Life in prison for kidnapping, killings

BARRON, Wis. — A Wisconsin man was sentenced Friday to life in prison for kidnapping 13-year-old Jayme Closs and killing her parents in a case that mystified authorities for months until the girl made a daring escape from the remote cabin where she was held for 88 days.

Jake Patterson, 21, pleaded guilty in March to two counts of intentional homicide and one count of kidnapping. He admitted to abducting Jayme in October after killing her parents, James and Denise Closs, at the family’s home near Barron, about 145 kilometres northeast of Minneapolis. Jayme escaped in January from Patterson’s cabin near the small and isolated town of Gordon.

In a statement read in court, Jayme said Patterson “thought that he could own me, but he’s wrong. I was smarter.”