, were cruel pranks. Some people called to tell the family that Jacob, their 11-year-old boy, had been raped and killed. Others called, demanding that Patty give her life to Jesus in order to get her son back. For Patty, who was already religious and cared deeply about God, she was wounded by these calls. In a letter to Jacob, she wrote this.

• 55:38Courtney Brown?

  I didn't know how to respond. I was praying. I am a Christian. I couldn't take the yelling and the blame she was placing on me. I know it wasn't God or Jesus who took you away from us, Jacob. It was some really bad guy, wearing a mask and holding a gun. Trevor and Aaron saw him. And now they have to live with the nightmare.

• 56:00Colin Brown?

  In between answering the phones, helping investigators and keeping her family afloat, Patty gave interviews begging for answers and raising awareness.

• 56:09Courtney Brown?

  This shouldn't happen anywhere. It's the type of, it shouldn't happen anywhere. All I could think of is who, who would take a child away from their parents? I, I couldn't, um...

• 56:20Speaker 09

  Can you think of any reason anyone would want to harm your family or your son?

• 56:27Courtney Brown?

  No.

• 56:30Courtney Brown?

  Nothing. But Patty had no idea that the biggest lead to finding her son had already been essentially missed by the local police. Because just 48 hours after Jacob was abducted, an unnamed high school sophomore from nearby Painesville, Minnesota, hesitantly came forward to police. Nervously, with his father by his side for support, the boy told investigators that over the past two years, there had been a string of sexual assaults in his own town. It had become so terrifyingly common that all the boys around his age knew of it. And they all knew that they had to be careful.

• 57:13Courtney Brown?

  The witness told police that he had personally seen at least two of the assaults, where boys were snagged off their bikes by a heavyset man, and they were then threatened with a knife to comply with his demands. Now, these attacks happened all over Painesville. It was so frequent and so widespread. The boy was confident that those attacks had a connection to Jacob Wetterling. And yet, even with this information, it would take investigators three months before they even remotely pursued the lead. This was in spite of having not one, but two victims who pointed out the similarities between the Painesville cases and Jacob's abduction.

• 57:56Colin Brown?

  Aside from the high school sophomore, they also had the word of a 12-year-old boy named Jared Shirel, who hadn't been attacked in Painesville but nearby in Cold Springs. On January 13th, 1989, Jared was walking home from a cafe after getting himself a malted milkshake. It was a little after 9:00 PM. The air was brisk and cold, and he was eager to hurry home to his warm bed after a long day of hockey practice. But when a car pulled up next to him and the seemingly lost driver asked for directions, he felt obligated to help the man behind the wheel get where he was going. As Jared politely told the driver where he needed to go, the man leapt out of the car and forced young Jared into the backseat.

• 58:37Colin Brown?

  Jared's panicked breaths were clouds of white in the frigid January air as he called out for help, but it was too late. The back door of the car clicked behind him, and the driver ordered him to lay down in the backseat or he would shoot him. Jared obeyed, laying in the backseat and staring up at the starry sky as the car went from the drone of smooth roads to crashing down a gravel farm road. Imagine the terror the poor boy felt as he was driven further and further into the unknown with a man who wanted nothing more than to harm him.

• 59:08Courtney Brown?

  Now, what happened to Jared is horrific, so listener discretion is advised. But we feel it's important to know what these innocent kids are subjected to in order to understand the true depravity of the people committing these crimes against them. But that night, when they reached the end of the desolate farm road, the driver ordered Jared to pull his pants down in the backseat. He attempted to sexually assault Jared by performing forcible oral sex on him. But when that didn't go as planned, the man then forced Jared to perform oral sex on him instead. He told the young terrified boy that if he threw up, he would

• 59:48Courtney Brown?

  shoot him. Finally, when he was finished, he ordered Jared to take off his pants and underwear. And give them to him so he could keep them. Jared did as he was told. And then he was ordered to get out of the car. Before leaving, the driver threatened to kill him if he ever went to the police. And then, just before he drove off, he ordered Jared to roll naked in the freezing snow and then walk home. Jared was miles and miles away from his house, pantsless, cold, and traumatized. It was a mere 20 degrees outside as he made the long, terrifying walk home,

• 1:00:30Courtney Brown?

  unsure if the man who assaulted him was watching, unsure if he was planning on finishing the job. Jared was more brave than any child should have to be. And finally, after he arrived home, he broke down in tears and told his parents what happened. They immediately went to the local police station, where Jared gave them every detail he could think of.

• 1:00:54Colin Brown?

  He described the car the man drove as a late-model, mid-sized, four-door, dark-blue car with a luggage rack on the trunk and a dark-blue interior. As for the man himself, Jared stated he was a Caucasian male, around 5'8", 170 pounds, mid-30s to early 40s, dark hair, rough skin, large nose, large ears, broad shoulders, protruding stomach, and a raspy voice. He described his clothing as military-style with camouflage fatigues, black boots and a gray vest. Further information indicated that the man had a portable police radio wrapped in duct tape in the front seat. Within a few days of Jared's sexual assault, Detective Lou Leland, Detective Doug Pierce,

• 1:01:36Colin Brown?

  and Stearns County Sheriff's Deputy Robert Ziegelmeyer received information.

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  Now streaming only on Disney+.

• 1:03:04Colin Brown?

  ...about a possible suspect, Danny James Heinrich.

• 1:03:10Colin Brown?

  Daniel was born on March 21, 1963, to Howard and Corinne Heinrich in Painesville, Minnesota. He lived on Lake Coronas with his parents and two brothers, David and Tommy. But early on, there was something odd about Danny. When he was 14 years old, he was suspected of burning down his neighbor's lake cabin. In 1978, when he was 15, his parents divorced, something that was stated as being a significant turning point in his life. He dropped out of high school during his junior year and spent time at the Wilmar Regional Treatment Center, a hospital that specialized in mental health and addiction problems. As he got older, he had several run-ins with law enforcement. On March 30, 1984, Danny was arrested for breaking and entering at a local store called

• 1:03:55Colin Brown?

  Twice's Nice after police discovered him hiding inside a pile of boxes. He admitted that he had also burglarized another location earlier that same evening and blamed it on his parents' divorce and a gambling habit. Ultimately, Danny pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree burglary and was sentenced to 30 days in jail with five years of probation. Soon after he was released, he was up to no good again. On August 30th, 1986, Danny was arrested for a DWI. During his arrest, he was combative with police officers, allegedly yelling at them, "Yeah, I'll take your fucking breath test," but then refusing to. Back at the station, Danny finally complied, blowing a .17, twice the legal limit in

• 1:04:39Colin Brown?

  the state of Minnesota. He was arrested and charged with DWI and assault. He was later sentenced to 90 days in jail and ordered to attend Alcoholics Anonymous. Danny's record was riddled with DWIs, robberies, and combative behavior. And police couldn't help but wonder: had he been committing even more heinous crimes right under everyone's noses?

• 1:05:00Courtney Brown?

