USA TODAY International Edition
Kidnap suspect hoped to be a Marine
GORDON, Wis. – Jake Thomas Patterson remains a mystery.
At Northwood School District in Minong, where he graduated from the K-12 school in 2015, Patterson was quiet and withdrawn, yet smart enough to be on a quiz team and able to crack a quick joke.
In the school’s yearbook, he said that after graduation he planned to enlist in the Marine Corps. and wrote, “I’m finally done with school.”
It’s not clear whether Patterson ever followed through on joining the military. He did work, for just one day, at a turkey plant, and he appears to have drifted in the background in this rural swath of Wisconsin. He did not have a criminal record.
The blanks in Patterson’s story will fill in over the coming months as he faces charges of murdering Denise and James Closs and kidnapping their 13year-old daughter Jayme.
Eighty-eight days after her abduction, Jayme escaped from a home Thursday in Gordon where authorities said she was kept by Patterson. Sheriff ’s deputies quickly apprehended Patterson, who they believe was out driving and looking for Jayme. He surrendered without incident.
Jayme is staying with an aunt who posted on Facebook that she had a fairly good night’s sleep Friday and that her family will support her throughout her healing process.
“It will be a long road, but we are family strong and we love this little girl so much!!” she said.
Patterson, 21, is due to make his initial court appearance Monday in Barron. Authorities have said he acted alone, using a shotgun to blast his way into the Closs home. He was targeting Jayme, they said.
“We don’t think there are any other suspects who helped him with this plan and ... kidnapping,” Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald said Saturday.
Patterson will be represented by state public defenders Charles Glynn and Richard Jones, with assistance of the Public Defender’s Office in Barron County.
Patterson graduated from high school in a class of 34. Classmates described him as quiet and seemingly indifferent. “He was just kind of there,” said one former student.