Without a Trace
Twenty years ago, 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling vanished. His fate remains unknown, his captor’s identity a mystery. But much has changed in the way crimes against children are investigated. Here, the story as told by those who lived it.
Left: Jerry and Patty Wetterling, visiting the site of the kidnapping today.
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On October 22, 1989, a masked gunman stepped out of a patch of darkened woods near St. Joseph, just north of St. Cloud, and kidnapped Jacob Wetterling. The 11-year-old was never seen again. ¶ For months, the crime dominated headlines—not just in Minnesota, but all over America. Then, as now, people regarded small towns like St. Joseph as safe havens for children. If something so horrific could happen in such a setting, and to a responsible kid with protective parents, then it seemed it could happen to anyone. ¶ Jacob’s abduction triggered a sea change in our culture and our laws. Children are now routinely taught to be on guard against strangers who might harm them. Once nearly impossible to track, sex offenders now are required to register with law enforcement, and police are more sensitive to victims’ experiences. ¶ Countless articles have been written about the crime and the search for Jacob. But this month, on the 20th anniversary of the his disappearance, we revisit the event and its repercussions in a way that has never been done before—through the voices of those involved along the way.
The Boy
Jacob was the second of Patty and Jerry Wetterling’s four children. The oldest, Amy, was 14 in 1989. Trevor was 10, and Carmen was 8. Patty was a stay-at-home mom and Jerry a chiropractor. The family lived on a quiet cul-de-sac.
Patty Wetterling: Jacob was 11—that wonderful age. He was young and sweet and still liked to be hugged. His voice hadn’t changed. He had a girlfriend. He was almost my height. He was 5-feet tall. I’m 5-foot-1. That was a big milestone: “You’re as tall as Mom.”
He was a good athlete. He played soccer, basketball, and football. Both our boys played football together with the neighbors. They were so competitive. Frequently, they’d come in crying. I’d say, “Come on, you guys! Why can’t everybody win?”
Jerry Wetterling: For Father’s Day, the kids made a video of themselves putting on a skit. Jacob was portraying me. He was sitting in a chair reading the paper and Amy came up to him and said, “Dad, I’m so sorry I broke one of the lamps.” And he said, “Oh, that’s okay, we can get that fixed or get another one.”
And Trevor came and said he was throwing a baseball and broke a window. And he said, “No problem, we needed to get that window fixed anyhow.” And then Carmen said, “Dad, we forgot to tape the game.” Jacob said, “What?! You forgot to tape the game?!”
Patty Wetterling: I love hockey, so I was excited when Jacob started playing. Whenever he hit the puck, though, he’d fall down. After a while, he decided to be goalie, and that was traumatic. That’s a lot of pressure.
He wasn’t perfect. He could be really stubborn. When he made up his mind, there was no negotiating with him. I found that heartening later when he was missing. That stubborn streak might work to his benefit.
The Abduction
The night of October 22, 1989, Patty and Jerry decided at the last minute to attend a party held by some friends. Amy was at a sleepover. The couple thought the remaining children would be fine on their own at home.
Patty Wetterling: We asked Jacob if he minded baby-sitting for a couple hours while we went. He didn’t mind: “Can Aaron come over?” That made me feel totally fine: They were two sixth-grade boys. Carmen was in second grade—she was 8. Trevor was 10. He was in fourth grade. We ordered a pizza for them, then we left.
Our friends live near Clearwater, so from our house it was like a half-hour drive. We called home when we got there to give the kids the phone number. Shortly after, Trevor called and said, “We’re bored. Can we ride our bikes to the store and rent a video?” My gut instinct was, No, it’s starting to get dark. There’s plenty to do.
But Trevor said, “Well, let me talk to Dad.” I passed the phone over, and Jerry said he barely got to say anything at all. It was like, “Look, Dad, I’ve got a white sweatshirt on. Jacob’s wearing your jogging vest. I’ve got the flashlight. We’ll go straight to the store. We’ll come straight back.” And Jerry said, “It should be okay.”
