Kidnapping of Jayme Closs

• 1. Introduction

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  The kidnapping of Jayme Closs began at 12:53 a.m. on the 15th of October 2018, at a home just outside Barron, Wisconsin. Within minutes, a 21-year-old named Jake Thomas Patterson had killed her parents, James and Denise Closs. He left with their 13-year-old daughter. Police and neighbors searched for her. Eighty-eight days later, Jayme Closs came back into the world on her own. Her story raises hard questions. Why did a man her family did not know choose her? How did a teenager endure nearly three months in his control? And what did a courtroom make of a man who called it all mostly impulse?

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• 2. Three Visits

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  Jayme Lynn Closs, born on the 13th of July 2005, was the only child of James and Denise Closs. In October 2018, Jake Patterson drove to their home intending to take her. Activity inside the house stopped him, because he feared leaving witnesses. Two days later he tried again and turned back for the same reason.

  On the 15th of October, he came a third time, now carrying a shotgun. He parked at the end of the driveway and walked to the front door in a black coat and ski mask. James Closs, 56, shone a light through a glass pane in the door. He apparently mistook the visitor for a police officer and asked to see a badge. Patterson shouted a demand to open the door. James asked again who was there. Patterson fired and killed him.

  Patterson forced his way inside and searched every room, because he wanted "no witnesses left behind." He found the bathroom door locked and began trying to break it down. Behind it, Denise Closs, 46, was comforting Jayme, who was crying loudly. Denise called 911 and did not speak. The operator heard a disturbance and yelling before the line went dead. When the dispatcher called back, the call reached Denise's voicemail.

  Patterson bound Jayme's wrists and ankles with duct tape and then shot Denise Closs. He dragged Jayme outside, almost slipping on blood, and put her in the trunk of his car. Police reached the house four minutes after the 911 call. Patterson later told investigators that he had pulled over 20 seconds down the road when deputies sped past with lights and sirens on. Neighbors heard two gunshots but dismissed them, since hunting was common around their homes.

  The drive ended 70 miles away, at a house in rural Gordon, Wisconsin. There Patterson made Jayme change into a different pair of pajamas.

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• 3. Under the Bed

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  Less than two weeks after the abduction, a man burglarized the Closs family home and stole some of Jayme's clothing. He was arrested, but investigators did not consider him a suspect in the killings or the kidnapping. Meanwhile, Jayme was living under rules set by Patterson. He threatened that "bad things would happen" to her if she tried to escape.

  Whenever Patterson left the house, he hid her beneath his bed. He barricaded the space with bins holding weightlifting equipment. She could not see out, and any attempt to leave would be obvious. His father visited the cabin on Saturdays, so on those days Patterson hid her and turned up the radio to cover any noise.

  The confinement could last up to 12 hours at a time, with no food, water, or bathroom breaks. At Christmas, Patterson drove to Superior to visit his grandparents, 45 minutes from Gordon. He left Jayme under the bed for several hours. Jayme says she once moved a bin by accident, and he warned her that bad things would happen if it happened again. She also says that when she once upset him, he struck her "really hard" on the back with a curtain rod.

  Patterson rarely let her outside. When he did, it was for brief walks on the lawn, after he had checked for bystanders. He believed she was too afraid of him to run. In his words, he "never put special locks on doors because she wouldn't escape."

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• 4. Running

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  On the afternoon of the 10th of January 2019, Patterson told Jayme he was leaving for a couple of hours. As usual, he put her under the bed and boxed her in with his belongings. Once he was gone, she pushed the objects aside and ran. She wore a light shirt, leggings, and a pair of Patterson's sneakers.

  Outside, she met Jeanne Nutter, who was walking her dog, Henry. Nutter recognized the girl from news reports and took her straight to a neighbor's house. The neighbors described Jayme as calm, quiet, and dazed. They were surprised to recognize her from the news coverage. When police were called, Jayme told them that "Jake Patterson" had killed her parents and taken her. She said he had held her prisoner a few houses away.

  Police arrived around 4:45 p.m. and moved her out of the area for her safety. Her description of Patterson and his vehicle paid off within minutes. Deputies spotted his car as he drove past the house, searching for her. A deputy stopped him. Patterson got out and said, "I did it." He was arrested and taken to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office in Superior for questioning.

  A hospital admitted Jayme under guard. The next morning, it released her into the custody of her aunt, Jennifer Smith. On the 24th of January, Hormel announced a $25,000 reward for Jayme, for rescuing herself. Hormel is the parent company of the Jennie-O plant where both of her parents had worked.

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• 5. A Quiet Young Man

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  Jake Patterson's parents divorced in 2007. He graduated from Northwood High School in nearby Minong, Wisconsin, in 2015. He then enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps but was discharged after one month at MCRD San Diego. He had no prior criminal history in Wisconsin.

