by Steven Wright
news@thenewsleaders.com
The Jacob Wetterling investigation has a new lead investigator – but a very familiar face to the case. Bruce Bechtold was the first police officer on the scene when Jacob Wetterling was abducted in October 1989. In the years since Wetterling’s abduction, Bechtold has provided police work for the case, but will now lead the 26-year-old investigation. Working with past investigators, Bechtold has learned a lot as chief deputy and hopes to bring his long-time experience to the investigation.
“I’ve learned you need to be patient and sometimes patience and hard work can get you where you need to go,” Bechtold said in a Newsleader interview. “The work done by the investigators before me has really been helping.”
In his rookie year as a patrol officer, Bechtold was dispatched to the scene of Wetterling’s abduction in St. Joseph and filed the first police report.
The arrest of Danny Heinrich in Annandale last year shed new light on the possibility of a link to Wetterling’s disappearance. Heinrich is now indicted on 25 child-pornography charges but has not been charged in Jacob Wetterling’s abduction.
Bechtold will take the place of Capt. Pam Jensen, who retired last week after more than 15 years leading the Wetterling investigation.
“I’m going to continue where she left off and collaborate with the other agencies involved and try to determine the facts,” Bechtold said.
He also spoke with the Wetterling family recently and told them he wants to keep the same open communication that Jensen provided.
The FBI and BCA have assigned their own investigator who will assist Bechtold in the ongoing case. Although Bechtold wouldn’t get into any specifics with the case, he’s confident the investigation has new life.
“We’re getting to a better place with this case than we’ve been for a long time,” Bechtold said.
