'Jayme is the hero' sheriff says of
Wisconsin girl who escaped captor
Send a link to a friend
[January 12, 2019]
By Gabriella Borter and Joseph Ax
(Reuters) - A 13-year-old girl's escape
from a rural home where she was held captive for three months by a
Wisconsin man charged with murdering her parents helped break the case
and she should be treated as a hero, the local sheriff said on Friday.
Jayme Closs is with her aunt after her rescue on Thursday and has been
reunited with the rest of her family and her dog, Barron County Sheriff
Chris Fitzgerald told reporters.
Thousands of volunteers and hundreds of law enforcement officers had
searched the small town of Barron after Closs' parents were found shot
dead in their home in October, their front door blown open with a
shotgun, their daughter gone.
Closs was targeted by suspected kidnapper Jake Patterson, 21, who
carefully planned her parents' murder, even shaving his head to avoid
leaving forensic evidence at the crime scene, Fitzgerald told reporters.
"Jayme was the target," said Fitzgerald. "The suspect had specific
intentions to kidnap Jayme and went to great lengths to prepare to take
her."
Relying on what Fitzgerald called "the will of a kid to survive," a
disheveled Closs escaped the house in the tiny town of Gordon where she
had been held captive, about 60 miles (100 km) north of her home in
Barron. Her captor was not at home when she managed to flee, Fitzgerald
said. She was found by a woman walking her dog on Thursday afternoon.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/Jan/12/images/ads/current/LPL_small%201.gif)
"Jayme is the hero in this case. She's the one who helped us break this
case," Fitzgerald told reporters.
Closs spoke to investigators on Friday after spending a night in the
hospital for evaluation. Authorities did not offer any details about the
conditions of her captivity or how she had managed to escape.
'LOOKING FOR HER'
Less than 15 minutes after Closs' rescue, Patterson was taken into
custody after police pulled him over, based on Closs' description of his
vehicle.
"The suspect was out looking for her when law enforcement made contact
with him," Fitzgerald told a news conference, adding police were not
seeking any other suspects in the case at this time.
Police are now trying to work out why Patterson targeted Closs.
"We don't believe there was a social media connection and are
determining how he became aware of Jayme," Fitzgerald said. "Nothing in
this case shows the suspect knew anyone at the Closs home, or at any
time had contact with anyone in the Closs family."
Patterson, an unemployed resident of Gordon, was charged on Friday with
kidnapping and with murdering James and Denise Closs with a shotgun.
Their bodies were discovered on Oct. 15.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/011219pics/news_b3.jpg)
A U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) missing person poster
shows Jayme Closs, a 13-year-old Wisconsin girl, missing since her
parents were discovered fatally shot three months ago, has been
located in Gordon, Wisconsin, U.S. as seen in this poster provided
January 11, 2019. FBI/Handout via Reuters
![](../images/ads/current/fitzpatrick_lda_SPONSOR_2017.png)
He was being held in the Barron County jail, and it was not yet
clear whether he had a lawyer. He faces an initial court hearing on
Monday.
Authorities have released few details about Patterson, who has no
previous criminal record in Wisconsin.
Fitzgerald, the Barron County Sheriff, said Patterson grew up in
Gordon and attended high school in the area.
The president of the Jennie-O Turkey store in Barron, where James
and Denise Closs had worked for decades, said Patterson had been an
employee there for a single day three years ago. He quit the next
day, saying he was moving, Steve Lykken said.
"We are still mourning the loss of longtime Jennie-O family members
Jim and Denise, but our entire team is celebrating with the
community, and the world, that Jayme has been found," Lykken said.
The superintendent of the local school district, Jean Serum,
described Patterson as a nice kid and member of his high school's
quiz bowl team. He graduated in 2015.
INNER STRENGTH
About 350 people under the age of 21 are kidnapped by strangers in
the United States each year, according to FBI data.
Those that survive months in captivity need inner strength and a
great deal of luck, according to survivors and experts who have
worked with such victims.
Elizabeth Smart, who was held captive for nine months as a teenager
after her 2002 abduction in Utah, posted a photo of Closs on
Instagram, praising the "miracle" that she had been found.
"No matter what may unfold in her story let's all try to remember
that this young woman has SURVIVED and whatever other details may
surface the most important will still remain that she is alive,"
Smart wrote.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax and Gabriella Borter in New York; Additional
reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta and Andrew Hay in New Mexico;
Editing by Bill Tarrant and Sandra Maler)
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/Jan/12/images/ads/current/graue_sda_2016.png)
|