Wetterling cold case heats up with new book, arrest

by Frank Lee

operations@thenewsleaders.com

It’s an unsolved child-abduction case that’s haunted a generation of children in St. Joseph and the surrounding areas and stymied law enforcement for almost three decades.

Jacob Wetterling’s peers – some of whom now have children about the same age as when he was kidnapped by a masked gunman – can still recall the fear that gripped his hometown.

“I’ve got more invested into it than I’ll ever get back out of it,” said Robert M. Dudley about his first book, It Can’t Happen Here – The Search for Jacob Wetterling, now in its second edition.

The husband and father from Eau Claire, Wis. discussed his investigative work at a free event April 6 at the Gorecki Center on the campus of the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph.

“I didn’t set out to write a book,” Dudley said before his presentation. “I was just doing casual research on the case.”

Parents’ worst nightmare

Wetterling was just 11 years old when his younger brother, Trevor, and a friend, Aaron, were bicycling home after renting a video from a convenience store.

“I travel to Stearns County often for work, and that gave me the opportunity to do some research into the case,” Dudley said of his growing fascination with the unsolved mystery.

The kidnapper told the boys to lie face down before asking each one his age. The assailant picked Jacob Wetterling and told the others to run away and not look back or risk being shot.

“I decided to write the book because there was so much information out there, and the media, I felt, was focusing on the wrong things,” said Dudley, who works for a retailer in the Midwest.

The second edition, which includes five new chapters, also prominently notes the book “was written without input from the Wetterling family or the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center.”

“The story was all over the news,” Dudley said. “There were newspaper articles, television news stories, posters, billboards and buttons. Jacob was everywhere, but he couldn’t be found.”

“Jacob’s kidnapping was especially significant to central Minnesotans,” according to a press release about the book, “a relatively rural area previously thought immune to such dangers to children.”

Resource Center

The Jacob Wetterling Resource Center was formed in 1990 – four months after the boy’s kidnapping – by his parents, Jerry and Patty Wetterling, in order to educate the public about child abduction and how to protect children.

“Relevant quotes attributed to Wetterling family members or acquaintances and persons associated with the Wetterling investigation are credited to their respective media sources and are included for emphasis and continuity,” according to the introduction of Dudley’s book.

Jerry Wetterling attended Dudley’s presentation but sat quietly in the back row. Dudley’s book was available for sale at the event with all of the proceeds benefiting the College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University’s “student educational projects in forensic psychology.”

“There is an army of people who’s still invested in the case because it went national, global from day one,” Dudley said before his presentation to almost 30 people at the Gorecki Center.

Dudley said he had been emailing Aubrey Immelman, a CSB/SJU psychology professor, and the idea came up for Dudley to come to the campus of the College of St. Benedict to speak.

“We are so grateful for the prayers, the support and the hope shared in our search for Jacob and the search for answers,” according to a Resource Center statement by Jerry and Patty Wetterling.

Cold case heats up

Last year, a 52-year-old Annandale man was charged with child pornography. Investigators discovered the images at the home of Danny Heinrich, a man who authorities say is “a person of interest” in the Wetterling case but one who maintains his innocence in the 1989 abduction.

“The Wetterling family would like to thank all involved in the investigation of Danny Heinrich and his crimes against children,” according to a statement by the Wetterlings on their Resource Center. “The search for Jacob is an ongoing investigation and we will watch and learn with everyone else.”

Patty Wetterling was a candidate for the Minnesota Sixth District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2004 and 2006, losing to Republicans Mark Kennedy and one-time presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, respectively.

The Jacob Wetterling Foundation helped to launch the Amber Alert in Minnesota and at a national level, it’s “used in the most severe cases of missing children,” according to the foundation.

“I think so many people are aware of what happened to Jacob,” Dudley said. “And it is what has made the world a safer place to be now, and I think people appreciate that.”

The event with Dudley as the keynote speaker was sponsored by CSB/SJU students enrolled in a forensic and legal psychology course, and his book was available for sale at the event.

Additional resources

Six billboards were put up in October 2014 with an age-enhanced image of Wetterling that resulted in almost 100 tips to authorities. Lamar Advertising Co. donated the billboards in the St. Cloud area featuring the digitally-altered image to keep interest alive in the cold case.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the FBI held a press conference with Jerry and Patty Wetterling at the Stearns County Law Enforcement Center to coincide with the renewed effort.

If anyone has information regarding Jacob Wetterling or his abduction, contact the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office at 320-259-3700 or Tri-County Crime Stoppers of Minnesota at 1-800-255-1301 in which callers may remain anonymous.

For more information about the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center, call 1-800-325-HOPE or visit www.gundersenhealth.org/ncptc/jacob-wetterling-resource-center.