  A few days after Jared's assault, nine months before Jacob's abduction, Detective Pierce and Leland drove to Danny's place of employment: Master Mark Industries. But they didn't want to question Danny, at least, not yet. However, they did want to get a good look at his 1987 Mercury Topaz. The car wasn't an exact match for the one that Jared had described being inside during the assault. In fact, Jared described the interior of the vehicle as navy, but the interior of Danny's vehicle was gray. In addition, Jared claimed that there was a luggage rack on the vehicle, and there was not one on Danny's.

• 1:05:45Courtney Brown?

  And because of these minor discrepancies, police decided to not pursue Danny for the assault of Jared. Now, looking past him for that assault was one mistake, but the next was looking past him for the disappearance of Jacob Wetterling. Not once, but several times. Now, as we mentioned earlier, after Jacob's abduction, both Jared and another unnamed victim came forward. Suggesting that the cases were connected. And as we stated, it took law enforcement three months to even look at those cases and their suspect Danny Henrick in relation to Jacob's disappearance. But when they finally did speak to Danny in January of 1990,

• 1:06:30Courtney Brown?

  they decided to look at the tires of his blue Ford to see if they matched the tires that were left at the scene of Jacob's abduction. And on January 12th, it was confirmed that the tires on Henrick's car were consistent with the tires left by Jacob's abductor. Out of the hundreds of suspects that police looked at for Jacob's abduction, only two cars were ever consistent with the abductor's tire tracks: Danny Henrick's and another vehicle that was not operating at the time of his kidnapping. So all this to say, this should have meant something. It should have had police laser focused on Danny Heinrich.

• 1:07:13Courtney Brown?

  And yet, that's not what happened.

• 1:07:16Colin Brown?

  A supplementary offense report filed by the Stearns County Sheriff's Department on January 12th, 1990, disclosed that the tires were consistent with the imprints found at the scene, as were the shoes that Danny Heinrich was wearing with the footprints left behind. And that wasn't all the evidence. Police subjected Danny to a polygraph test, but he failed miserably. And when asked why he possibly failed, he blamed it on being nervous. Police ended the report by stating that they were going to put Danny under surveillance pending further investigation. But that didn't last. The night of January 12th, shortly after he was released from questioning, an officer with the Stearns County Sheriff's Department wrote in a supplementary report, "Subject Heinrich left the apartment and entered his vehicle,

• 1:08:00Colin Brown?

  proceeded south on Highway 124 and then doubled back, proceeded east on Highway 23 and turned into the Painesville Industrial Park, doubled back from that location. Subject proceeded east on Highway 55 and south on Highway 3 to Route 20. Subject then doubled back and proceeded west on Highway 55. Subject turned right onto 160th Street, picked up surveillance. Subject turned his lights out and was lost." And yeah, you heard that right. As police tailed Danny Heinrich, he tried to lose them by doubling back three separate times before he finally shut off his lights going down the road in the dead of night in order to evade the police. Now, if you ask me, that's about the most suspicious thing you can possibly do, especially

• 1:08:45Colin Brown?

  when your shoes, physical description, and tire marks match those of the person who kidnapped an 11-year-old boy. But apparently, the police didn't think so. Their surveillance continued for just one more day before police abandoned it entirely. However, they did still have their sights set on Heinrich. Rather than follow them though, they were given the go-ahead to conduct a search warrant on his father's home where he lived. According to Danny's younger brother, Tommy, Danny had been living in the basement for several months. Inside his bedroom, investigators located two police scanners, military-style clothing including black lace-up boots, brown caps, camouflage clothing, and a brown vest.

• 1:09:26Colin Brown?

  Investigators also found photographs of young boys in a locked trunk. Two photos showed young boys in various states of undress, including getting out of the shower, and multiple others showed boys fully clothed. Of course, investigators intended to take the photos. However, Danny objected. He stated that the police shouldn't take the photos just because they didn't look right. And shockingly, the police didn't confiscate the photographs. Not even the ones where the young boys were clearly nude, leaving them in Danny Heinrich's possession. Danny would later claim that he burned the photographs because they looked bad and were no kind of pictures to have, anyway.

• 1:10:07Courtney Brown?

  Shortly after this, in late January, the sheriff's department had Danny stand in a suspect lineup. Authorities stated in a press conference in 2018 that Jared, Trevor, Aaron, and the victims from the Painesville assaults should have been present during the lineup. However, the only victim there was Jared.

• 1:10:29Courtney Brown?

  In addition, authorities stated that all of the suspects in the lineup should have spoken, since all of the victims described his voice as deep and distinctive. But that didn't happen either. Ultimately, no one in the lineup was identified as Jared's abductor, but he did tell the police that he wasn't certain because he hadn't got a good look at his kidnapper. But little did he know, his abductor was standing right before him. And just a few days after being in the lineup, he would be arrested by the FBI for first-degree criminal sexual assault. Of course, during his interrogation,

• 1:11:09Courtney Brown?

  Danny denied any involvement in both Jacob's abduction and Jared's assault.

• 1:11:15Speaker 10

  You know, the parents just desperately need to know what happened to their boy. Absolutely. I don't blame them, but there's nothing I can do. And do you have any information about the abduction of Jacob Wetterling? I have no information whatsoever. That's the truth.

• 1:11:30Colin Brown?

  Ultimately, the FBI did not charge him and they let him go. Apparently, County Attorney Pat Strom was furious that the FBI arrested and charged Danny prematurely without first consulting with him or the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, known as the BCA. There were so many different agencies working the case: Stearns County Sheriff's Office, the Minnesota BCA, the FBI, the Painesville Police Department, and the St. Joseph Police Department. And that communication between all of them was inconsistent. And ultimately, it hurt the case. And not just the case, but dozens of children and families. Because immediately after Danny Heinrich was released, his name was forgotten for 20 years.

• 1:12:13Colin Brown?

  That's right, for the next two decades, in spite of all the evidence piling up against him, Danny's potential involvement in the case was all but erased. Even though time and time again, more people came forward to present him as a suspect, including other local sex offenders. But one name that kept popping up in their investigation was that of convicted child sex offender, 42-year-old Dwayne Dewey Allen Hart. When he was questioned regarding Jacob Wetterling while in prison on sexual assault charges, he denied involvement entirely and gave police one of the most disturbing alibis of all time. He said that at the time of Jacob's abduction, he had been raping a different victim in Mud Lake, Minnesota, nearly five hours away.

• 1:12:57Colin Brown?

  When the FBI interviewed the pre-teen boy, they learned that, yeah, Dwayne Hart had indeed been raping him. It's shocking and disturbing, but that was the odd thing about Dwayne. He didn't care. In every interview with police, he was extremely forthcoming with information, how he lured young boys in, and the graphic details of what he liked to do to them. When police continued to hound him about any knowledge he had of Jacob Wetterling's disappearance, Dwayne offered them an alternate suspect: his good friend, Danny Heinrich. In fact, according to Dwayne, the composite sketch of Jared and Jacob's abductor resembled Danny so much that it was undeniable. In addition, he gave police more information about Danny.