  His grandfather described a young man nobody had worried about. "Something went terribly wrong, nobody had any clues," he said. He called Patterson shy and quiet, someone who "backed off from crowds" but was "a nice boy, polite." Computer games, he said, mattered more to Patterson than social interaction.

  Nothing linked Patterson to the Closs family. Police did not believe he had social media contact with Jayme or her relatives, and her relatives did not recognize his name. Patterson told authorities that in September he was driving to work when he saw Jayme boarding a school bus outside her home. He "knew that she was the girl I wanted to take."

  On the very day Jayme escaped, Patterson applied for a job at a liquor distribution facility in Superior.

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• 6. Letters and Calls

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  On the 14th of January, Patterson appeared in a Barron County courthouse. He was charged with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide, one count of kidnapping, and one count of armed burglary. Judge James Babler set his bail at $5 million. At the arraignment, Patterson's father told a reporter he had a note of apology that he was trying to get to Jayme. On the 6th of February 2019, Patterson appeared again and waived his right to a preliminary examination.

  In March, Patterson wrote to a reporter with KARE 11 News in Minneapolis, answering questions about the case. He said he intended to plead guilty because he "didn't want Jayme and her family to worry about a trial." Authorities had said he planned the crimes. Patterson denied it, calling them "mostly on impulse." He wrote, "I can't believe I did this." On the back of the letter, he wrote in bubble letters, "I'm sorry Jayme! For everything. I know it doesn't mean much."

  Later that month, a television reporter with WCCO in Minneapolis received a cell phone call from Patterson. He briefly answered questions that had been sent to him in a letter. Of Jayme's time in captivity, he said, "We were just like watching TV, playing board games, talking about stuff." That description sits at odds with the account of confinement under his bed.

  On the 27th of March, Patterson returned to court and pleaded guilty to the two homicide counts and the kidnapping charge. The armed burglary charge was dismissed but read in. Prosecutors in Barron County and in Douglas County, where Jayme was held, chose not to file further charges over events at his home. They did not want to bring her in for questioning, and they believed the evidence already supported a life sentence. The judge revoked Patterson's bond. As he left the courtroom, Patterson shouted "Bye, Jayme!" at the courtroom camera.

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• 7. Sentencing Day

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  On the 24th of May 2019, Jayme Closs was not in the courtroom. Several family members gave victim impact statements, and a family attorney read hers aloud. In it, she said her parents and her home "were the most important things in her life." She said Patterson "took them away from her in a way that will always leave her with a horrifying memory." Everyday activities such as going out in public had become hard because she no longer felt safe. Patterson, she said, "thought that he could own her, but he was wrong." She asked the judge to lock him up forever.

  Patterson's attorneys asked for life with a possibility of parole far in the future, which would give him access to rehabilitative programs. They argued the crimes came from an impulsive act driven by his "self-imposed isolating behaviors." They also said they had advised him not to cooperate with the presentence investigation. In their view, its writer included "personal opinion" and "attempts at diagnosing Mr. Patterson with certain mental health diagnoses." They asked the court to disregard it.

  The judge rejected the argument. Parole eligibility would be redundant, he said, because Patterson had no diagnosis and no sign of psychopathic behavior or a mental disorder that called for rehabilitation. The judge said it was evident that Patterson had planned the crimes well in advance. He then read aloud from the presentence report, which recorded Patterson's own oral and written statements. Patterson had fantasized about holding a young girl prisoner and controlling her completely. Before taking Jayme, he had planned on "taking multiple girls, killing multiple families." When he first saw her, he "instantly thought she would be a good target."

  The judge imposed the maximum on the murder charges: life in prison without eligibility for parole. He added 40 years for the kidnapping.

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• 8. After the Sentence

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  On the 27th of April 2019, the Lifetime network premiered a documentary titled Smart Justice: The Jayme Closs Case. Its host was Elizabeth Ann Smart, a high-profile kidnapping survivor and an advocate for missing and exploited children. She was joined by fellow survivors Kara Robinson, Gina DeJesus, Katie Beers, Denise Huskins, Sarah Maynard, and Alicia Kozaciewicz. Each discussed Jayme's case and her own, along with healing and recovery.

  After her recovery, Jayme lived with an aunt and an uncle. She has since become an advocate for other missing and exploited children. Her story has been widely reported, and it has drawn attention to child abduction and to the support that victims and their families need.

  Patterson's own record continued past the sentencing. On the 20th of June, he was officially registered as a sex offender. In July, he was moved from the Dodge Correctional Institution to an out-of-state prison in New Mexico. In August 2019, he got into a fight with another inmate there.

  On the 20th of December, the Wisconsin Department of Justice released all of its investigative files on the case. Several portions were redacted out of respect for Jayme's privacy. Among them was her interview after the escape.

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