BARRON COUNTY, WI — Jake Patterson, the 21-year-old Wisconsin man accused of abducting missing endangered teen Jayme Closs and shooting her parents in Oct. 2018, has been charged in court.
According to court records, Patterson faces two counts of first-degree intentional homicide and a third charge of kidnapping. If convicted, Patterson faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Barron County and released to the public Monday afternoon, Patterson confessed to the murders of James and Denise Closs and explained why he targeted their daughter, Jayme.
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According to the criminal complaint, Patterson told authorities that one day on his way to work, he stopped behind a school bus on Highway 8. As he sat in his vehicle behind the bus, Patterson admitted he watched Jayme get on the school bus. He told investigators that he had no idea who she was, nor did he know where she lived, but knew upon seeing her that “this was the girl he was going to take.”
According to the criminal complaint, Patterson admitted that he never met Jayme through any social media sites, and only learned her name after she was abducted and was imprisoned in his house.
Patterson said he learned the names of Jayme’s parents once their names were reported on multiple news programs and social media.
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Here are the details of the night of Oct. 15 in which Closs’ parents were shot and killed, and Jayme abducted and also her dramatic escape from captivity.
According to the criminal complaint, during the early morning hours of Oct. 15, Jayme told investigators she was asleep in her bedroom when her dog began to bark. She went to investigate and noticed there was someone in her driveway. She went to her parent’s room and woke up her mother, Denise, and her father, James.
According to the complaint, James went to the door, only to find Patterson with a shotgun outside. As Jayme and Denise went to hide in the bathroom, Jayme told investigators she heard a gunshot. She knew her father had been killed, she told investigators.
Jayme told investigators that Patterson entered the house, broke down the bathroom door and told her mother to hang up a cellphone that she was trying to use to dial 911. Jayme told investigators that Patterson ordered Denise to put tape over Jayme’s mouth. After she did, Patterson shot and killed Denise, according to the criminal complaint.
According to the criminal complaint, Patterson taped Jayme’s hands and ankles together and dragged her out to his car and put her in the trunk, where she stayed for about two hours as Patterson drove to his house in the small town of Gordon.
Jayme told investigators that Patterson held her prisoner in her house, forcing her to stay under a bed in his bedroom. When Patterson left the house, or when company would come over, Jayme said Patterson forced her to hide under his bed “or something bad would happen.” According to the criminal complaint, Patterson would force Jayme to hide under the bed for stretches of 12 hours at a time without food, water or bathroom breaks.
According to the criminal complaint, there was one instance in which Patterson got upset with her and hit her “really hard” on her back with a rod.
Jayme told investigators about the day of her escape. According to the criminal complaint, on Jan. 10, Patterson left the house and told her he was going to be gone for between five and six hours. Jayme said she was forced to once again hide under the bed. Jayme was able to push some heavy bins and weights away from the bed frame so she could escape.
She put on a pair of Patterson’s shoes, walked out of the house and happened upon a dog walker whom she asked for help. She told the dog walker that Patterson kidnapped her. They went to the nearest house where the resident called 911.
When Patterson got home, he saw that Jayme was not under the bed. He looked briefly around the house and saw fresh footprints in the snow, according to the criminal complaint.
The complaint stated that Patterson got into his car, and began driving around in an attempt to look for her. After a few minutes, he returned to his house, and was met by the police. At that time, Patterson admitted, he knew that he had been caught.
Image Via Barron County Sheriff’s Department