Jacob Wetterling - Minnesota - 1989 (Deceased)

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Jacob Wetterling has been missing for nearly 25 years. His case was last aired on AMW in 2001.


On Oct 22, 1989, 11-year old Jacob, his brother and a friend were riding their bicycles in St. Joseph, Minnesota from a convenience store to Jacob's home. They had almost arrived when an unidentified white male, wearing a mask and armed with either a handgun or shotgun approached them. He ordered the three boys to lie face down in a ditch, then asked the other two boys how old they were. He ordered them to run away and not look back or they would be shot, the abductor then took Jacob and disappeared. The man was described as being 40-50 years old, 5'8 with a husky build. An FBI profiler said the man was 25-35 years old and probably had poor self-esteem. The abductor and Jacob have never been seen again.

Ten months before Jacob's abduction (Charley Project is wrong on the date), a 12-year old boy 10 miles away in Cold Springs, Minnesota was abducted while walking home after finishing ice skating. The boy was pulled into a car and was molested, then he was pushed out. The man's description was nearly identical to Jacob's abductor.

In 2004, authorities identified the owner of a car seen near where Jacob was abducted and cleared the owner of any involvement. Authorities now believe that the abductor was on foot. It's also believed that Jacob was stalked before he was abducted. Recently, there has been suspicion of Jacob's neighbour, Dan Rassier. Jacob was abducted at the end of Rassier's driveway. In 2010, authorities searched his family farm but found nothing to link Rassier to Jacob's abduction. They did find a box of newspaper clippings about Jacob's abduction and a journal about Rassier's thoughts regarding the case.


Thoughts? Regarding the Rassier theory, I have a few comments about it. It may not have been that unusual for Rassier to keep the newspaper clippings and a journal due to how much media attention this case got. Some commentators have their own issues with Rassier but I wonder if they just want to make someone look like a suspect for the sake of keeping this infamous case "interesting to viewers". My biggest issue is the Cold Springs abduction and molestation. That angle seems to have dropped out of the spotlight recently, despite the descriptions of the perpetrators in the two cases being nearly identicial. If Rassier is Jacob's abductor then why would he need to molest a boy 10 miles from his home before abducting Jacob at the edge of his driveway?

However, if Rassier isn't the abductor and a serial child predator was involved then why would he need to abduct a boy at his driveway in such a unusual fashion, especially if he was apparently on foot? It's quite possible that Jacob's abductor lived somewhere in the area but changed his appearance after the major media coverage started, or left the area in my opinion.



www.charleyproject.org/cases/w/wetterling_jacob.html
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2183014/Jacob-Wetterling-abduction-Person-Dan-Rassier-says-police-violate-rights.html
transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1102/28/ng.01.html
www.startribune.com/local/11579041.html (About the Cold Springs crime)
archive.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=63324 (About the Cold Springs crime)

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