It was Jacob who called the next time, and said, “Carmen doesn’t want to go with us. Is it okay if Rochelle comes over and baby-sits?” Rochelle lived next door. These were responsible kids. They got a babysitter for their little sister.
At the Tom Thumb store, the three boys bought some candy and some pop. They rented a video, The Naked Gun, then set off toward home in the dark, Jacob and Trevor on bikes and Aaron on a scooter. About 9:15, when they were just a half-mile from home, a man appeared on the end of a driveway, wearing a mask and holding a gun. He told the kids to lie down in the ditch, and then asked each their age. After hearing that Trevor was 10, the man told him to run into the woods. He then asked Aaron, 11, his age and looked at his face, dismissing him, too. Both boys ran hard. Neither saw what happened to Jacob or the stranger.
Patty Wetterling: By the time Aaron caught up to Trevor and they felt safe enough to turn around and look back, Jacob and the man were gone. The boys ran home and told Rochelle to call 911. She called her dad, and he called 911. Then he called us.
The police arrived six minutes later and went to the place where the boys had seen the man. Jacob’s footprints were on the driveway by where the man had been standing. But then they ended and his toe sort of dug into the gravel. There appeared to be some resistance at that point. There were tire tracks on the driveway.
The neighbor who called said, “You have to come home.” Jerry grabbed me and said, “We’ve got to go. Somebody took Jacob.” I grabbed my purse. We didn’t even say goodbye. We just walked out of the party.
We had a very long drive back. I was yelling at Jerry. He didn’t have any answers, and I just kept asking questions. We didn’t have cell phones. I kept telling him to speed, but he didn’t want to get pulled over. He thought that would delay us. I said, “No, that would mean a police escort. Just go.”
We finally arrived at our road and it was a nightmare. There was a squad car, and the police stopped us and drove us home. Trevor was just…I’ve never seen a kid wound tighter. He just couldn’t stop talking. Aaron was tucked in the corner of our kitchen, biting his nails, like he was trying to disappear. He couldn’t talk. I remember Amy and Trevor and Carmen sitting on the couch in absolute terror.
I remember the sheriff saying, “You know, the highway patrol has a helicopter with a search light. Should I call them?” And I’m like, “Oh, my Lord.” I had always thought you were more at risk in the Twin Cities. That’s where real crime happens, I thought, not in St. Joseph.
The Investigation
Just minutes after the 911 call from the Wetterling home, Al Garber, supervisor of the FBI’s Violent Crime Squad in Minneapolis, got a call at home from Al Cotelo, an FBI agent stationed in St. Cloud. Cotelo, who had a son in Jacob’s class, thought Special Agent Garber should be aware of the circumstances surrounding Jacob’s disappearance. Garber is now retired.
Al Garber: Special Agent Cotelo called me at home about 9:30 p.m. He told me Jacob had been abducted and they were all looking for him and they were hopeful that they could find him shortly. Very early the next morning, Al called me again, told me that Jacob had not been found, and said the hunt was becoming more and more intensive. So I got in my car.
I got up to St. Joseph about 7 a.m. It looked right away to me like this was going to be a big investigation. There were so many things to do, and to do all these things, we needed more people, more resources. I kept asking for them and the powers that be just kept giving them to us. At the height of the investigation, we had 70 investigators working full-time.
It was very hard work. Every morning started out with a briefing. And then when everybody left, the phones started ringing and the information started coming in, it got really intense. We used to expect that about mid-morning, we’d get a headache.
You start at the crime scene. There wasn’t any physical evidence to speak of. There were some tire tracks. The bicycles were examined extensively by crime labs, but we didn’t find any physical evidence. There were no witnesses to the actual abduction except the boys, and they were so scared and the abductor was masked. It was isolated. It was an area where a car wouldn’t attract attention. It was a challenging area to start with, as difficult as any I’ve been involved with.
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