• 1:13:40Colin Brown?

  While Dwayne tended to groom his victims, he said that Danny preferred to surprise-attack them. According to Dwayne, Danny was more impulsive and aggressive. He also said that Danny took trophies from his victims, something he could look back on to remember his sick crimes. Dwayne admitted that he saw evidence in Danny's bedroom that implicated him in several crimes around Painesville: a small, dark-blue pistol and a black ninja-type suit. As for the Jacob Wetterling abduction, Dwayne stated that around the time of Jacob's abduction, Danny asked him how to get rid of a body. Now, in October of 1991, Dwayne agreed to a second interview. This time, he offered more specific information and told investigators that he believed the

• 1:14:23Colin Brown?

  person responsible for the Painesville and Cold Spring Assaults drove a blue car and carried a police radio to monitor police activity. If anything, there was definitely a pattern emerging of someone who planned his attacks carefully and knew how to avoid getting caught. But despite all of this information, nothing was done, and Danny remained a free man. There was a predator hiding in plain sight, despite how many people kept trying to force police to look his way.

• 1:14:52Courtney Brown?

  For the Wetterling family, the dwindling leads offered nothing but heartbreak. In all those years, neither Jerry nor Patty even heard of the name Danny Heinrich. As time went on, police distanced the Wetterling family more and more from the investigation into their son's disappearance. And with a lack of answers and lack of opportunities to help find her son, Patty felt helpless. But she knew she had to do something. More than anything, she wanted to protect other families from experiencing what she had, no matter what it took. So over the years, she became a leading voice in the fight to develop a national sex offender registry.

• 1:15:35Courtney Brown?

  She believed that if parents were aware of who was living around their children, they could take steps to protect them. On January 26, 1991, the US Senate approved an amendment that required states to establish a sex offender registry. This would make it to where all sex offenders had to register their home address for 10 years after being released from prison. And in Jacob's honor, they named it the Jacob Wetterling Act. But it would be a few more years before the bill was officially passed. As the five-year anniversary of Jacob's disappearance approached, a significant milestone was reached.

• 1:16:16Courtney Brown?

  On September 13, 1994, the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act was officially passed and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. Going forward, all states were required to implement a sex offender registry. So this was a huge step forward towards a national tracking system for sex offenders. But unfortunately, the registry was not made public, and only law enforcement officials were able to use it. But it was a step in the right direction. After being released from prison, all inmates involved in a sexually motivated crime had to provide their home addresses to law enforcement.

• 1:17:00Colin Brown?

  And Patty didn't stop there. In 1995, she was back in Washington DC with well-known crime victims advocate John Walsh. Both Patty and John urged that the federal government be more involved in child abduction cases by allowing the FBI to immediately get involved with local police departments. Thankfully, on May 17th, 1996, President Bill Clinton signed an addendum to the Jacob Wetterling Act named Meghan's Law. In 1994, seven-year-old Meghan Conca was raped and murdered by her neighbor in New Jersey. Once again, the man responsible was a convicted sex offender. With the addition of Meghan's Law, the sex offender registry would now be made public. This included a photograph of the offender, their address, the nature of their crime,

• 1:17:45Colin Brown?

  and their risk level. It was a step in the right direction and something that would now allow parents and schools to be aware when a sex offender moved into the area. After the bill was signed, John Walsh stated, "This is letting parents know that the fox is in the hen house. Believe me, I've hunted these people for nine years now. They're predators. They prey upon children. That's their business. We deserve to know these people are in our neighborhoods."

• 1:18:11Courtney Brown?

  Although Patty was making positive changes to help children, her son Jacob had still not been found. And the void that left couldn't be filled. Soon after Meghan's Law was signed by President Clinton, Patty was doing the unthinkable. Standing in front of a graduating class at Apollo High School, the class that Jacob should have been graduating from. Jacob never had the opportunity to get his driver's license, to try out for his high school team, to go on his first date. He hadn't gotten the chance to grow and learn with the 370 classmates that graduated that day.

• 1:18:51Courtney Brown?

  But in his honor, every student wore a white ribbon pinned to their gown, a symbol of, quote, "Jacob's Hope." And in spite of the passing years, his hope remained. Its flames fanned by his parents, who refused to let the case go cold. They fought tirelessly to keep his story alive. But there were still so many unanswered questions. What happened? Where was he? Who was responsible?

• 1:19:22Courtney Brown?

  On the ninth anniversary of Jacob's abduction, October 22nd, 1998, Patty wrote a letter to Jacob's abductor. It was published in the local newspapers across Minnesota. It read, quote, "To the man who took Jacob. I often wonder, does October 22nd mean anything to you? Do you remember the young boy you took from us? Do you still have him with you? He's an adult now, but just as loved and still dearly missed. Do you know the person you took? You took away a wonderful person. Someone who probably would have stood up for you if things weren't fair. Did no one do nice things for you?

• 1:20:04Courtney Brown?

  I have found some comfort picturing you, not as a mean, old, ugly, bad guy. But at one time, you were an 11-year-old boy, someone's son, possibly someone's brother, needing and hopefully sharing the love an 11-year-old boy deserves. If this love wasn't shared in your family, I'm sorry. Every child is entitled to the love and caring that family and friends provide. You have held the answers for so long. You also hold the pain. Please talk to me. With hope, Patty Wetterling, Jacob's mom."

• 1:20:39Colin Brown?

  But there was no answer, and yet, life continued. Amy, Trevor, and Carmen all graduated from high school, moving on to college, and chasing their own dreams. The only thing that remained of Jacob was cherished memories. Now, over the years, thousands of tips continued to pour in, and most were followed up on, including the most heartbreaking ones.

• 1:21:01Speaker 10

  Hello, Jacob Wetterling Foundation? They still come. Tips, leads, a couple of times a day, 933 days, and 40,000 leads after the abduction.

• 1:21:15Speaker 08

  How do you know that? I've seen it.

• 1:21:20Speaker 10

  They are most often now vague and unpromising and sometimes entirely useless.

• 1:21:25Speaker 11

  Have you ever seen a show called Starsky and Hutch? Yes. Well, there was one real good show where Hutch got kidnapped.

• 1:21:34Speaker 10

  And most rare is the call with a note of realism, a call that makes investigators drop everything else. The last call like that came on March 15th of this year.

• 1:21:44Speaker 11

  This is Norman. I just want to tell you that Jacob's all right.

• 1:21:51Speaker 12

  But it's the very call we wait for every day.

• 1:21:53Speaker 11

  Oh, I tell you, Jacob's all right.

• 1:21:56Speaker 12

  The immediacy and the reality of that phone call was something that you just can't deny.

• 1:22:03Speaker 11

  You have Jacob?

• 1:22:05Speaker 10

  Yeah. It came from Utah.

• 1:22:08Speaker 11

  You think there's something that could be your world's hurt? Okay, where are you at? I'm in Scotland, Utah.

