by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
Even though Dan Rassier feels vindicated by recent developments in the Jacob Wetterling case, he said he does not want to dwell on vindication. However, he told Minnesota Public Radio earlier this week he intends to file a lawsuit over the way he was treated for years as a suspect in the Wetterling abduction.
He said he intends to sue a television station and one of its reporters, the Stearns County Sheriff’s Department, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Rassier told MPR he was treated badly and unjustly for years by investigators who tried to get him to confess to a crime he did not commit.
At one time, documents show law enforcement had Jacob’s mother, Patty Wetterling, wear a wire and then had her ask Rassier what happened to Jacob, who was 11 years old at the time of his abduction in St. Joseph in 1989.
Immediately following the shocking murder confession by Danny Heinrich two weeks ago, Rassier said his thoughts and feelings were extended toward the Wetterling family.
“At this time, I can only think and express my sincere thoughts of concern for what Jacob’s family and friends are going through,” Rassier said in a message to the Newsleaders.
Rassier lives on his family farm whose driveway is just across the rural road where Jacob Wetterling was abducted almost 27 years ago. Rassier had been named a “person of interest” in the case.
In 2004, Rassier said investigators asked him to confess to the crime. In 2010, authorities were authorized to remove six truckloads of dirt from the Rassier farm. The dirt was sifted for evidence; none turned up.
Rassier is a music teacher in the Rocori School District and at the College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University.
The following is what Rassier wrote to the Newsleaders on Monday, Sept. 5:
“Over time, we all became connected to Jacob’s dreams and hopes and love. To just learn such a lovable young boy was taken and killed is just too overwhelming to bear alone. We all are supporting each other now and need to do so for the years to come.
“Jacob became a symbol of hope and love for all children as well as adults. We will always have his memories with us. My thoughts and hopes go out to Jacob’s parents, Patty and Jerry, along with their family and friends. A special feeling goes out to all of Jacob’s friends who he had so much fun with in what was his wonderful life. May Jacob forever remain in our hearts and thoughts and guide us down our road toward home.
“I know my Dad is also helping us make it through these days. It’s been an extremely difficult weekend for my family and myself. So I can’t even comprehend the feelings of people closer to Jacob. He was loved by all (throughout) the years.”
On the evening of Oct. 22, 1989, Rassier was in the farmhouse where he lived with his parents, Robert and Rita, who were on a European vacation at the time. While typing in an upstairs room at about 9:15 p.m., he said he looked out the window, and saw a dark blue or black car pull into his driveway and then quickly turn around and leave. The driveway is about a quarter of a mile from the road where the abduction happened. Rassier said he thought he could see a child or a small woman sitting in the passenger’s side of the front seat.
Heinrich, 53, of Annandale, was arrested last summer for possessing child pornography. As part of a plea agreement, he recently led investigators to a Paynesville farm where they found Jacob’s remains.
Heinrich confessed to kidnapping and fatally shooting Wetterling as he pleaded guilty to child pornography charges in a federal court in Minneapolis on Sept. 6.
Heinrich had been a person of interest in the Wetterling disappearance just weeks after the kidnapping. At that time, a man in the Paynesville area had groped and molested several boys during a period of years, and one of the boys was forced into a car and sexually molested. The evidence from this incident was recently DNA tested (with improved technology) and connected Heinrich to that crime. Because of the statute of limitations, he will not be charged with this rape.
In an interview with the Newsleaders in 2010 after authorities removed tons of dirt from the farm, Rassier said authorities had misled him. For example, they knew there were tire tracks in his driveway, as well as shoe prints, and both the tracks and prints seemed to be consistent with the car Heinrich was driving at the time and the footprints matched Heinrich’s shoe size.
When authorities talked with Rassier in 2004, they told him there were no tracks in the driveway and that therefore the perpetrator must have been on foot, not in a car – an obvious ploy to get Rassier to confess to a crime he did not commit.
On Oct. 31, 2015, Rassier’s father, Robert Rassier, died at the age of 90. It was a doubly terrible time for Dan because his father desperately wanted to live long enough to see his son’s name cleared and all clouds of suspicion dissipated.
Dan Rassier
