The latest on Jacob Wetterling

[wiseguy182]

Today must be a tough day for the Wetterlings as is the 26th anniversary of Jacob's disappearance and still no answers yet.

Joy Baker must have taken a break from her blog. Either that, or there's absolutely nothing new to report.

[RobinW]

Wow, exactly one week after the anniversary of Jacob's abduction, and they've announced a new person of interest:
http://www.startribune.com/new-devel...ase/338399961/

Thus far, this guy has been arrested on charges child pornography and while they've yet to find any direct evidence tying him to Jacob's abduction, he did live in the area at the time and certainly fits the profile of someone who would do this.

[atomicfizz]

Of course they are making a huge deal about this, I know the stations here preempted programming to cover the presser. Personally I'm not too excited about this relating to JW. I'm glad they are getting one more scumbag paedo off the streets and hopefully they can convict him in the case that they have the DNA from. They've already talked to him about JW, and I thought the description of the man was much older than 26, which he would have been at the time?

I guess I'm just not sure what all the hoopla is about. Yes, I am glad they continue to think of JW and investigate his disappearance after all these years. But this isn't a new person to the case, there is no evidence linking him, he's not even named a suspect. Hopefully this is something where the police are not saying everything and they are close to solving this. And I hope they do, I have always hoped that. Maybe i'm just a little jaded because we've had a few other red herrings with POIs being named years later and nothing coming of it.

Believe me, I would love nothing more than for this case to be solved so P&JW and their other kids can have some kind of "closure" instead of wondering forever, but I'm not holding my breath over this guy turning into anything. If he did it hopefully he'll confess though I highly doubt it after getting away with it all this time, especially after being searched and investigated before with nothing coming out of it.

[wiseguy182]

Originally Posted by atomicfizz

Of course they are making a huge deal about this, I know the stations here preempted programming to cover the presser. Personally I'm not too excited about this relating to JW. I'm glad they are getting one more scumbag paedo off the streets and hopefully they can convict him in the case that they have the DNA from. They've already talked to him about JW, and I thought the description of the man was much older than 26, which he would have been at the time?

I guess I'm just not sure what all the hoopla is about. Yes, I am glad they continue to think of JW and investigate his disappearance after all these years. But this isn't a new person to the case, there is no evidence linking him, he's not even named a suspect. Hopefully this is something where the police are not saying everything and they are close to solving this. And I hope they do, I have always hoped that. Maybe i'm just a little jaded because we've had a few other red herrings with POIs being named years later and nothing coming of it.

Believe me, I would love nothing more than for this case to be solved so P&JW and their other kids can have some kind of "closure" instead of wondering forever, but I'm not holding my breath over this guy turning into anything. If he did it hopefully he'll confess though I highly doubt it after getting away with it all this time, especially after being searched and investigated before with nothing coming out of it.

It's him. It's gotta be him.

I understand your point about the age seemingly being off. But the suspect (Heinrich) was balding in 1989 and looks a lot like the composite sketch. There's a side-by-side comparison here.

http://www.kare11.com/story/news/loc...case/74813880/

Tire and shoe tracks found on the scene near where Jacob was abducted match him. DNA has also matched him to the attack on Jared. He also lived in Paynesville, which is where a lot of the prior attacks on boys happened. He also has a lengthy criminal record including assaults and burglaries, among other things.

Nowadays, authorities rarely call someone a "suspect", possibly to avoid legal complications or whatever. "Person Of Interest" is used a lot more frequently these days because it's an ambiguous term. It can mean someone who is a possible suspect, but can also refer to someone who may have knowledge on the case.

It's him.

[atomicfizz]

I didn't see the comparison pics but I'll go looking for them.

I really do hope this is him and they can get him. It really sucks that they can't charge him with Jared's abduction/assault because of the statute of limitations. That's BS. I might have missed this but did Jared ID him back when this happened? I know they have other evidence (the tire and shoe imprints and now DNA) but just curious if they also had a positive ID.

Anyway you look at it this guy is a scumbag and thank goodness he's off the streets.

[wiseguy182]

It should be noted they contacted a profiler back when this first happened, and they were spot on in their estimate that the perp was 25-35 years old with some deformity. (In this case, the deformity being a nearly completely bald man despite being at the relatively young age of 26 at the time).

[5353]

Article from a few weeks ago: http://www.startribune.com/wetterlin...erl/379075091/

Not much of an update to the whole situation, and I doubt Heinrich is going to say anything, but at least Scheierl can confront this psychopath.

[1990 UM fan]

This might have been asked and is probably obvious, but did they thoroughly search the woods that Jacob was lead into? I always thought that he was taken there, molested and then murdered, and that the body is somewhere there or nearby. I feel bad for Jacob's family, and that poor boy at 11, gone.

[wiseguy182]

Originally Posted by 1990 UM fan

This might have been asked and is probably obvious, but did they thoroughly search the woods that Jacob was lead into? I always thought that he was taken there, molested and then murdered, and that the body is somewhere there or nearby. I feel bad for Jacob's family, and that poor boy at 11, gone.

That's what I thought for years.

There's some huge debate on that though. From 1989-2004, LE believed the abductor used a car to transport Jacob out of the immediate area. LE changed their tune in 04, swerving towards the theory that the abductor was on foot. That seems strange though. Could the perp drag a boy some distance from his house and the pair not be spotted by anyone? Plus, that would imply the abductor lived in the immediate area and stood a much greater chance of eventually being found out.

But then again, it was stated Jacob was seen being dragged toward a wooded area and the CP page backs that up, so who knows? Plus you have Dan Rassier stating he saw 2 suspicious cars use his long driveway that day, and both whizzed out of the area. It's all very confusing.

I suppose it's not out of the realm of possibility that the perp assaulted Jacob, released him and something happened to him on his way back, but that doesn't seem terribly likely. There was also a theory put out there that he was sold to a child sex ring, but I don't think that's very likely either.

In regards to the search, it was pretty massive and immediate. They had a helicopter over there in quick fashion.

It was stated there was a suspicious fire of a building related to Heinrich 3 weeks after Jacob's abduction. I fear any remains might be long gone.

[libby2130]

he killed him that first night

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/n...121-story.html