Jake Thomas Patterson, 21, arrested for kidnapping Wisconsin 13-year-old Jayme Closs and murdering her parents, as details of her dramatic escape emerge
- Jayme Closs, who disappeared three months ago on the night her parents were shot dead, waved down a woman on a rural road to say she had been kidnapped
- Jake Thomas Patterson was arrested just 11 minutes after Jayme was found
A 21-year-old man has been arrested for the murder a Wisconsin couple he allegedly killed because he wanted to kidnap their teenage daughter, investigators said on Friday, a day after the girl approached a stranger along a rural road saying she’d been abducted in October and held against her will.
Jake Thomas Patterson was taken into custody shortly after 13-year-old Jayme Closs sought help from a woman walking her dog in a rural, heavily wooded neighbourhood near the small town of Gordon, about 60 miles (96km) north of Barron.
Jayme disappeared from her family’s home in Barron when her parents were killed October 15.
During a news conference Friday, Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald said Jayme was taken against her will. The sheriff also said investigators don’t believe Patterson had any contact with the family.
Fitzgerald said investigators believe Patterson killed Jayme’s parents because he wanted to abduct her, and that Patterson “planned his actions and took many steps to hide his identity”.