Jacob Wetterling's Abductors

“He grabbed Jacob and he told me to run fast as I could into the woods or else he would shoot,” (qtd. in Murphy) was how Aaron Larson described the moment he was last by his best friend’s side. On October 22, 1989, Jacob Wetterling was kidnapped a couple blocks from his home in St. Joseph, Minnesota. He, along with his abductor, have yet to be discovered. There have been thousands of leads as to who may be his abductor, but there fails to be enough evidence to convict any potential suspects. Initially, reported vehicles were used to search for Wetterling’s abductor, but after new findings in 2003, the investigation shifted towards local St. Joseph residence. Joy Baker, a New London blogger who has blogged intensely about the Jacob Wetterling

case, brought to the public’s attention a handful of sexual assault cases reported in Paynseville, Minnesota, a town fourty miles from St. Joseph. Authorities are determining whether these cases are linked to Wetterling’s abduction, and if so, who the attacker may be. Although a local St. Joseph resident has been the person of interest since the beginning of Wetterling’s investigation, the man who sexually assaulted the boys in Paynseville more than likely abducted Jacob Wetterling.
The abduction of Jacob Wetterling occurred the night of October 22, 1989, while he, his brother Trevor Wetterling and his friend Aaron Larson bicycled home from the local Tom Thumb convenient store. Wetterling was home alone with his brother, sister and friend when they decided to rent a movie. In order to do so, the Wetterling brothers called their parents for permission, since Patty and Jerry Wetterling were at a dinner party in Clearwater, Minnesota, a town ___ miles away. Patty Wetterling, the mother, refused, but the father, Jerry Wetterling, allowed the boys to go as long as they wore bright clothing. Jacob Wetterling wore a reflective vest, Trevor Wetterling wore a white sweatshirt and Aaron Larson brought a flashlight. After leaving the store with the movie Naked Gun and a couple Blow-Up suckers, a darkly dressed, masked man dressed came out of a driveway located on an unlit stretch of road. The man, armed with a gun, ordered Larson to turn his flashlight off and the boys to ditch their bikes, lie facedown and state their ages. Trevor Wetterling was the first boy sent off to run to the wooded area ___ yards from the driveway. After telling the man their age, Larson and Wetterling were asked their names; the man took Wetterling and ordered Larson to run to the woods and not look back or else the gunman would shoot. Once Larson reached Trevor Wetterling, they looked back and saw the man and Wetterling disappeared. Neither of the two recall hearing or seeing a getaway vehicle. The two boys left their bikes in the ditch and ran the remaining two blocks home, where they told their babysitter what had just happened to Jacob Wetterling. In reaction, the babysitter called her father, who called the police and Mr. and Mrs. Wetterling. Within six minutes of the police call, a sheriff was on-site and authorities immediately began a search around the abduction area until three in the morning (Baker, “Maybe, Just Maybe”).
Initially, evidence of a fresh set of tire tracks in the driveway where Jacob Wetterling was abducted led investigators to believe the abductor escaped by vehicle (St.

Cloud Times Staff). Since the tire tracks were fresh and a police bloodhound sent from Minneapolis was able to track Wetterling’s scent until the middle of the driveway, the theory of an escape vehicle seemed rational (St. Cloud Times Staff). Many authorities and volunteers were involved in the search for Jacob Wetterling, including FBI, local and state officers, two helicopters, 240 National Guard members and officials on terrain vehicles. Law enforcement gathered information from locals in hopes of receiving something that could help lead to the gunman’s identity. Three days following the abduction, locals report of seeing an unsual red vehicle driving around town six weeks, two weeks and then a day prior to Jacob Wetterling’s abduction; therefore, every red vehicle in the area was searched (St. Cloud Times Staff). Locals also reported sightings of three men: one known to creepily leer at visiting customers and the other two to be owners of the reported vehicles. Authorities combined the police sketches of these men due to belief the three sightings could be the same man and released the sketch to the public on November 23 (St. Cloud Times Staff). On December 14, two months after Jacob Wetterling’s disappearance, a man from Cold Spring, Minnesota, approached authorities with information about his case of