• 1:22:18Speaker 10

  A town so small, more kids bike than bus to school.

• 1:22:22Speaker 11

  Okay, are you gonna contact the authorities? I don't know, man, I'm scared. What am I gonna do?

• 1:22:28Speaker 10

  Telephone security traced the call to this phone booth.

• 1:22:32Speaker 11

  Can we speak to him? Yeah, wait one minute.

• 1:22:39Speaker 11

  I'm all right, I'm all right. Okay, where are you at? Not Jacob. I don't know.

• 1:22:48Speaker 11

  I don't know, Jacob, the phone's going down.

• 1:22:52Speaker 08

  And, you know, we said it sounds like it could be Jacob and none of us in our family could say that it wasn't him.

• 1:22:58Speaker 11

  Okay, how you doing? He's all right, all right?

• 1:23:02Speaker 10

  A sheriff's detective from Box Elder County, Utah, picked up the search after a call from Wetterling Investigators.

• 1:23:08Speaker 07

  They seemed very encouraged. They'd received a call and they felt like there may be some substance to it.

• 1:23:14Speaker 11

  I'm on a pick from that now, okay?

• 1:23:17Speaker 07

  And in a small community, the chances are fairly good if they weren't just traveling through, so I was optimistic.

• 1:23:22Speaker 11

  Can you bring him to the law enforcement people? I don't know, man, I'm just busted. Can I put you through to his parents? Oh, I gotta go. Bye.

• 1:23:37Speaker 10

  Back in Utah, Detective Johnson traveled all over the county and played a tape of the call to more than a dozen people. Finally, 15 days after the call, a woman said she recognized a voice. It was not the voice of Jacob or the kidnapper. It was her 13-year-old son and a friend, and it was a prank.

• 1:23:56Speaker 13

  We're just standing there, the heck of it.

• 1:23:58Speaker 10

  What do you think about that now?

• 1:24:01Speaker 13

  That's stupid.

• 1:24:02Speaker 10

  What were you thinking?

• 1:24:05Speaker 13

  To have fun.

• 1:24:07Speaker 10

  You thought that'd be fun? What do you think about it now?

• 1:24:11Speaker 13

  It's not fun no more. They messed up their lives. Probably brought their hopes up. I want to say I'm sorry. I didn't mean it.

• 1:24:26Colin Brown?

  In 2003, investigators once again turned to the person physically closest to the crime, Dan Rassier, who was home alone on the property where Jacob was abducted. On February 7, 2004, investigators brought Dan in for an interview. This time, they accused him of being the person who abducted Jacob. They believed that he had been outside when the boys drove past his residence, and he was the person who made the strange noise that Aaron Larson heard on the way to Tom Thumb. Sheriff Sanner was open with the media about the fact that Dan was being questioned in connection with the case. He told the local newspaper, "It's a real possibility that our suspect lives within the general vicinity of the abduction, or rethinking the entire scenario. The abduction could have occurred with the perpetrator on foot."

• 1:25:11Colin Brown?

  With statements clearly pointing towards Dan, many in the community turned against him. Parents began to call into the school he worked at, saying that they were uncomfortable with him teaching their children. For Dan, who loved nothing more than sharing music with others, this was devastating. He couldn't be fired from his job, but to quell concerns, the school required him to have another adult present at all times in his classroom. By then, he had been teaching for well over two decades. The loss of trust he suffered was absolutely crushing. And it wasn't just Dan that was affected. His parents, Robert and Rita, were questioned as well, and the 140-acre Rassier Farm and family computer were searched. Nothing significant was discovered, but investigators continued to believe that Dan was somehow

• 1:25:56Colin Brown?

  involved in Jacob's disappearance, and even went as far as to suggest that his original 911 call about the flashlights near the woodpile had been employed to throw him off as a suspect. As the years progressed, Dan remained their number-one suspect. On June 30, 2010, investigators returned to the Rassier residence with another search warrant. This time, they brought backhoes and dump trucks, which only added fuel to the fire.

• 1:26:22Speaker 14

  It could mean a break in the case of a boy missing for more than two decades. Right now, Stearns County Sheriff's deputies are standing guard as trucks haul away belongings and dirt from a St. Joseph Farm that's just a half-mile from where Jacob Wetterling was abducted 21 years ago. Chris Keating is live there with more on the investigation. Good morning, Chris.

• 1:26:41Speaker 15

  Good morning, Rebecca. And at this hour, this is as close as we can get. I'm standing in front of a cornfield on the edge of the Rassier family farm. Just to the right of me, take a look, you'll see a sheriff's officer there. He's with Stearns County, guarding over the entrance to this farm. And then just behind him, down that long dirt road, well, the end of that road is the farm, and that's where this investigation is going on. The scene outside the farm in St. Joseph was quiet until about 9:30 this morning. That's when a dump truck full of dirt left the property. It returned 20 minutes later, empty. What exactly is going on is not clear. The BCA won't even confirm their investigators are in St. Joseph.

• 1:27:23Speaker 15

  But we did see them coming yesterday with the FBI. Neighbors have been watching, too.

• 1:27:28Speaker 16

  It's kind of scary. Very scary, seeing that you guys are out here and seeing that you guys are seeing the dump trucks doing some digging and everything, and that just doesn't seem good.

• 1:27:39Speaker 17

  Gives me a sick feeling, really a sick feeling, and... And why wasn't it found 21 years ago? Why did it take this long? If this was it...

• 1:27:48Speaker 15

  It was on the edge of this driveway where Jacob Wetterling was last seen. He was with friends and abducted at gunpoint. It was 1989. His mother Patty Wetterling says she didn't know of this investigation until authorities actually got here. And the Wetterling Resource Center sent out this message today saying, "We have not received any contact from law enforcement." Meanwhile, neighbors remain hopeful answers will be found. It would be nice to find out what happened, you know, and so we could all maybe be more comforted.

• 1:28:20Speaker 15

  And actually Patty Wetterling just drove by us. We are hearing that she's going to be speaking at the scene later on today. As soon as she does, we'll let you know what she says. Reporting live, Chris Keating, Five Eyewitness News.

• 1:28:31Speaker 14

  We all recognize the photos and remember the fear and frustration as investigators tracked thousands of leads and false sightings. Patty and Jerry Wetterling were eliminated from the suspect list right away, but that list was long. Investigators questioned hundreds of people. One big break came in February 2004. That's when investigators decided the suspect was most likely on foot and not driving a car. So they re-interviewed everyone within walking distance of where Jacob was grabbed. The Wetterlings suffered with their own questions, but they still remain hopeful that they will find some answers. Just four months after Jacob's disappearance, Patty and Jerry Wetterling became activists for children, starting the Jacob Wetterling Foundation. In 1994, they helped get the Jacob Wetterling Act passed, starting a state sex offender registry.

• 1:29:16Speaker 14

  Jacob's brother Trevor, who was with him that October day, still hopes Jacob is out there.

• 1:29:22Speaker 18

  And Trevor's something that's going to change my mind. I mean, I'm going to still believe that he's out there somewhere.

