Captures the imagination of everyone because they can all imagine that could have been my kid. They were frantic, kind of screaming, someone took jacob. Theres a man with a gun and hes got jacob. Youre worried about him getting hit by a car and he gets snatched by somebody. Who would take a child . Jacob is all alone. Its not fair. This is wrong. Youre all riding your bike and your scooter from this way and you get to this area. What happens . All of a sudden a man came out from this area over here. We saw some adultsize footprints and smaller ones like child size footprints that looked like somebody was pulling this kid along. That search was massive. In my mind the man that took jacob was always lurking around the corner, and certainly could strike again. Were you thinking theres a serial kidnapper on the loose . On this country road, an 11yearold boy riding his bike is abducted just a half mile away from his home. The kidnapping of Jacob Wetterling would become one of the biggest mysteries in minnesota history, with an investigation that would last close to 30 years, and during that time, a mothers unwavering hope would fuel the search to find jacob and bring him home. [ bells toll ] growing up in st. Joseph, minnesota, was like growing up in classic smalltown america. Nobody locked their doors at night. Kids were able to run and play. St. Joseph, minnesota, is known as st. Joe. You have a lot of the lakes that people enjoy. Its a rural community, so theres lots of farmers and farm businesses in the area. Jerry was a chiropractor. He liked the feel of the small town, especially when you are building a practice. What was life like for you at that time, when you think back to the 80s . It was kinda nuts. Kids were in different sports, dance it was just a really wild time. You can see, four kids, it was pretty busy. Yeah, it looks like it. But they were fun. Look at those smiles. Stair steps too with their ages. Yeah. In 1989, amy was 13. Jacob was 11. Trevor was 10, and carmen was 8 years old. We bought this house in the woods. It just felt very peaceful here. I grew up right next door to the wetterlings. All of the siblings in the wetterling family had a very close relationship. I was a stayathome mom. We just played. It was fun. Trevor, you gotta get down low, so itll okay, wait. We got to go down. I think the favorite video is when jacob portrayed me reading the newspaper. Daddy. What . I hit a ball and accidentally broke the window. Thats okay. We well buy a new one. And then trevor comes back up again and says, dad, i forgot to tape the game. And jacob goes, what . You forgot to tape the game . Im so angry, you are grounded for two weeks. It was pretty funny. This is jacob. He looks so much like you. Yeah. Wow. Hes a cutie. And what does this say about him . He loved playing hockey, and one year he decided to be goalie, but he was really good. You know, he had a really good balance. If he stopped it, it was a great save. If it went in, thats a great shot. What made him special to you . He just had a really good spirit. Sweet, innocent, very real. A light. Light up a room. I am aaron larson. Jacob wetterling was my best friend. They were kind of the family that was willing to try anything. It looked like you had it just really kind of all laid out very nicely with your family and we did. We were happy. Everybody was busy. Well, you can see busy in this calendar. And this was 1989 . 1989. This is january. I mean, it every month. Wow. This one is jammed. Yeah. Well, this was school, back to school, so youve got everything going on, and then this is october. Now this is the month that youll yeah. Never forget. Right. October 1989. October 22nd. Pretty much everything stops. It goes to nothing. It just stopped. October 22nd, 1989 is a very vivid date in my memory. It was a sunday. We didnt have school the next day for some reason. Jacob and i went fishing at a nearby lake. He had been practicing for a hockey tryout, and he was just crazy, having trouble staying on his skates. It was just really bugging him, so i suggested we go fishing. We had a really nice time fishing and came back around noontime. We all met in here to watch the vikings game. And a fumble, penalty marker down, and joey browner runs it in. But lets wait. That particular night, we were invited to a dinner party. You were going out to dinner with friends, and the kids were going to stay here. And we asked jacob if he minded babysitting. Amy was staying at a friends house. We were just gonna be gone a little bit, and he was in sixth grade. He said sure, no problem. Can aaron come over . I remember being super excited because then we actually get to hang out, and we dont have school the next day. We left, we got to our friends house, called home to give them the number. This is precell phone, you have to remember. Of course. They asked if they could ride their bikes to the store and rent a video. Initially, i said no. It was starting to get dark. Being little boys, you kind of come up