sexual assault, believing the man who assaulted him may have abducted Wetterling. This man’s, since his last name was not released due to personal reasons, name is Jared (St. Cloud Times Staff).
Ten months prior to Jacob Wetterling’s abduction, Jared was kidnapped the night of January 13 in his hometown, Cold Spring, Minnesota. He was walking home from a café when a man pulled up to Jared in his vehicle asking for directions (Baker, “Jared’s Story). Jared explains what happened next, “As I was giving those brief instructions, he stepped out of the vehicle, approached me from behind, grabbed my by my shoulders, and put me in the car” (qtd. in Kupchella). The man then drove Jared to a secluded area, pulled over and began sexually assaulting him. On the way back into the town area of Cold Spring, the man pulled continued to ask Jared if he was able to identify him, which Jared replied he could not. Once near his home, the man pulled Jared out of the vehicle and ordered he run and not look back or else the man would shoot. Jared’s mother reported the assault immediately after Jared’s arrival home (Kupchella). The days following, authorities took Jared to car lots in hopes he could identify the make and model of his attacker’s vehicle; in addition, Jared was also driven around town at night to try and trace the route the man took and locate the area where the assault occurred. After several attempts, Jared finally identified the location at a nearby farm (Kupchella).
Even though investigators were involved in searching for Jared’s attacker, authorities intensified their search after Jacob Wetterling’s abduction, since the two cases seemed eerily similar. Jared and Jacob Wetterling were not only close in age but they were taken a few blocks from their home. Even more resembling was the man Jared described in his scenario, and the man Larson and Trevor Wetterling described in their scenario (Kupchella). All three boys reported the man having a “low, gravely voice,” something that covered his face, a gun (although Jared says he is not sure whether the man had a gun or not) and the demand to run without looking back or else he would be shot. The difference between Jared’s attack and Wetterling’s attack is the escape route; however, the biggest difference is Jared was returned, whereas Jacob Wetterling was not (Kupchella).
For many years, authorities searched for potential suspects in the Wetterling case based on sightings of unusual vehicles and the fresh tire tracks in the driveway the gunman emerged from. The focus changed in October of 2003 when a man by the name of Kevin (last name not given for personal reasons) came forward to officials and admitted the tire tracks founded in the driveway belonged to the vehicle he drove that night of October 22, 1989 (St. Cloud Times Staff; Baker, “Maybe, Just Maybe”). The night of the abduction, Kevin spent the evening with his girlfriend’s family when he saw several police vehicles speeding past:
“It was getting late, so [Kevin, his girlfriend and his girlfriend’s brother and sister-in-law] got their jackets on and were standing in the entryway ready to go when they heard something come across the police scanner. They hadn’t been listening closely, but thought they had heard something about kids, some bikes, Tom Thumb, and possibly a mask. Suddenly, they see the three police cars go flying past on County 75, lights on, and heading east. (Kevin can’t remember if he heard any sirens, but he remembers the lights.) Since there were only three cops in town at the time, the group realizes something big must be happening,” (qtd. in Baker, “Kevin’s Story”).
After seeing the flashing lights fly past, curiosity overcame the group, so they decided to investigate themselves. Kevin and his girlfriend drove her silver/tan Grand Prix convertible while the other two drove in a Ford pickup. The four drove around in town and around town and found no signs of activity, so they deserted their plan (Baker, “Kevin’s Story). While Kevin turned down a road which turned out to be the driveway where Jacob Wetterling was abducted, he and his girlfriend came upon a pair of bicycles (Baker, “A Few Answers”). Until the following morning, they were unaware Wetterling was abducted at the area Kevin and his girlfriend turned around and saw the bicycles. Upon finding this out from the girlfriend’s brother, he also found out plaster casts were being made of his tire tracks (Baker, “Kevin’s Story).
After Kevin’s confession, investigators changed their theory: the abductor escaped via foot.