• 1:29:29Speaker 14

  The Wetterlings still live in the same home in St. Joseph. They still have their same phone number, just in case Jacob calls.

• 1:29:36Courtney Brown?

  News reports like this turned Dan's life into a living hell. Since the very first day of the investigation, he had been nothing but cooperative. He allowed them to search his property, he did dozens of interviews, and he even took polygraphs, which he passed. Dan told a news leader reporter, quote, "For over 20 years, we have experienced our own never-ending nightmare. We realize it's nothing like what the Wetterlings have gone through. I am an innocent witness to what happened, but I definitely saw something. All the investigators know the information I told them. I had absolutely nothing to do with anything with Jacob.

• 1:30:17Courtney Brown?

  I didn't do it. I had nothing to do with it," end quote. Yet Dan was the only person the police ever publicly named as a person of interest, despite there being absolutely no evidence pointing to him. As you've likely guessed, the police were barking up the wrong tree. But elsewhere, there were three people looking in the right direction, and they weren't law enforcement, detectives, or professionals. They were just three perfect strangers, who wanted nothing more than justice for Jacob and peace for their community.

• 1:30:54Colin Brown?

  Joy Baker had always loved to write. When she began blogging, she never imagined that it would help solve the disappearance of a young boy. She lived in Minnesota, so, like everyone else, she had thought about Jacob Wetterling for the past 20 years of her life. With young sons of her own, she herself felt drawn to the case, and so in 2010, she began to look into his disappearance. Her blog soon attracted the attention of Jared Shirel, now a grown man, who was still desperate to find his attacker and bring him to justice. Joy was one of the first people he had ever seen publicly discuss a possible link between the attacks in Painesville, as well as the attack on Jared and Jacob's abduction.

• 1:31:35Colin Brown?

  Joy had scoured through endless police reports and newspaper articles to find all of the victims, and her commitment to finding the truth established a foundation of trust between her and Jared. Her and Patty, on the other hand, had a little work to do before they could connect.

• 1:31:51Speaker 08

  I was speaking at a gala for a women's shelter, right?

• 1:31:56Speaker 19

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:31:56Speaker 08

  And this very tall woman came and introduced herself and said she'd been blogging about Jacob. And I really had never read a blog. I mean, this is going back always. And she handed me her card. And I went home, handed it to my husband, and he read it. And the next morning was reading it aloud to me. And it was incredibly well-written, details accurate. And I thought, who is... Somebody's telling my story. Who can... And I didn't trust anybody. We'd been burned by people who were wannabe cops. And I didn't want somebody interfering with the case.

• 1:32:41Speaker 08

  So I was very much afraid of Joy and, you know, what was her... Where was she going with this? So we had about a two-hour phone call that day. And I was the skeptic. And she continued. Do you want to...

• 1:33:00Speaker 19

  Yeah. So I just... I was... I thought I was a mom helping another mom. That really was my intention, that I just wanted so badly to become a writer and to find my purpose in life. I knew writing was my thing, and I just wanted to figure out how to use those skills for greater good. And so when I picked Jacob's case to write about, I honestly thought, you know, there's a chance here that this could make a difference if enough people could start thinking Jacob with me, that we could make a difference collectively. And so after that conversation, you know, I think it was... We talked for two hours, but we were polite, and Patty was polite. And I think that was encouraging to me. So I just kept going.

• 1:33:41Speaker 19

  By then, I had already been putting witnesses and persons of interest together. You know, they were having conversations and I was talking to all these people and I think she was getting more and more nervous. But it wasn't until I met with a young child survivor, really, of an abduction that had taken place 10 miles away from St. Joseph and nine months prior to Jacob's abduction. His name was Jared. He had been a 12-year-old boy at the time, was now, you know, in his 30s, and he agreed to meet with me. I found him and he agreed to meet with me and he wanted to reach out to Patty and to

• 1:34:20Speaker 19

  talk to her son and Aaron, the other boy that was with Jacob when he was abducted. And so I said, "Sure, I'd give that a whirl," and how'd that go?

• 1:34:31Speaker 08

  So Joy called in. I was so super protective of our kids and I didn't see any benefit to having Trevor, who was with his brother, you know, and Aaron, who lost his best friend, to talk to Jared. I knew Jared, but I just didn't see the wisdom of all of that and I was just like, I confronted her. It's like, "You're talking to neighbors, persons of interest, suspects, witnesses." It's like, it feels rather...I called her a stalker.

• 1:35:06Speaker 19

  She did.

• 1:35:07Speaker 08

  I did. "Well, what if I did that to you? I interviewed your neighbors, your coworkers," you know? It just felt scary to me. I didn't know her well enough. But, um, yeah, so I almost scared her away, which would have been disastrous.

• 1:35:23Colin Brown?

  It would have been disastrous, indeed. However, Joy doesn't blame Patty, and really, how could she? After all Patty had been through, she just wanted peace for herself and the other victims of this sick man's crimes. At the time, it was hard for her to see that Joy was on the same side as her. But as she looked more and more into the blog, it became clear that Joy was an asset. In Patty's words, "I finally accepted that Joy was doing more investigating than any local police or sheriffs." That investigation centered around the so-called Painesville attacks, spanning from 1986 to 1988, the year before Jacob went missing. When Joy and Patty spoke with Jared about these Painesville attacks, he was shocked.

• 1:36:06Colin Brown?

  He had never heard of them, despite having moved to Painesville after he, himself, was attacked in nearby Cold Springs. Wanting answers, Jared began to ask people around town. Now, these were former classmates of his, people who had only ever talked to police about the assault that they had faced when they were younger. And sadly, nothing had been done for them. They weren't willing to talk to police, but they were more than willing to talk to Jared and Joy. They felt comfortable with them, understood. And as the months went on, more and more people came forward, until eventually Patty, Jared, and Joy were in contact with 13 victims from Painesville, all of whom had seemingly been sexually assaulted by the same man. Soon, the news of this discovery spread like wildfire.

• 1:36:51Colin Brown?

  Local news stations gained a renewed interest in Jacob's disappearance. And for Patty, Jared, and Joy, that was everything. The more people that were talking about the case, the more sway they had with local law enforcement. In 2014, Patty approached the Stearns County Sheriff's Department. She urged them to bring a team back in to begin a new investigation into Jacob's disappearance. And armed with all the new interest and research that Joy had done, the Sheriff's Department agreed. They reached out to the FBI, who brought their child abduction response team in to look into the connection between Jared's abduction, the Painesville assaults, and Jacob's disappearance. It had been 25 years,

• 1:37:31Colin Brown?

  and by now, advancements in technology were able to open doors they believed would remain shut forever.

• 1:37:38Courtney Brown?

