Minnesota kidnapping survivor, mother of slain boy speak out
The mother of an 11-year-old Minnesota boy who was kidnapped at gunpoint, assaulted and later killed, and another victim of a childhood abduction and assault, spoke out about trauma, healing and their advocacy work in new interviews.
Jacob Wetterling was kidnapped on Oct. 22, 1989 when biking home to his St. Joseph residence that evening. He was never again seen alive.
The case went unsolved until 2016, rattling Jacob's community for decades.
A "20/20" episode, "Where Are You Jacob?," airing Friday, July 17, at 9 p.m. ET on ABC and streaming the next day on Disney+ and Hulu, revisits a case previously covered in 2023 with new interviews.
You can also get more behind-the-scenes of each week's episode by listening to "20/20: The After Show" weekly series right on your 20/20 podcast feed on Mondays, hosted by "20/20" co-anchor Deborah Roberts.
Patty Wetterling, Jacob's mother, recalled the close relationship she and her husband Jerry had with their children.
"I was a stay-at-home mom," she told "20/20." "We just played. It was fun."
Jacob was riding his bicycle home from the convenience store with his 10-year-old brother and best friend the night he was abducted.
The three boys were approached by a masked man on the street. The man kidnapped Jacob and told the other two boys to run home and not look back or else he would shoot them.
Police immediately launched an investigation into Jacob's kidnapping. They eventually looked into a possible connection between Jacob's abduction and a similar case that occurred nine months earlier in nearby Cold Spring, Minnesota.
A 12-year-old boy, Jared Scheierl, was kidnapped in January 1989, driven to a remote location and sexually assaulted.
"After the incident was done, then he got back in his car and dropped me on the outside of Cold Spring, and told me to, 'Run, don't look back,' or he'd shoot," he told "20/20."
Following a cold case review by authorities, DNA was found on Jared's clothes that matched a man named Danny Heinrich. He was arrested on federal charges of child pornography in October 2015, after a search of his home.
Almost a year later, Heinrich agreed to a plea deal, reducing his charges to just a single count of child pornography and a 20-year sentence in exchange for providing information about his crimes against Jacob Wetterling.
Heinrich confessed to abducting, assaulting and killing Jacob. He also revealed the location where he buried Jacob, in a quiet stretch of farmland, allowing for the recovery of his remains in 2016.
Even though Heinrich admitted to assaulting Jared Scheierl, he couldn't be charged in the case because the statute of limitations had expired. In 2021, Minnesota changed its laws to remove the statute of limitations on sexual violence.
In a recent interview, Jared said since Jacob first went missing and there had been a sense the two cases were linked, he wondered why he was still alive but not Jacob.
"I had always asked, 'Why am I still here?' Jared said. "You're finding that purpose every day. And then once my daughter was born, I knew my purpose."
In new interviews with "20/20," Jared and Jacob's mother Patty talked about teaming up to launch advocacy campaigns for missing children and child victims of assault.
"I tried to help as many families as I could," Patty told "20/20" co-anchor Deborah Roberts in a new interview. "We tried to get on the prevention side. Wouldn't it be nice if this never happened ... to another family?"
Jared said Patty's strength is an inspiration.
"A lot of people see her as a really big advocate for good reasons," Jared said. "She speaks up, she speaks her mind."
It's been 37 years since she lost Jacob, but Patty recalled the "joy" he had in life.
"I remember the world that he knew, and it's worth fighting for, and that's what I, what I carry," she said. "I can't live with the horrific ending. I have to celebrate the life that he lived."
