In just the past year, Rassier, who is still a band teacher at the Rocori School District, has written 14 letters to law enforcement agencies, criticizing the investigation and asking that his name be cleared. Instead, their priority was to find a car that had left a tire track on the Rassier's driveway. MR. SCHLEICHER: Fairly close to the original place where you had buried Jacob Wetterling the year before? In January, he returned to work nearly full time. In return for leading authorities last month to Jacobs body in rural Paynesville and admitting to abducting, sexually assaulting and killing Jacob, Heinrich is not being charged with murder. They tried to shine a flashlight in my face, and I said, No, don't do that. We believe what this guy said - that Jacob was killed within an hour, so even if they had done different things, I dont think they could have saved Jacob. When returning home, the trio was ambushed by Danny Heinrich, who allowed Trevor and Aaron to escape but ended up abducting, sexually abusing, and murdering Jacob in cold blood. People who knew them mentioned how they were always excited to do everything together. I dug a hole with the trenching tool about two feet deep. MR. SCHLEICHER: Now, you said a scanner. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world I asked their names,their ages. Even when, and if, we do have resolution, it is always going to be a big part of our lives," said Amy. The defendant is a cruel narcissist. He described it as very similar to the car in which he was abducted, rating it as an 8 or 9 out of 10 in similarity. People who knew them said they were always eager to do everything together from the start. THE DEFENDANT: I went to that -- when I got to Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. He said he and Patty spent thousands of dollars hiring psychics and private investigators and that their marriage suffered. "Now we will never know," Tamburino said. If you have any tips about JacobWetterling's whereabouts, please call 320-251-4240. I confronted them. Around town nearly every mailbox is wrapped with a white ribbon. THE DEFENDANT: I never dug up anything. They hope it helps future victims' siblings (sadly, the Wetterlings are still the only siblings involved in the project who still don't know what happened to their loved one). No one drives like that in broad daylight," Rassier said. MR. SCHLEICHER: Okay. Trevor Wetterling and his big brother, Jacob, were nearly inseparable. We headed not to Main Street, but back to, I don't know, Highway 75, whatever, that runs back to St. Once Danny accepted the deal, Trevor attended the trial hearing with his mother, Patty Wetterling, and was relieved to learn that the judge had sentenced his brothers murderer to 20 years in federal prison in 2016. On the way out of St. Joe, I had the scanner on. Fingerprints and blood tests ruled the man out as Jacob. Since then, Trevor Wetterling has embraced privacy and prefers to keep his life away from the eyes of the media. If you feel you have received this message in error, please contact the customer support team at 1-833-248-7801. I, I loaded it with two rounds. After their son was abducted, the Wetterlings founded the While it's been widely reported that Rassier went to bed immediately after calling 911, WCCO has learned he had a second contact with law enforcement that night: a face-to-face conversation with a sheriff's deputy. She said she misses her sons touch, smell, smile, laughter, jokes, questions and zest for life. The book is called "What About Me?". Jacob's father, Jerry Wetterling, a chiropractor, did not return to work for five weeks after his son was taken. THE DEFENDANT: Nothing, none at that time -- well, yes, there was a tree growing in that -- excuse me. He did nothing wrong. Rassier says after hesearched the buildings on the farm property and returned to the farmhouse, law enforcement was everywhere. / CBS Minnesota. MR. SCHLEICHER: What did you do when you transferred the remains to this farm property? "It's been more than half of all of our lives we have gone through having one less person in our family. His description of the kidnapper's threat is almost identical to the one described by Jacob Wetterling's friend, Aaron. It caused me to push people away, to be scared, to cry, Larson told the packed courtroom. I need to clarify a few things. He does not want to go to school. MR. SCHLEICHER: Do you know now that the three children involved were Jacob Wetterling, Trevor Wetterling, Aaron Larson? According to Gudmundson, it appears no follow-up investigation was pursued based on the information provided by Hart. Baker had uncovered newspaper articles about a series of sexual assaults in Paynesville in 1986 and 1987, two years before Jacob Wetterling and Jared's kidnappings. MR. SCHLEICHER: For the purpose of listening to . "That is one big fear I have -- that there is no one alive who knows what happened," Rassier said. And then after you returned the Bobcat and camouflaged the site, did you walk back home? Jacobs brother was told to run, not to turn around for fear of being shot, but to run for a nearby wooded area. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Someone sent a photograph of Jacob's name painted in large letters on the Berlin wall, and enclosed a chunk of the wall for Jacob when he gets home. Amy's sister, Carmen, 8, does not fully understand what has happened, Mrs. Wetterling said, yet understands some things in ways that no 8-year-old child should have to understand. 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. And now hes looking at 20 years stacked on top of that. MR. SCHLEICHER: All right. A lot of police activity started coming over the radio, so I decided I would head back to my home town of Paynesville. MR. SCHLEICHER: All right. Jacob's older sister, Amy, 14, has been coping with the loss by keeping busy with school and chores, her mother said. MR. SCHLEICHER: Could you as best you can please describe the route that you took from the point of the, what would have been the Raisser farm, to the point you ended up? bloomingdale football tickets; party wear saree with stitched blouse Wetterling, a chiropractor, said his business suffered after his sons abduction. But many have likely never heard of Jared. Their parents even looked for activities that the boys could pursue separately, to foster independence. However, never before has the department admitted the details of the mistakes. Some parents here now barely let their children out of their sight. Sadly, he had to revisit the ordeal in his mind, hoping for a lead to Jacobs safe return. The Stearns County Sheriff's Department has cut the number of investigators on the case to 12 from 30. Lets get youth the right help, not register them. He led authorities to the boys remains in a pasture outside Paynesville and will spend 20 years in prison on a child-pornography charge. That all changed last August when Jared was contacted by Joy Baker, the author of a detailed blog on the Wetterling case. You can feel somebody might be guilty, but how much can you legally do? Trevor, Jacob, and Aaron decided to watch a movie together on October 22, 1989. THE DEFENDANT: I drove as close as I could to a grove of trees. Wetterling is the boy who grew up only through computer enhancement. Heinrich provides a statement regarding Wetterling's abduction and murder. I would just simply like to say to him: There is nothing uncommon about common sense. They cooperated. Mund had created the plaster casts of the tire marks at the scene of Wetterling's abduction. He was also the investigator who, on Oct. 30, 1989, had received an FBI crime lab report connecting the tracks to one of two types of Sears tires. On Jan. 12, 1990, Mund finds that Heinrich's tires resemble the prints left at the scene. THE DEFENDANT: I got into the, into my car, and we drove out of town, out of St. Joe. Heinrich also had to confess in court to kidnapping and sexually assaulting 12-year-old Jared Scheierl in Cold Spring on Jan. 13, 1989, nine months before he abducted and killed Jacob. Runaways are the most numerous among the missing children, followed by those taken by a family member, often a parent in a custody dispute. Heinrich last month confessed to abducting, sexually assaulting and fatally shooting 11-year-old Jacob on Oct. 22, 1989, in central Minnesota. She reminded the abductor that he, like Jacob, had once been an 11-year-old boy, and that something very wrong must have happened to him. "Every one of these victims needs answers. Six other siblings of abduction victims also help put together the book which was prepared by the Fox Valley Technical College in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice. MR. SCHLEICHER: What was your purpose in returning to the site? While Trevor and his sisters, Amy and Carmen, wait for answers to what happened to Jacob, the siblings have helped produce a survivors guide and video for other children whose siblings have been abducted. Stearns County Sheriff Donald Gudmundson said one of the "fatal flaws" of the investigation was the FBI interrogation of Danny Heinrich and that Heinrich was not the major suspect from the beginning of the investigation. On September 6th, he made a full confession detailing the kidnap, sexual assault, murder, and disposal of Jacob Wetterling. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Please enter valid email address to continue. Nevertheless, we can confirm that he currently lives in Centennial, Colorado, and has built a happy life surrounded by his loved ones. Tamburino added at a trial the fact that the 911 call was not saved would almost certainly lead to questions about what other evidence had not been preserved. He admitted abducting Wetterling near the boy's home in the central Minnesota community of St. Joseph on Oct. 22, 1989. Before he read his statement, Jerry Wetterling thanked Heinrich for coming forward and showing authorities where Jacob was buried. I placed as many his jacket, his bones, his skull into that bag to move. ''But we do know that it happens in New York City and that it happens in rural Minnesota.''