  Back in 1989, after Jared's assault, DNA had been discovered on his clothing. But in 1989, there wasn't anything the police could do with it. However, now, things were different. Police ended up comparing the DNA on Jared's clothing to the DNA found on a hat at one of the Painesville attacks. And from there, they determined that it was a match. This was the first conclusive link between Jared's case and all of the other attacks in Painesville. Now if you recall, the main suspect in Jared's abduction and sexual assault was Danny Heinrich. And when police looked at where Danny was living during the span of the Painesville attacks,

• 1:38:23Courtney Brown?

  it seemed like they had their man. Danny lived in the center of Painesville, mere steps away from where the majority of the victims had been attacked. There was a very noticeable ring of attacks directly around his own apartment. And fortunately, police had just the way to prove that he had been the one behind them. Because back in 1990, Danny willingly gave police a hair sample. And now, over two decades later, police ran that hair sample against the DNA of the Painesville attacker and the person who sexually assaulted Jared. And on July 12th, 2015, the results came back. Investigators looked at the results in awe.

• 1:39:08Courtney Brown?

  It read, quote, "The predominant male DNA matches Danny James Heinrich," end quote. The DNA analysis revealed an 80.5% match to Danny. So it appeared that without a shadow of a doubt, he was the man who had been terrorizing their community with no remorse. But was he also the man who kidnapped Jacob? And if he was, where was Jacob now? Desperate for answers, detectives served a search warrant on 52-year-old Danny's home in Annadale, Minnesota. They hoped that this time, they would be able to find a link between Danny and Jacob's abduction.

• 1:39:50Courtney Brown?

  Now unfortunately, due to the statute of limitations expiring on Jared's case, there could be no charges there. But since Jacob's case was still open, they hoped that whatever they found would be able to connect Danny to his disappearance. On July 28th, 2015, investigators stormed inside Danny's residence at 55 Myrtle Avenue South. And inside, they found the confirmation of just what kind of monster they were dealing with. Because sitting on a shelf, they discovered 19 binders with child sexual abuse material, two police scanners, military-style clothing, boxes of boys' clothing, silver handcuffs,

• 1:40:35Courtney Brown?

  Nazi memorabilia, knives, and duct tape. There were also VHS tapes that Danny had filmed showing footage of young boys playing on a playground, riding their bikes, playing sports, and simply walking around. Repeatedly in the footage, Danny zoomed in on the boys' genitals. During one video, Danny was shown throwing money on the ground, and as a young boy bent over to pick it up, Danny zoomed in on his buttocks. In addition, Danny had taken regular photos of young boys, and he superimposed them onto naked bodies he found on the internet. His Google searches included,

• 1:41:17Courtney Brown?

  quote, "kids' Christmas photos 1978", "2013 7th grade wrestling photos", and "boys in tough-skinned jeans photos". Now when confronted with this evidence, Danny did not deny that he had child sexual assault material, and he even described himself as a, quote, "dirty old man". And although detectives couldn't arrest him for the assaults against Jared or any of his other victims, they could arrest him for child pornography. And in this case, he was charged with five counts. But sadly, during their search, there was no evidence that linked him to the abduction of Jacob Wetterling. So, they couldn't charge him, at least, not yet.

• 1:42:03Speaker 20

  Through 26 long years, there are significant developments in the disappearance of Jacob Wetterling.

• 1:42:09Speaker 21

  The FBI have arrested a man who they are describing as a person of interest. Federal agents arrested 52-year-old Danny Heinrich at his home in Annandale late Wednesday for having child pornography. Yesterday, the FBI announced he was now a person of interest in Jacob's 1989 kidnapping.

• 1:42:28Colin Brown?

  On February 22nd, 2016, Danny pleaded not guilty to the child pornography charges. While in jail, investigators continued to question him in regards to Jacob's abduction, but he held firm that he was innocent. FBI Agent Ken McDonald wasn't convinced and decided to negotiate with Danny. So, he offered Danny a deal he couldn't refuse. If Danny told them where Jacob's body was located, they would drop all but one count of the child pornography charges, and he would be granted immunity for the murder of Jacob Wetterling. If he was convicted of one count of child pornography, he would face a maximum of 20 years in prison. And though that may not seem like enough time, both Jerry and Patty Wetterling agreed

• 1:43:10Colin Brown?

  that it was worth it, as long as they got information about what happened to their little boy all those years ago. And so, on September 6th, 2016, Danny signed the plea deal. Moments afterwards, he confessed to the abduction and murder of 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling. After 26 agonizing years, the truth had finally come to light. There are no words to describe how bittersweet it was for everyone. And sadly, there are no words to describe how horrific Danny's confession truly was.

• 1:43:43Courtney Brown?

  Danny admitted that on the evening of October 22nd, 1989, he left his Painesville apartment and drove towards St. Joseph. That night, he didn't dare to stay in Painesville because his previous attacks had been gaining traction in the local press. So he decided to get out of town and hunt for victims elsewhere. He drove his blue 1982 Ford into town.

• 1:44:11Courtney Brown?

  On the passenger seat, he had his items ready: a mask, gun, flashlight, and handcuffs. As he drove on 91st Avenue, he suddenly spotted three young boys riding their bikes: Aaron, Trevor, and Jacob. Danny figured that the boys would have to eventually turn around and come back, so he pulled into the racier driveway, drove all the way down, and then turned around. He parked his car roughly seventy-five yards from the entrance, shut off his headlights, and then waited in the tall grass. He stayed there for twenty minutes. Twenty minutes where he could have changed his mind. Twenty minutes where he could have gotten back in his car

• 1:44:55Courtney Brown?

  and spared these young boys' trauma that no one should ever have to experience. But instead, in the biting cold, he waited like a monster, hunting prey. When he saw a flashlight grow brighter in the distance, he suited up, pulling a stocking cap over his face and gloves over his hands. Once the boys were a few feet away, Danny jumped out and ordered them to stop. He told them he had a gun. Once Trevor was told to run, Danny walked towards Aaron and Jacob and groped their genitals. And after looking at the two boys, he decided that he wanted Jacob.

• 1:45:36Courtney Brown?

  So he told Aaron to run and not look back, or he would shoot and kill him. Danny then grabbed Jacob by the shoulder and led him back to his vehicle. Once Jacob was in the car, he placed the silver handcuffs on him. And then, sadly, Jacob looked at his kidnapper and asked, "What did I do wrong?" But Danny didn't answer him. As he sped out of the driveway, he ordered Jacob to duck in the front seat, so that no one would see him. He turned right on 91st Avenue and then left towards Highway 75. Once the two were out of town, Danny told Jacob to get back up. In the pitch dark, he continued driving towards Painesville.

• 1:46:20Courtney Brown?

  Then, unsure of exactly where to go, he pulled over by a farm. He parked the car in a field, which was blocked away from the farmhouse on the property by a grove of thick trees. It was isolated, cold, but Danny ordered Jacob out of the car and told him to take off his clothing. Jacob did as he was told. Then Danny took off his clothes and he sexually assaulted Jacob for roughly 30 minutes. Once the nightmare was over, Jacob began to cry. He told Danny that he was cold and that he wanted to go home. Danny dismissively told Jacob to get dressed, and he did.

