Wisconsin man pleads guilty to kidnapping girl, killing her parents

A Wisconsin man pleaded guilty Wednesday to kidnapping 13-year-old Jayme Closs and killing her parents, in a move that spares the girl held captive in a remote cabin for three months from the possible trauma of having to testify at his trial.

Jake Patterson, 21, sniffled and his voice caught as he pleaded guilty to two counts of intentional homicide and one count of kidnapping. As part of a plea deal, prosecutors dropped a count of armed burglary. Patterson faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced May 24; Wisconsin does not have the death penalty.

In a bizarre remark as he left the courtroom, Patterson turned back and said “Bye, Jayme.” His victim wasn’t there.

Patterson had said he would plead guilty in a letter sent this month to a Minneapolis TV station, saying he didn’t want the Closs family “to worry about a trial.”

Patterson admitted kidnapping Jayme after killing her parents, James and Denise Closs, on Oct. 15 at the family’s home near Barron, about 90 miles northeast of Minneapolis. Jayme escaped in January, after 88 days in Patterson’s cabin in near the small, isolated town of Gordon, some 60 miles from her home.

The plea, coupled with an earlier decision by prosecutors not to bring charges in the county where Jayme was held, increases the chances that the details of her time in captivity will remain private.

Patterson stoically answered “yes” and “yeah” to repeated questions from Barron County Judge James Babler about whether he understood what he was doing. Later, as he responded “guilty,” to each count, he could be heard sniffling. He paused for several seconds after the judge asked him about the kidnapping charge before stuttering, “guilty.”

Defense attorney Richard Jones told Babler that Patterson “wanted to enter a plea from the day we met him” and brushed off strategies presented to him, including trying to suppress his statements to investigators.

“He rejected all that and has decided this is what he wants to do,” Jones said.

T’XER ZHON KHA The Post-Crescent via AP Jake Patterson appears for a hearing at the Barron County (Wis.) Justice Center, Wednesday where he pleaded guilty to kidnapping a 13-year-old girl, killing her parents, and then holding Jayme Closs captive in a remote cabin until she escaped three months later.