by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
“What did I do wrong?”
That heartbreaking question is what 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling asked his abductor right after the boy was forced into a car and handcuffed on the night of Oct. 22, 1989, in St. Joseph Township.
According to those who were there, sobs filled the Minneapolis federal courtroom on the afternoon of Sept. 6 when 53-year-old Danny Heinrich of Annandale – on the stand under oath – admitted to kidnapping, sexually assaulting and killing Jacob. As Heinrich recounted in a matter-of-fact voice what happened that night, Jacob’s grief-stricken parents watched and listened.
Also in the courtroom were Trevor Wetterling and friend Aaron Larson, who were with Jacob the night of the abduction. Jared Scheierl was also there, the man who was kidnapped and sexually assaulted by Heinrich on Jan. 13, 1989, when Jared was 12. The crime, which Heinrich also confessed to in the courtroom, happened nine months before Jacob’s abduction and murder.
Heinrich did not mention the assaults against seven boys in Paynesville in the mid- to late 1980s, crimes of which he has been suspected.
Heinrich’s comments during the 40-minute plea hearing horrified the audience with the monstrous brutality of his actions against the boy. After the hearing, many expressed outrage and anger Heinrich will spend only 20 years in a federal prison on the one charge he pleaded guilty to – receiving child pornography. That was part of a plea-bargaining agreement the Wetterlings agreed to as a way to compel Heinrich to confess to what he had done and to show where he had buried Jacob’s body. Under the terms of the agreement, Heinrich cannot be prosecuted for Jacob’s murder.
If and when he is released from prison, however, the state could confine him as a sex offender under civil proceedings.
Night of terror
The following is a summary of what Heinrich said in his chilling courtroom testimony, which was so difficult for those in the courtroom to hear because of its unspeakable cruelties:
On the evening of Oct. 22, Heinrich was driving on a road in St. Joseph Township when he noticed three boys riding bicycles. He drove onto a road leading to a farmhouse (the Robert Rassier property), then turned the car around facing the road so he would see the boys again heading back on the road.
When he saw them coming down the road, Heinrich put on a mask, grabbed a flashlight and a snubnose revolver and walked up to the boys. He ordered them at gunpoint to get into the ditch and lie down. He asked them to say their names.
He told Trevor Wetterling and Aaron Larson to run toward the woods. Then he grabbed Jacob and put him in the car, handcuffing the boy.
“What did I do wrong?” Jacob asked him.
Heinrich drove to Paynesville, monitoring a police scanner on the way.
Somewhere outside of Paynesville near a gravel pit, Heinrich stopped his car at a field and took Jacob into a grove of trees. He told Jacob to take off his clothes, and he took off his, too. Then he molested the boy. He said he made Jacob touch him but insisted there was no oral sex or penetration.
Afterward, Jacob said he was cold and put his clothes back on. Then Jacob asked the man to take him home. The man said no. Jacob started crying. At that point, Heinrich said he saw police cars and said at that point he panicked. He pulled the snubnose revolver out of his pocket. He told Jacob he had to urinate and so Jacob should turn around and look the other way. When the boy did, Heinrich held the gun up to the back of his head and pulled the trigger, but the gun malfunctioned, not firing. Heinrich pulled the trigger again, and it fired, but Jacob was still standing. Then he pulled the trigger again, the gun fired and Jacob fell to the ground.
Heinrich checked to see if the boy was dead, then he went home for a few hours. He came back to the murder scene and dragged Jacob’s body about 100 yards. He tried to dig a hole with a shovel, but the shovel was too small. He later went to an excavation company and borrowed a skid loader to dig a hole. He buried the boy with all of his clothes on, except for his shoes. He camouflaged the area and brought the skid loader back.
He threw Jacob’s shoes in a ravine and went back home.
About a year later, Heinrich returned to the burial site with a flashlight and saw the grave partially uncovered, with Jacob’s red “St. Cloud State University” hockey jacket. He put the remains and clothing into a bag and took it to the trees on pastureland across the highway, where he buried the bag and its contents. That is the burial site Heinrich revealed to authorities a week ago.
Heinrich is expected to be sentenced Nov. 21 on the child-pornography charge.
Right after the court hearing, a press conference was held. (See related story).
This photo of Jacob was taken at his 11th birthday party, in 1989, just eight months before his disappearance.
