Wisconsin kidnapping suspect charged

Prosecutors on Monday charged a Wisconsin man with kidnapping, two counts of first-degree intentional homicide, and armed burglary in the abduction of 13-year-old Jayme Closs and the killing of her parents. Jake Thomas Patterson, 21, was quiet and emotionless during his first court appearance, speaking only to acknowledge his name and address. The judge set bail at $5 million.

Closs escaped last week from a rural cabin near Gordon, Wisc., where investigators believe Patterson held her for 88 days. A criminal complaint said the suspect first saw Closs and made up his mind to kidnap her when she was getting on a school bus near her home in the town of Barron, about 90 miles northeast of Minneapolis. He made two failed attempts to kidnap the girl before he finally broke into the Closs home on Oct. 15 with a shotgun, police said. He shot her father, James Closs, at the front door and her mother, Denise Closs, in a bathtub where she was hiding with her daughter. He then dragged the girl outside, put her in the trunk of his car, and drove to a remote cabin where he held her until she escaped Thursday. Investigators said Patterson forced the girl to hide in a small space under his bed.

Patterson has no criminal history in Wisconsin, and people who knew him described him as quiet and a good student.

“She’s 13 years old, and if you read the criminal complaint, you can see the amount of control that he was exerting over her,” said Barron County District Attorney Brian Wright. “At some point, she found it within herself at 13 years old to say, ‘I’m going to get myself out of this situation.’ I think it’s incredible.”