USA TODAY International Edition
Abduction plan conceived after girl seen at bus
Police: Suspect was ready to kill any witnesses
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 issued Monday against Jake Thomas Patterson, 21.
Patterson told police he was driving to a job at the Saputo Cheese factory west of Barron in Almena 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 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 ahead of time he would kill anyone else in the house so there would be no witnesses, and he followed through on that plan by fatally shooting Jayme's parents with a 12gauge shotgun, the complaint said.
Less than a minute after allegedly leaving Jayme's house, Patterson drove past several 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. She escaped Thursday afternoon.
Jayme gave police a description of Patterson's car, which they quickly located and pulled over. When the officer asked Patterson if he knew the reason for the stop, he immediately said: “I did it.”
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 during his initial court appearance Monday afternoon.
Patterson showed no emotion as he appeared in court via video, dressed entirely in orange. A judge also barred Patterson from possessing firearms and having any contact with Jayme and the neighbors who aided her escape.
No further charges are expected out of Barron County, according to District Attorney Brian Wright.
More charges could be filed out of Douglas County, where Jayme was found. If that is the case, they would be filed before Patterson's next court appearance Feb. 6, according to Mark Fruehauf, the prosecutor in Douglas County.
No plea agreements have been publicly discussed.
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,'” Wright said. “It's incredible.”
Officials declined to say whether Jayme was sexually assaulted. The complaint does not charge Patterson with sexual assault.
A planned abduction
The criminal complaint lays out a calculated plan to abduct Jayme and keep her hidden, but sheds little light on what motivated the suspect. According to the complaint:
In the early morning hours of Oct. 15, Patterson drove up to the Closs family's Barron home in his sister's maroon Ford Taurus. Jayme heard the family dog barking and saw a car coming up the driveway, so she woke her parents.
Her father went to the front door and saw Patterson standing there with a shotgun. Jayme and her mother barricaded themselves in the bathroom. Her father thought Patterson was a police
officer and asked to see his badge. Patterson allegedly fired the shotgun through a rectangle of glass on the front door, fatally striking James Closs in the head.
Dressed in black with a black balaclava covering his face, Patterson tried to force open the door, finally shooting a round into the doorknob, the complaint says.
Jayme heard a gunshot and “knew her father had just been killed.”
Patterson entered the house, stepping over James' body as he did so. He broke down the bathroom door and ripped down the shower curtain to see Jayme and her mother hugging. He instructed Jayme's mom to tape her daughter's mouth shut. She struggled with the task, so he taped Jayme's mouth himself. Then he taped Jayme's wrists and ankles together. As Jayme stood beside him, Patterson shot her mother in the head, according to the complaint.