On Monday, October 15, 2018, a 911 call was received from Barron, Wisconsin, the home of 13-year-old Jayme Closs and her parents. Upon arrival at the home, law enforcement found that Closs’ parents had been shot to death and the teenager had vanished.
Over the weekend, police announced that Jayme had been found and reunited with her family.
The US teen had been held captive for three months before she managed to escape in an isolated north woods town.
The 13-year-old was reported as being “skinny, dishevelled and wearing shoes too big for her” when she approached a stranger for help in the small town of Gordon.
Jake Thomas Patterson, the man behind the kidnapping, was later arrested and jailed when he left his home to begin looking for Jayme.
Jeanne Nutter, the first person to spot Jayme, said she was walking her dog along a rural road when the girl came forward and grabbed her.
“I was terrified, but I didn’t want to show her that,” Nutter told The Associated Press. “She just yelled, ‘Please help me! I don’t know where I am! I’m lost!’”
According to reports, Jayme told Nutter that she had walked away from the cabin she was being held in.
Nutter then took Jayme to the home of Peter and Kristin Kasinskas, fellow neighbours in the town.
Kristin Kasinskas said, “She said that this person’s name was Jake Patterson, ‘He killed my parents and took me’.”
“She did not talk about why or how. She said she did not know him.”
Patterson, 21, was familiar in Jayme’s home town of Barron, and is believed to have targeted her specifically.
Authorities did not provide details of why he targeted her or how he became aware of her address.
Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald described the moment he learned Jayme had been found.
“My legs started to shake. It was awesome. The stress, the relief – it was awesome.”
Fitzgerald said investigators are still trying to figure out what happened to Jayme during her captivity and why she was taken, and gave no details on how she escaped.
“I know all of you are searching for the answer why any of this happened,” Fitzgerald said. “Believe me, so are we.”
Jayme’s grandfather, Robert Naiberg, said he had been praying for months for the call he received about his granddaughter.
“I thought, ‘Good for her she escaped,’” he said.
Patterson is scheduled for a court appearance Monday, January 14.
