Girl’s kidnapping carefully planned
Police: Suspect was ready to kill any witnesses
“The defendant stated, when he saw (Jayme), he knew that was the girl he was going to take.”
Criminal complaint unveiled Monday
BARRON, Wis. – Jayme Closs’ kidnapper targeted her after seeing her get on a school bus, then carefully planned her abduction and made her hide under his bed when he had visitors, according to a criminal complaint Monday against Jake Thomas Patterson, 21.
Patterson told police he was driving to a job at the Saputo Cheese factory west of Barron and was behind the bus when it stopped to pick up Jayme one day last fall. He worked at that job for only two days. Less than two weeks later, in the early morning hours of Oct. 15, he kidnapped 13-year-old Jayme, the complaint said.
“The defendant stated he had no idea who she was nor did he know who lived at the house or how many people lived at the house,” the complaint says. “The defendant stated, when he saw (Jayme), he knew that was the girl he was going to take.”
Patterson decided he would kill anyone else in the house, so there would be no witnesses, and he followed through on that plan by shooting Jayme’s parents to death with a 12-gauge shotgun, the complaint said.
Less than a minute after allegedly leaving Jayme’s house, he drove past squad cars rushing there in response to a 911 call her mother made before she was shot. They did not pull him over.
Jayme spent much of the time during the 88 days of her captivity under a twin bed in Patterson’s childhood home in Gordon, the complaint said. She escaped Thursday afternoon. Jayme gave police a description of Patterson’s car, which they located and pulled over. When the officer asked Patterson if he knew the reason for the stop, he said, “I did it,” police said.
He is charged with kidnapping, armed burglary and two counts of firstdegree intentional homicide in the deaths of Jayme’s parents, James M. Closs, 56, and Denise J. Closs, 46.
If convicted, he faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Patterson’s bail was set at $5 million.
Patterson appeared in court via video, dressed in orange. A judge barred him from possessing firearms and having any contact with Jayme and the neighbors who aided her escape.
District Attorney Brian Wright pledged to pursue justice for Jayme and her parents. “At some point, she found it within herself at 13 years old to say, ‘I’m going to get myself out of this situation,’ ” he said. “It’s incredible.”
The criminal complaint lays out the plan to abduct Jayme and keep her hidden, but it sheds little light on what motivated her kidnapper.
The complaint describes what Jayme went through after she was abducted. It said that when Patterson left the house or when people came over, he made Jayme hide under his twin bed, which had been pushed into a corner. He allegedly piled plastic totes and laundry bins around the two open sides, placing barbell weights on top of them to make them harder for her to move. When his father visited on Saturdays, he played loud music to mask any noises Jayme made, according to the complaint. Once he heard her making noise and told her if she did it again, “something bad would happen,” the complaint said. It said he left Jayme under the bed for as long as 12 hours at a time without food, water or bathroom breaks.
Thursday, Patterson told Jayme he was going to be gone for five or six hours and told her to stay under the bed, the complaint said. Once she was alone, Jayme pushed the bins and weights away and crawled out. She put on a pair of Patterson’s shoes and left the house, quickly coming across retired social worker Jeanne Nutter, who was walking her dog. Nutter and neighbors called police.