Instead of searching for potential suspects among surrounding towns, authorities questioned locals, especially Dan Rassier, the owner of the driveway where Jacob Wetterling was abducted. Since Dan Rassier has been a person of interest for many years, authorities refuse to clear his name, despite all the evidence gathered proving his innocence. Rassier has been willing to help out as much as he can by agreeing to undergo lie detection tests, DNA tests and hypnosis (Rassier). Not only have authorities targeted him for twenty years and still ongoing, during one interview with a BCA agent, Rassier explained the agent’s plea: “He was basically saying, ‘we don’t have anything on you but would you admit…we could end this and you admit that you did this,’” (qtd. in Murphy). Not only have law enforcement pressured Rassier to take responsibility of the crime, in June of 2010, authorities approached him with several search warrants and heavy digging equipment (Murphy; St. Cloud Times Staff; “Wetterling Investigators”). Although it was unable to be specified which items were taken back to forensic labs for testing, several truckloads of dirt were seen taken away from the farm property. (“Wetterling

Investigators”).
On the night of Jacob Wetterling’s abduction, Rassier interacted twice with authorities: one with the Sheriff and another via phone call, which neither were documented (Murphy). Rassier awoke due to his barking dog and called the police when he noticed several people searching through his wood pile with flashlights. During this call, he finds out a child had been abducted at the end of his driveway (Murphy; Baker, “Dan’s Story). After the call ended, he helped authorities search around his property and talked to the Sheriff, Bruce Bechtold. He explains to Joy Baker his lack of knowledge of the man he spoke to that night, “Yes, I spoke to an officer on the road, up the hill. I didn’t know who he was for 23 years,” (qtd. in Baker, “Dan’s Story). The following morning on October 23, his driveway was blocked with security tape so he was forced to exit his driveway in the ditch and while at work, two investigators questioned Rassier and searched his vehicle, in which they found nothing suspicious (Baker, “The Next Day”).
In the town of Paynesville, Minnesota, about 30 miles away from St. Joseph, a newspaper article from 1987 posted a report from the Paynesville Police Department: Local police seek help in accosting incidents (qtd. in Baker, “A Possible Break?”) Within a period of two years, a man sought 12-16-year-old boys, took them to downtown areas and sexually assaulted them. According to Sergeant Bill Drager from the police department, “After this guy grabs the boys, he tells them, ‘Don’t turn around or I’ll blow your head off,’” (qtd. in Baker, “A Possible Break?”). Joy Baker posted this article in 2013 onto her blog page, which brought a huge frenzy of media attention. A few months later, she connected with the victims of these Paynesville incidents and asked for them to share their story. In comparison to each story, the boys mentioned the attack occurred as they were walking home during the evening; furthermore, in each incident, the attacker waited in areas near each of the boys’ homes before violently approaching and sexually assaulting him (Baker, “The 1989-87 Paynesville Incidents”). The incidents not only resembled that of Jared’s and Jacob Wetterling’s, but the attacks happened within driving distance of each other. As Baker shared to her followers, “What went through my mind is that they have to be connected. How many psychopathic pedophiles can exist in a 20-mile-radius?” (Baker, “The 1989-87 Paynesville Incidents”). Even though many people—consisting of locals, victims and authorities—have helped gather information to find the man who had been attacking these young boys, there has not been enough evidence conducted to convict a suspect.
The man involved in the sexual assault cases in Paynesville, Minnesota, more than likely may be linked to Jacob Wetterling’s abduction due to similar modus operandi stated previously. If the suspects happen to not be the same man, then the same man who assaulted Jared, abducted Wetterling. Due to research, it can be assumed the attacker lived or currently lives within or near the towns of Paynesville, Cold Spring or St. Joseph, Minnesota. As for the man who has been the person of interest for over 20 years, Dan Rassier did not kidnap Jacob Wetterling. Although law enforcement fail to consider clearing Rassier’s name, evidence proves he did not kidnap Wetterling because through the DNA testing, hypnosis, lie detector testing and forensic lab testing done on several items taken from his property, nothing has came back and given any slight trace Rassier could be the suspect.