A 21-year-old Wisconsin man has been charged in the kidnapping of 13-year-old Jayme Closs and the murders of her parents, authorities announced Friday, a day after the girl turned up safe after a three-month disappearance.
Jake Thomas Patterson, of Gordon, was charged with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide and one count of kidnapping related to the fatal shootings of James and Denise Closs in October.
Patterson allegedly abducted Jayme, who was reported missing on Oct. 15 after her parents turned up dead at their home in Barron.
“Jayme was taken against her will and escaped from a residence in which she was being held,” said Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald at a press conference announcing the charges against Patterson. “The subject planned his actions and took many proactive steps to hide his identity from law enforcement and the general public.”
The sheriff said Patterson’s intended target was Jayme — not her parents — but did not elaborate. It’s unclear if the teen knew her alleged captor before she went missing.
He said Jayme had been kept at a home in a “remote area outside of Gordon” and that Patterson had worked to also conceal her identity from the public.
Jayme suddenly turned up — dirty and malnourished but safe — around 4 p.m. Thursday on Peter and Kristin Kasinskas’ doorstep in Gordon with one of the couple’s neighbors.
Fitzgerald said the girl approached a woman who was walking her dog — and provided a description of a car in the area, leading to Patterson’s arrest.
“She kind of flung the door open and said, ‘Call 911, this is Jayme Closs!’” Kristin recalled her neighbor telling her. “I knew it was her the second she walked in the door.”
Jayme spent the night at a hospital, where she was evaluated. She has been reunited with her family and is undergoing questioning by authorities.
“She is good, she’s been cleared from the hospital,” said Fitzgerald. He couldn’t comment on whether she showed signs of physical abuse.
“It’s amazing, the will of that 13-year-old girl to survive and escape. That comes from the hope and the prayers in this community,” he added.
The girl’s disappearance rocked Barron, a tiny city of 3,400, with as many as 2,000 volunteers launching a search the week after the slayings.
The FBI also offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to her safe return.
Patterson is being held in Barron County jail. Prosecutors are expected to file formal charges against him in the coming days.