• 1:47:03Courtney Brown?

  Through his tears, he asked the man who had just assaulted him if he was going to take him back home. Danny shook his head, telling him that it was too far away. And with that answer, Jacob began to sob harder. He was alone, scared, unsure of what awaited him. On the road in the distance, Danny claimed that he saw a police cruiser speed by. And it was then that Danny made his decision. Coldly, he told Jacob to turn around so that he could pee, and Jacob turned his back to him. Then Danny raised the handgun and pulled the trigger. But no bullet came out.

• 1:47:45Courtney Brown?

  He fired again, and although a bullet came out this time around, he noticed that Jacob was still standing in the same position. It's horrifying to think about what was going through Jacob's mind when he heard that gunshot. He knew that his life was about to come to an end. Behind him, Danny realigned the bullet in the chamber, raised the gun for a third time, and pulled the trigger. 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling, the kind soul who always wanted things to be fair, who loved Michael Jordan, who was always looking to make people smile, fell to the ground.

• 1:48:23Courtney Brown?

  There, underneath the cold autumn sky, he took his final breath.

• 1:48:29Colin Brown?

  Danny didn't stop to think about what he had just done, or what he had taken from the world. Frantically, he jumped back into his car and sped towards his apartment. For two hours, Danny laid low, before he eventually returned to Jacob's body with a shovel around midnight. This time, he didn't bring his car, and opted to walk instead. Danny dragged Jacob's lifeless body about a hundred yards, and attempted to dig a hole near a gravel pit, but it proved to be too difficult. Knowing the area, Danny remembered there was a construction site right down the road. He wanted to steal a bigger shovel, but found a Bobcat skid loader with the keys and the ignition, and drove it back to the location of Jacob's body. He used the Bobcat to dig a hole, and then rolled Jacob's body into the grave.

• 1:49:14Colin Brown?

  He was wearing a red jacket with white letters that read "St. Cloud Hockey", a t-shirt with the name Wetterling and the number 11, blue sweatpants, and the reflective vest he had promised his father Jerry he would wear. Danny quickly covered the grave with dirt. However, as he walked away, he noticed that Jacob's Nike shoe had fallen off of his foot. So, he threw it into a nearby ravine, drove the Bobcat back to the construction site, and left the scene.

• 1:49:41Courtney Brown?

  Near the one-year anniversary of Jacob's death, Danny returned to the scene with a trash bag. He knew that animals might have gotten to the grave, and he wanted to make sure that Jacob was still buried. When he arrived, he found portions of Jacob's skull, other bones, and his red jacket was sticking out of the dirt. Danny collected the bones in the jacket, and placed them inside the trash bag. He then walked them over to a new, deeper grave he had dug with an entrenching tool. There, he reburied the items, and then left the scene. It wouldn't be until August 31st, 2016, that Danny returned to the area again. And this time, he was with investigators.

• 1:50:26Courtney Brown?

  He pointed out where he had left Jacob's body. Inside the grave, investigators located his red jacket and bones. Unfortunately, those bones were determined to belong to animals, but investigators weren't going to give up. They expanded the search, and eventually they found more bones and a skull. Dental records confirmed that the remains belonged to Jacob Wetterling.

• 1:50:53Courtney Brown?

  It had been nearly 27 years, but now at last Jacob had been found.

• 1:50:59Colin Brown?

  After nearly three decades, Dan Rassier's name was finally cleared. Though he had never been charged in connection with Jacob's disappearance, the toll of being a person of interest greatly affected his life and reputation. Now, the real person responsible for the crime was behind bars, and Dan was forced to pick up the pieces of his life and reclaim the piece he had lost so long ago. He eventually filed a lawsuit against Sheriff Sander and the Stearns County Sheriff's Office for targeting him in connection to Jacob's abduction, despite lacking any evidence. He was seeking $2 million in damages, but it was eventually tossed out in 2020 due to too much time passing before the lawsuit was filed. Dan filed an appeal in 2021, but it was denied.

• 1:51:45Colin Brown?

  Fortunately though, his life seems to be going better now. He runs marathons, continues to teach, and travels, living a life without prying eyes and whispers about him being a suspect. For the Wetterling family, it was extremely difficult to wait nearly 27 years for answers. Even worse was the news that Jacob would never be coming home and that he had been murdered only a short time after he had been abducted.

• 1:52:08Speaker 22

  It was five weeks ago that Danny Heinrich confessed to kidnapping and killing Jacob Wetterling.

• 1:52:14Speaker 23

  Today Jacob's parents, Jerry and Patty Wetterling, are speaking out about how they and their family are coping.

• 1:52:20Speaker 08

  To this day, I'll probably never understand. He let all of his other victims go, and Jacob did nothing wrong. He just wanted to go home.

• 1:52:31Speaker 23

  In a sit-down interview with Asmei Murphy, the Wetterlings described their shock over the sudden end of their search for Jacob, their horror at the details of his death, and how they're overwhelmed by the tributes to Jacob.

• 1:52:45Speaker 08

  "We've been gifted to receive just so much love and support and it's been truly what sustains us."

• 1:52:54Speaker 24

  "It also shows how strong Jacob's spirit is. I mean, that gunshot snuffed his breath out in October 22, 89, but his spirit is so strong, you can just see how it affects people."

• 1:53:12Speaker 25

  Jerry and Patty Wetterling say it is Jacob's spirit that has also helped them cope.

• 1:53:16Speaker 08

  "For almost 27 years, we're searching and then in seven days, it was eight total, it's over."

• 1:53:25Speaker 25

  "How are you doing?"

• 1:53:26Speaker 08

  "That's the hardest question to answer."

• 1:53:30Speaker 24

  "You know, it's day to day."

• 1:53:32Speaker 25

  It was just six weeks ago when they were first told of the possibility that Danny Heinrich, awaiting trial on child porn charges, might be willing to lead investigator to Jacob's body in exchange for a plea deal. The very next day, the Wetterlings agreed to the deal. "Was it a hard decision?"

• 1:53:48Speaker 08

  "No, not really. For nearly 27 years, we've been looking for Jacob. We wanted to know, where's Jacob?"

• 1:53:55Speaker 25

  Less than 24 hours later, Patty Wetterling got a phone call from the lead prosecutor.

• 1:54:00Speaker 08

  "It was around noon, I think, when they found Jacob's jacket, which was heartbreaking to me. One thing that nobody will ever know is the intensity of these phone calls. To call Jerry and tell him it was hard. We later had to call our children and tell them that they'd found his jacket. And those were grueling phone calls to make. In all of these years, we've never had any piece of evidence to show Jacob was not alive."

• 1:54:34Speaker 25

  They both went to the farm that day, staying only briefly.

• 1:54:37Speaker 08

  "We didn't go anywhere close to where they were digging, but Jacob wasn't alive there and I didn't want to stay."