with not to take no for that first answer. Theyve ridden to the store a million times, but not at night. Where we lived in a kind of little culdesac wooded area to the town is a straight road, but cars can go fairly fast on that road. I was just concerned that they would be visible. Trevor said, well, let me talk to dad. He had it all figured out. He said that jacob was wearing my reflective running vest. Aaron had a white sweatshirt on, and trevor was carrying a flashlight. They had everything taken care of. Yeah. So, okay. Go, and then come right home. But then they called a third time. These are responsible children, and they said, carmen doesnt wanna go with, is it okay if rochelle comes over to babysit . So then i went over to the wetterling house. As a parent, we were in direct contact with them and and everything felt fine. Like youd done everything right that you could possibly do. Right, and its a fiveminute, tenminute max bike ride . Its not far. Its a mile. We left probably close to around 8 30. I was actually on the scooter, and then they were on their bikes. We werent in a big hurry. We were just kind of cruising down the road, and then, we went into tom thumb, the convenience store, and we got the naked gun, the movie. Then i remember also getting blow pops, just some suckers, and then, we just headed back the same way we came down. They were just getting really close, within a half mile of their house, and all of a sudden, this guy stepped out of the shadows and said, stop, i have a gun. A guy wearing a mask took your son. Who would take a child . It was inconceivable. Generas who are antialcholine receptor antibody positive. It is lasting control over your gmg symptoms. 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Theres a little gravel driveway that leads back to a farm, and its one of those, like, kind of engrained where he comes out and he says, stop, and turn off your flashlights, and i have a gun. I still remember my first reaction was i think i let out a laugh almost, because i thought this must be a joke. Then it became real pretty quick. It seemed like they werent gone very long at all when all of the sudden trevor rushed into the house, followed pretty closely by aaron, and they were frantic, kind of screaming, rochelle, rochelle, someone took jacob, theres a man with a gun and hes got jacob. To have a man jump out and abduct an 11yearold boy, it was inconceivable. I ended up calling my dad. He just came right over. You both are having your dinner, then you get a phone call that i suspect youll never forget. So, he answered the phone, and it was rochelles dad. He asked for me, and says, the boys went to the the tom thumb, and a guy wearing a mask took jacob. A guy wearing a mask took your son. Youre worried about him getting hit by a car, and he gets snatched by somebody . What are you thinking . Im not thinking. Im just he changed. Jerry came back to the table and grabbed my arm and said, we got to go, and i said, you know, what happened . Arent those boys back yet . And he said, two of them are, somebody took jacob. Its like, what . It was unimaginable. I grabbed my purse, and we left. 911 emergency. At my neighbors, the Jerry Wetterling family. Thats where youre calling from . And some of their boys went down to tom thumb to pick up a movie, and on their way back, someone stopped them, and we believe that they have one of the boys. Okay, were they picked up in a vehicle . Just a second. Ill ask the boys. Was there a vehicle there, or was he walking . They didnt see a vehicle. Okay. Did they see the individual at all . Yes, they did. Did you see the individual at all . He had a mask on. He had like a nylon stocking over his face where you couldnt see any of the eyes or any of his features. Maybe thats why the voice stands out to me more. It was a very gruff, gravelly voice. How old is the individual that has not returned . How old is jacob . 11. 11. Okay, jacob . Its jacob, right . And hes 11. Yes, Jacob Wetterling. The other dispatch right now is dispatching a squad to where youre at right now, okay . Im bruce bechtold, and i was the first officer on the scene. I was a brandnew deputy at the time. I get a call from dispatch that it sounded like a boy had been abducted, and in my mind, that cant be true, but i activated my lights and siren and drove pretty quickly this way. It must have been the longest ride of your life. It was. Who would take a child . Thats all i kept who would do this . Its about a 20minute drive or so of trying to figure it out. We had no idea what we were walking into. Its one of those things that you just cant even fathom could actually happen in smalltown minnesota. I have to drive past the abduction site to get to the wetterling home, and its in this location where were standing now. Youre all riding your bike and your scooter from this way. Yep. And you get to this area, what happens . All of a sudden, a man came out from this area over here. He said, stop, i have a gun and told us to turn