Closs complaint could be road map for case

MINNEAPOLIS — The criminal complaint charging a Wisconsin man with abducting 13-yearold Jayme Closs and killing her parents laid out the case in detail and offered a possible road map for how prosecutors will seek a conviction in the girl’s 88-day ordeal.

The 12-page complaint against Jake Thomas Patterson focused almost entirely on Jayme’s abduction and her escape , without lingering on her time in captivity.

The decision to leave out a description of what happened in the remote cabin where Jayme was held for almost three months was probably intended to spare her more trauma, said Chris Madel, a prominent defense attorney in Minneapolis.

The details are also unnecessary, he said. Prosecutors already have evidence of two killings that that could put Patterson away for life. The complaint says Patterson admitted to the slayings.

JaneAnne Murray, another defense attorney and a professor at the University of Minnesota School of Law, wondered if the complaint was “designed to send a signal to the defense that the evidence against their client is overwhelming.”

The prosecutor in the case, Barron County District Attorney Brian Wright, said after Patterson was charged Monday that a conviction in this case is important.

Patterson’s defense attorneys have said they might seek a change of venue.