Jayme Closs’ Parents Were Killed Because Kidnapper Saw Them as ‘Barriers,’ Police Say
Police believe the Wisconsin teen—and not her mother and father—was the main target.
Jennifer Smith
The kidnapping of 13-year-old Jayme Closs was the prime mission of suspect Jake Patterson—and the murder of her parents was just the means to an end, police told CNN on Saturday. But Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald said investigators have still not figured out why Patterson allegedly targeted Jayme; they have found no links between him and her family beyond that fact he worked at the same Wisconsin turkey plant as the parents for a single day three years ago. “We believe Jayme was the target, and he (Patterson) was getting rid of possible barriers to taking her,” Fitzgerald said. Jayme’s parents were shot to death in October, and the killer fled with the teen, holding her captive for three months at a cabin an hour away. She escaped on Thursday and helped lead police to Patterson.
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