by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
Attorneys for Jerry and Patty Wetterling of St. Joseph filed a lawsuit June 2 regarding the planned release of the thousands of pages of documents that accumulated in the long wake of their son Jacob’s abduction and murder in 1989.
In response, Douglas County District Court Judge Ann Carrott, Alexandria, agreed to review sensitive subjects in the records to determine if those portions should be released or not. Carrott agreed to weigh in on the lawsuit because Stearns County judges had recused themselves based on possible conflict-of-interest considerations.
The Wetterlings maintain because of the saturation attention of law enforcement and investigators after the abduction, many personal aspects of the Wetterlings’ family life were scrutinized. Those aspects should remain private, the Wetterlings claim in the lawsuit, which was filed against Stearns County Sheriff’s Department and its interim sheriff, Don Gudmundson.
The department had planned to make all the investigative information available to the public June 5. It may take many months to review the documents because they number in the tens of thousands of pages.
Jacob Wetterling was abducted, sexually molested and shot to death by Paynesville resident Danny Heinrich on the evening of Oct. 22, 1989 not far from the Wetterling home in St. Joseph. The case remained a baffling mystery for 27 years until it was solved when Heinrich, last year, confessed to the crime and told authorities where he buried the boy’s body.
Since the case is now officially closed, all of the investigative materials can be made public, as in other closed cases. Names of victims uncovered during an investigation, however, can be redacted (blotted out) in some cases.
The Wetterlings and their attorneys will have until June 30 to submit the investigative materials they believe are personal and private and that should remain private. The Wetterlings further maintain in the months following Jacob’s abduction, the widespread climate of fear and suspicion caused many people to offer bogus “tips” to the sheriff’s department, many of them totally false and defamatory accusations aimed at the Wetterling family.
A decision about the investigative files and whether all of them should be released will not be made for several months.
The Wetterling family are (left to right) Amy, Jerry, Patty, Trevor and Carmen shown here during a recent trip out West.