off our flashlights. Its basically where all your fears and everything gets real very fast. He ordered them to put their bikes down in the ditch and then to lay down, facedown each one of them. And this is the spot, aaron, as far as you know . Yeah, like, right in here. So we were laying with our heads facing that way, like on our stomachs. Mmhmm. And then he told us to look at him and asked us how old we were, and so at the time, trevor was 10, and myself and jacob were both 11, and then he started with trevor at first, and he told him to run as fast as he could into the woods, and then he told me to get up and run as fast as i can, and dont look back, or else i would shoot. Trevor and aaron ran off to the woods back here, and then they ran from the corner of the woods here diagonally across the field where a gap in the trees is. Thats where the wetterling house and the neighborhood is. When aaron finally caught up to trevor, and they were brave enough to look back, they just didnt see jacob. He was gone. Nobody was there. Then it was a matter of how fast can we get to somebody to help us, because we had no idea whats going on and wheres jacob . Wheres jacob . You make your way back home, and you hear from the other boys. Trevor said, this man, there was a man with a gun, and he told us to get off our bikes and lay down in the ditch or he would shoot. Do you have any recollection of what was going through your mind that night . Fear. Just frantic fear, i guess i would say it. The detectives were asking for all kinds of personal they might have taken trevors hockey jacket because they both played for the same league. This was his hockey jacket. And he was wearing this . He was wearing this when he was kidnapped, then they asked for a picture of jacob. Is this the photo that you gave . This was the yellow sweater photo. This was heartbreaking. You take it down, but it was so hard, because i had, you know, three of the kids School Pictures on the wall, and then theres this blank frame. It was just ah. One of those heartwrenching moments. That first night was just a lot of chaos. You know, the sheriff was concerned that maybe hes tied to a tree or something and cant break free. Were gonna find him. 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It was him, just his face and sharing all of his favorites. My favorite game is clue. My favorite thing to do most is watch football. And that video was taken ten days before he was abducted. Im finished. I remember the night before. He was kind of crabby because he felt like he was a bad skater, and so he was a little bit sensitive, and sometime that evening he asked he felt really bad. Im sorry i was so crabby. You want to play a game . And i said, no, i thank you. I appreciate you wanting to play. I was in the midst oputting things away, which is a heartbreaker. Thats one of my worst mom moments. I wish i could i wish i could take it back. Police want to get a recorded statement from jacobs 10yearold brother trevor, who was with jacob when he was taken. It was a really quiet, solemn drive down that road, now what was an ugly road. The bikes were still there the following morning, and it was traumatic. I could just feel trevor stiffen, and then we went to the st. Joe police station. This is a taped interview. Todays date is october 23rd, 1989. The time right now is 0909 hours. Can you tell us how old you are, please . Im 10 years old. While you guys were riding your bikes, did some guy confront you . No. Some guy stop make you guys stop riding your bikes . Oh, yeah. Can you tell us what this person initially said when you guys were riding by him . He said, stop, i have a gun. Turn off the flashlight, go in the ditch, face the other way. And he asked us all our ages. My heart just broke. Hes a 10yearold kid who witnessed this horrific thing. His brother was stolen. He hadnt slept, and the fear, the sheer terror of that night. Where was his gun . He had his gun in his hand. Okay, what happened then . He told me to run as fast as i could to the woods. Right when he told me to run, he grabbed jacob. Where the abduction occurred was at the end of a driveway where the rassier family resided. 34yearold dan rassier lived on this farm with his parents who were out of town that weekend. My name is dan rassier, and in 1989 i was a band teacher. The night jacob was taken, i was home alone working on this collection, getting it up to date. Between 9 00 and 9 30, the dog is barking because the dog is noticing a car coming down the hill. It was like a blue, maybe a darker blue, but smaller car, and turned around very quickly, and it was gone. Shortly after that, i went to bed. I woke up when smokey was barking, looked outside, and a whole bunch of people were up by the woodpile with flashlights. When i interviewed trevor and aaron, they said they didnt see a car, so we thought, well, we need to do a ground search. We first searched where the bicycles were found and started working our way through this little bit of a wooded