• 1:54:43Speaker 25

  The next few days, more of Jacob's remains were found. On Labor Day, the family was given the details of Heinrich's confession, and the next day, they heard Heinrich in court, in a matter-of-fact tone, explain how he abducted Jacob, handcuffed him, drove him to Painesville, molested him, and then shot him when he thought law enforcement was approaching.

• 1:55:02Speaker 08

  "I don't even know how to describe what it felt like hearing his words. When he came into the courtroom, all I could look at him and say is..." How could you? It was actually absolutely stunning to try and process. How do you shift your head from hoping and searching and to now knowing that he wasn't alive? And what a horrible death.

• 1:55:28Speaker 25

  They both say they are not second guessing law enforcement. Danny Heinrich was an early suspect but dropped off investigators' radar for a quarter of a century.

• 1:55:36Speaker 24

  It's so easy to look at a situation from today's perspective.

• 1:55:43Speaker 25

  As for the future, the Wetterlings say they will continue their work on behalf of child safety and the work of the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center.

• 1:55:49Speaker 08

  There's still a lot of work to do and we're gaining strength to help, but we're just grateful for people who carried us along the way.

• 1:55:57Speaker 25

  Esme Murphy, WCCO 4 News.

• 1:56:01Speaker 23

  The Wetterlings will be offering a victim impact statement when Danny Heinrich is sentenced on child porn charges November 21st. Heinrich faces 17 years in prison. Prosecutors say that he then faces a likelihood of civil commitment as a sex offender.

• 1:56:16Colin Brown?

  On November 21st, 2016, Danny Heinrich was actually sentenced to 20 years in prison for child pornography. As a part of his plea deal, no charges of first degree murder were issued for the abduction and murder of Jacob Wetterling. U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger stated, "Today's sentencing marks the close of a sad chapter in Minnesota history. Danny Heinrich hurt countless lives, none more tragic than Jacob Wetterling. I encourage all Minnesotans to draw on the example of Patty and Jerry Wetterling, who transformed their grief into hope. Patty and Jerry have dedicated their lives to helping other parents bring their kids home. We can all help." The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received more than 4 million online

• 1:56:58Colin Brown?

  tips last year of suspected child sexual exploitation. No concern is too small, no observation too important, to call 1-800-the-lost or go online to www.missingkids.com. Every child matters, every second counts.

• 1:57:16Colin Brown?

  After confessing to the crime, Danny issued a statement to Jerry and Patty saying, "To Mr. and Mrs. Wetterling, the heinous acts of selfishness are unforgivable for what I've taken away from you. I am truly sorry." Today, Danny is serving out his sentence at the Federal Medical Center Devens in Ire, Massachusetts. His release date is listed as March 28, 2033. Upon leaving prison, Danny will remain under supervised release for the rest of his life. As for the Stearns County Sheriff's Office, they admitted that the entire Jacob Wetterling case had been a complete failure. According to the new sheriff, due to inexperienced agents within the FBI during Danny's original interrogation, he was allowed to walk away as a free man.

• 1:58:00Colin Brown?

  But of course, the FBI disputed those claims.

• 1:58:03Speaker 26

  They have, in my view, from October 22, mistaken activity for accomplishment. They just felt like if we keep doing this, and keep doing this, and keep doing this, getting more and more tips and coming and coming, we'll eventually stumble onto it. They had it.

• 1:58:20Speaker 27

  So was this investigation poorly done? Was it a failure up until 25 years later? How would you characterize it?

• 1:58:26Speaker 26

  Went off the rails. Went off the rails and very quickly on, frankly, it went off the rails with the Painesville incidents. We should have been involved in that and solved those cases way back in 87. Then it goes off the rails again in 1989. And then I think it goes off the rails, certainly from October 22 through the arrest and release of Danny Heinrich.

• 1:58:54Speaker 28

  Don wasn't there. He didn't see the day-to-day operation. It's the impression that we disregarded Heinrich. My goodness. And I don't understand what he's talking about, about arresting him in a bar when he was drunk. That's not what happened. I want the picture to be clear. We're not dopes. We're not stupid. We don't miss big things.

• 1:59:17Courtney Brown?

  The Wetterling family will never have closure. Nothing will ever bring Jacob home. But through their tireless efforts to uncover the truth, positive changes were made. And they continue to be made, to protect children and families from a similar fate. Patty said to her son, quote, "I still believe in you, Jacob. I still feel you are so close. Your spirit is strong in this physical world, and you are still making a huge difference in so many lives. You became a unifier of hearts all the world around. You showed us how incredibly special each child is, and that love spread all across

• 1:59:58Courtney Brown?

  the globe, united hearts and hope. I feel your hand softly brush away my tears when I'm having a bad day. I sense you watching when I see a deer stop to stare at me through the woods. I hear your voice in the wind, reminding me to smile and enjoy the day. I shed tears when I learn about the other children who are struggling. I smile when I see rainbows. I still believe in the magic of Santa Claus. I believe in the power of following your dreams. I believe in a loving God. I believe in prayer. I believe in the power of good people pulling together to do amazing things." End quote.

• 2:00:40Courtney Brown?

  Jacob Wetterling's story may have ended in tragedy, but his legacy lives on through the advocacy work that his loved ones fought for. Because of them, these monsters are no longer allowed to operate in the shadows, and there is no telling how many children they have saved because of it.

• 2:00:59Colin Brown?

  For today's episode, we will be making a donation to the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center and the Zero Abuse Project. It's a nonprofit organization founded in 1990 by Jerry and Patty Wetterling, later merged with the Zero Abuse Project. The organization works to end abuse, neglect, and exploitation of children through training, education, and prevention. It also works with survivors and families to provide support and treatment. The main sources used for this episode were the books Finding Jacob Wetterling: The Twenty-Seven-Year Investigation from Kidnapping to Confession by author Robert M. Dudley, and Dear Jacob: A Mother's Journey of Hope, written by Patty Wetterling. Enjoy, Baker.

• 2:01:42Colin Brown?

  Hey everybody. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of Murder in America. Just crazy to see the lapses in law enforcement and, you know, and the FBI's investigation. It really always makes me wonder how many cases that are out there right now could be solved today if people just took another look at it from a different perspective, or tried to remedy some of the wrongs that had been done in the case so many years ago. If you want to help support the show and what we do here on the show, please consider joining us on Patreon. You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode that we post on the main feed on our Patreon. And also, if you love

• 2:02:26Colin Brown?

  the show and you've listened to every episode, we have over 120, 30, I don't even know how many at this point, bonus episodes on our Patreon. These are full-length episodes of the show. We post two a month with both Courtney and I and sound design and music. So if you like what you've listened to today, consider joining us on Patreon because you can get access to an entire library of episodes that will never be posted on our main feed. Also, do not forget to follow us on Instagram at Murder in America to see photos from every case that we cover. And I know we say it a lot, but please, if you like what we do here, please leave us a five-star review wherever you listen to the show, whether that's on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other streaming platform. But anyways, y'all,

• 2:03:10Colin Brown?

  have a great weekend. Thank you all for listening this week, and we'll see you guys on the next one.

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