by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
Fighting back tears, Patty Wetterling spoke to the media of heartbreak during a televised press conference following the Sept. 6 court hearing during which her son Jacob’s abductor and killer, Danny Heinrich, confessed to the crime nearly 27 years after he committed it.
“Jacob, I’m so sorry,” Patty Wetterling said, standing behind the microphone. “It’s incredibly painful to know his last days, his last hours, his last minutes.”
To the Wetterling family, “Jacob was alive before we found him,” she said.
Despite the tears, however, Wetterling made it plain she and others will not give up the struggle to help keep all children safe from harm.
Before, during and after Wetterling’s comments, she was surrounded by her husband, Jerry, a St. Joseph chiropractor, and their three grown children, all of whom hugged and comforted one another.
“Jacob has taught us how to live, how to love, how to be fair, how to be kind,” she said. “He speaks to the world he knew, that we believe in.”
It’s time for healing, Wetterling said, adding she and her family will have more to say in the future after the healing process has helped them recover.
She thanked the investigators and attorneys who worked on the case. She thanked the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which brought her comfort and solace for so many years. She thanked the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center for the hard work its staff does. And she thanked the media, which she said played a “huge role” through the years in helping find missing children, with some media people becoming strong supporters of her family to the point of becoming friends.
She also had high praise and thanks for Jared Scheierl for having the courage to stand up and say, “This happened to me.” Scheierl had long believed the man who kidnapped and molested him had done the same thing nine months later to Jacob.
“I am incredibly grateful for the kindness they’ve extended to our family and for the integrity of their stories,” she said. “. . . We love you, Jacob. Our hearts are hurting.”
Her final words at the microphone were these, words of hope and determination: “We have a lot more work to do to protect all of our world’s children.”
Scheierl also said a few words at the press conference. The “spirit of Jacob and of Patty Wetterling” has long inspired him, he said, as well as the friends he met throughout the years who have also been victims of sexual abuse.
Scheierl noted what a sad irony it was Jacob Wetterling was buried at the edge of the city he, Scheierl, was born and raised and still lives in. Paynesville, he added, is also going through a healing process after the tragic news. It’s important, he said, to help all find closure and to move on in positive ways.
Patty Wetterling hugs her two youngest children Trevor (10) and Carmen (8) during a balloon release held for Jacob shortly after his disappearance.
