‘Embodiment of evil’: Jake Patterson, who kidnapped US teenager Jayme Closs and murdered her parents, to die in prison
- Judge sentences Patterson, who admitted to having fantasies of ‘taking multiple girls and killing multiple families’, to two terms of life imprisonment
- After killing 13-year-old’s father and mother, he kept her captive for 88 days before she escaped
A Wisconsin judge sentenced Jake Patterson to two terms of life imprisonment on Friday for kidnapping 13-year-old Jayme Closs and murdering her parents, describing him as “one of the most dangerous men ever to walk this planet”.
Barron County Circuit Court Judge James Babler said Patterson, 21, admitted to having fantasies of “taking multiple girls, and killing multiple families” and he could never be released from prison.
“Mr Patterson, you initially murdered two innocent parents, parents trying to protect their daughter,” an emotional Babler said as he gave Patterson the maximum sentence possible in a state that does not have the death penalty.
He described the former cheese factory worker, who was kicked out of the US Marines after five weeks, as “the embodiment of evil”.
Patterson, 21, in March admitted to committing the October killings and abduction in Barron County, Wisconsin, holding Closs for 88 days before her daring January 10 escape.