. Jared believes the same person who took him not only took Jacob Wetterling but is also behind the Paynesville attacks. ''The class will be reading a story, and Trevor will say: 'Who cares about this? A masked stranger grabbed the 11-year-old as I lived every day thinking I was the monster that night. I took him over to the edge of the grove of trees. MR. SCHLEICHER: Did you handcuff him behind his back? Mrs. Wetterling travels to give talks about missing children, and tries to keep her son's name and photograph in the public eye. He thought someone was stealing wood. This has never been easy. All the times our parents went on TV begging and pleading for answers, and he just watched. MR. SCHLEICHER: After you handcuffed him, did Jacob Wetterling say anything to you? "I'm convinced 100 percent whoever was driving that afternoon caryou have your kidnapper. I noticed -- I shined the area and noticed that the grave was partially uncovered. Jacob Wetterling Resource Center, which works to help communities and families prevent child exploitation, and Patty Wetterling became a national advocate for children. MR. SCHLEICHER: Do you recall what their answers were? I raised the revolver again and shot him again, and that's when he fell to the ground. My brother is missing,' '' said his mother, Patty Wetterling. That's correct. I walked back. Please enter valid email address to continue. She too is hoping someone will come forward for the Paynesville victims, for Jared and for her son. He had no meaningful work. "I think we still have birthday presents in our garage wrapped up for Jacob from the first few years," she said. MR. SCHLEICHER: Okay. The book was unveiled at a U.S. Department of Justice ceremony May 18 in Washington, D.C. where Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was the keynote speaker. Despite that, she told families with missing loved ones to keep hope alive. After you covered Jacob's body back up with the Bobcat, you returned the Bobcat to the construction site? On the way back to the car, there was a patrol car that came down the road with no siren with its lights, and it headed east on Paynesville. "They had a chopper up with a spotlight on," Rassier said. Its about taking a childhood away from Jared Scheierl and taking a lifetime away from Jacob Wetterling, Tunheim said. Investigators quickly ruled him out and the investigation took a dramatic turn: Investigators concluded Jacob's kidnapper had been on foot. He then asked the three their ages, and since Trevor was the youngest, Danny allowed him to escape into the woods. ''I'm sure he's taller now. He admitted abducting Wetterling near the boy's home in the central Minnesota community of St. Joseph on Oct. 22, 1989. In about 20 or so minutes, about a half hour later, he said I'm cold, and I said, Okay. MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO)-- Nearly 30 years since Jacob Wetterling's abduction, authorities have released most of the files related to the investigation. Thus, they searched the suspects house and arrested him after recovering multiple binders full of child pornography pictures from the property. He agreed to the federal charge, Patty Wetterling said, because he didnt want to do any time in Minnesota prisons. The couple does not believe in the death penalty. He hadn't fallen. MR. SCHLEICHER: All right. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Trevor Wetterling was just 10 years old when his older brother Jacob was abducted at gunpoint in 1989 near the family's home in St. Joseph, Minn. I took his jacket out of the bag. "That really made me angry because, I was like, well let me put a gun to your head and then see what you do or see what you say, you know?" The Wetterlings and other siblings also shared their feelings in a video also released by the Department of Justice. In an undated photo taken of Jerry Wetterling and his son, Trevor Wetterling, two boys are wearing shirts that refer to pizza which is among one of the "He was basically saying, we don't have anything on you but would you admitwe could end this and you admit that you did this," Rassier said. It was already that uncovered. Over the years Jared and Jacob Wetterling's mother have become friends. MR. SCHLEICHER: So you were sober, correct? I pulled into a driveway, passed -- after they passed me, turned around and faced the direction of the road that they would be coming back on. MR. SCHLEICHER: So there was no penetration? He has talked a lot with the family counselor, who has made sure to stress that Trevor should feel no guilt about what happened to Jacob, a reaction his parents had feared. Do I change it up? She covers Washington County and the St. Croix River Valley, but has also spent time covering the state Capitol. 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