Jayme Closs, the 13-year-old who went missing after her parents were found dead in their Wisconsin home in October, has been found.
Jayme was hospitalized overnight for observation and is safe after escaping a home in Douglas County, Wis., Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald said in a news conference Friday morning. She was being reunited with her family, he said.
Police arrested a suspect identified Friday as Jake T. Patterson, 21, of Gordon, Wis. He is being held on suspicion on two counts of first-degree intentional homicide and one count of kidnapping. He has not yet been charged.
The sheriff’s office was issuing search warrants and looking for evidence Friday, Fitzgerald said. He added that Patterson had no criminal history in Wisconsin.
Patterson “planned his actions” and took steps to avoid detection from law enforcement after the abduction, Fitzgerald said. He said it appeared Patterson intended to abduct the girl and did what he had to do — including killing her parents — to do so.
Jayme escaped from the home in Gordon on Thursday afternoon.
Peter Kasinskas, who lives in the area, told the Duluth News Tribune that he was cleaning fish in the kitchen when his dogs “started going crazy.” His wife, Kristin, and children, ages 7 and 9, were getting home.
“And then the neighbor lady was pounding on our door in the kitchen. She opened the door, her dog ran in, and then she helped this girl into the kitchen. She said: ‘It’s Jayme Closs! Call 911.’”
“My jaw hit the floor,” he told the paper.
“She was probably in shock. She was pretty quiet. She didn’t say a lot,” Kasinskas said.
Jayme gave information about the vehicle Patterson was driving. Law enforcement spotted the vehicle a short time after and took Patterson into custody, Fitzgerald said.
While at Kasinskas’ home, Closs declined any food or drink while they waited for police to arrive.
“She looked frozen, so I gave her a blanket,” he told the News Tribune. “She looked thin. She looked like she hadn’t been able to bathe or take care of herself. She just looked kind of run down and dirty. She looked probably 15 pounds lighter than her photos.”
The neighbor who brought Jayme to Kasinskas’ home, which was about a quarter mile from where she had been held, “knew that I had equipment to protect my house if anybody was coming,” he told the News Tribune.
“So, they got in the house, and I loaded a gun and got ready and was standing at the door waiting until the police showed up, because (Jayme) said she didn’t know when he was coming back. When she was sitting on my couch, I couldn’t believe it. I just said to her: ‘I am so happy to see you,’ because I thought she was dead.”
MORE: What we know about suspect Jake Thomas Patterson
Jayme’s uncle, Jeff Closs, told KARE-TV. “We’re not sure if she’s going to be found, and then when you actually hear it. It’s just unbelievable,” he said. “We’re all just so grateful and happy.”
‘PRAYERS WERE ANSWERED’
Fitzgerald on Friday recounted hearing the news that Jayme was found.
“My legs started to shake … it was awesome,” he said.
Town of Gordon Chair Denny Kline told the Associated Press that Jayme was found about 6 miles east of the community. He described the area as a small-town development with single-family, cabin-like homes.
“A lot of people were very concerned, did a lot of praying and all that,” he said. “Prayers were answered, for finding her, anyway.”
Barron Mayor Ron Fladten said Thursday night he was overjoyed at learning Jayme is alive.
“A lot of people have been praying daily, as I have,” Fladten said. “It’s just a great result we got tonight. It’s unbelievable. It’s like taking a big black cloud in the sky and getting rid of it and the sun comes out again.”
Barron Area School District Superintendent Diane Tremblay praised Jayme, a Riverview Middle School student, “for being so courageous and … find(ing) her way back to us. What an extraordinary young lady.”
‘I HOPE THAT SHE’S IN GOOD SHAPE’
Fladten acknowledged that Jayme may not be the same person she was before she disappeared, considering the ordeal she’s been through.
“I hope that she’s in good shape,” the mayor said. “She’s no doubt been through just a terrible ordeal. I think everybody wishes her a good recovery and a happy life going into the future.”
‘WHY WE NEVER LOSE HOPE’
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children applauded the Barron and Douglas county sheriff’s offices in a series of tweets Thursday night.
“Jayme is an example of why we never lose hope and never stop searching,” one of the tweets said.
Fitzgerald had been planning to update the public on the monthslong search for Jayme at a news conference next Tuesday.
MISSING SINCE OCTOBER
James and Denise Closs were found shot to death Oct. 15 at their home near Barron, about 80 miles northeast of St. Paul.
Authorities responding to a 911 call at the house found the door kicked in.
Barron County deputies arrived at the Closs home within 4 minutes of the 911 call but found no suspects or gun at the scene and no sign of Jayme.
MORE: Jayme Closs found: What we know now
Investigators could hear yelling in the background of the recorded 911 call, but nobody talked with dispatchers.
Investigators almost immediately ruled out Jayme as a suspect and launched a wide-ranging search for her, enlisting several other law enforcement agencies and thousands of volunteers to comb the swamps, cornfields and woods of Barron County.
NO BREAKTHROUGH FOR MONTHS
Detectives pursued thousands of tips, watched dozens of surveillance videos and spent countless hours searching for Jayme, but their efforts hadn’t yielded any breakthroughs in the case.
Two months after the slayings and apparent abduction, Fitzgerald said the lack of evidence seemed to suggest that the killer or killers didn’t get far in the home, as investigators had not recovered any DNA evidence or fingerprints, nor did they find shoe prints inside the home.
Fitzgerald said in November that he kept similar cases in the back of his mind as he worked to find Jayme, including the abduction of Elizabeth Smart, who was taken from her Salt Lake City home in 2002, when she was 14 years old. She was rescued nine months later with the help of two witnesses who recognized her abductors from an “America’s Most Wanted” episode.
“I have a gut feeling she’s still alive,” Fitzgerald said at the time. “I’ve always been a glass half-full kind of guy.”
The Associated Press and Forum News Service contributed to this report.
