Jake Patterson knew he wanted to abduct Jayme Closs since he saw her board her school bus. He found where she lived and proceeded to kill both of her parents with a shotgun.
He then kept her under his bed in a cabin in northern Wisconsin until she managed to escape after 88 days in captivity.
She was abducted by the then-21-year-old, who was unemployed at the time of his arrest. He grew up in Gordon, Wis., a small town just south of Lake Superior. He graduated from Northwood High School, a small school in a neighboring town.
What Happened on the Night of Denise and James Closs’s Murder?
Patterson murdered Jayme’s parents, Denise and James Closs, around 2:40 a.m. on October 15, 2018.
In documents released by the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Patterson recounted the night of the murders in an interview after his arrest with detectives.
Before the murder, Patterson took his father’s shotgun and cleaned the bullets and gun to ensure his DNA couldn’t be linked to the crime scene. He also shaved his head and beard for the same reason. He made modifications to his car, which included disconnecting the dome lights inside to remain unseen and disassembling the emergency interior trunk release handle and cable.
On the night of the murder, Patterson walked up to the house, where James looked through the small glass window in the front door. Patterson said James shined a flashlight outside. Patterson screamed at James to get on the ground, and when James asked Patterson for his badge, assuming he was with the police, he raised his shotgun and shot James, who was still inside the house, in the head.
After trying to break the door with his shoulder, Patterson decided to shoot the doorknob to enter the house.
Once inside, he found the bathroom where Denise and Jayme were hiding. Patterson used his shoulder to break the bathroom door down and opened the closed curtain to reveal Denise bear-hugging Jayme in the bathtub.
He asked Denise to put tape over Jayme’s mouth, which she did, and then shot her dead, making sure not to look her in the eyes when he killed her. He then extracted Jayme from the tub and wrapped Jayme’s hands and legs together with tape.
Denise called 911 from the bathtub before Patterson found them in the bathroom, but he had driven off with Jayme by the time the police responded to the scene.
“There was a lot of noise in the background, maybe some yelling,” Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald tells A&E Crime + Investigation. “They proceeded to the scene, which was about four miles from our sheriff’s department.”
SWAT teams, detectives and Fitzgerald responded to the scene shortly after the initial deputies, where they found out Jayme was missing.
Inside Jayme Closs’s Captivity
In her complaint released by Barron County prosecutors, Jayme said she was in the trunk of Patterson’s car for what felt like two hours. She even heard sirens from police driving to her house from inside.
He took her about 70 miles north to a cabin in Gordon, Wis.
Jayme was in captivity for 88 days before she made her escape. In the meantime, Fitzgerald’s department investigated over 4,000 tips with over 300 officers on the case.
“Every tip was followed up on,” Fitzgerald says. “Ultimately, Jayme rescued herself and showed the world you never give up hope.”
Jayme was kept under a twin bed raised only two and a half inches off the floor. When Patterson was gone for hours on end, Jayme was left under the bed with tote bags and weight plates for barbells around her bed, so she couldn’t escape without Patterson knowing. He threatened her if she tried to escape and said, “bad things” would happen if she tried again.
On one occasion, Jayme said in the complaint, he got mad and hit her on her back with a tool used to clean blinds.
When Patterson was home, they watched TV and played board games together. Patterson made Jayme sleep with him in his bed. Investigators have not said whether or not Jayme was sexually assaulted or raped during her time in captivity.
Patterson’s father visited him every Saturday, and Patterson forced Jayme to stay under the bed as he entertained his father, with music turned up so they couldn’t hear Jayme.
Jayme escaped on January 10, 2019, when Patterson left the house to see his mom in Haugen, Wis. Jayme, who pushed past the weights and tote bags around her, put Patterson’s shoes on, and, without a coat, she braved the 18-degree weather to find help. She stumbled upon Jeanne Nutter, who was walking her dog nearby.
Nutter told CBS News that when Jayme asked her for help, they ran to a neighbor’s house to call the police. Nutter said to authorities in audio released by the Wisconsin Department of Justice to call for medical aid due to Jayme’s sense of shock.
“That’s what we’re trained [for] in social work,” Nutter said in the interview with CBS News. “Kids need to be safe. Get them safe first, ask questions later.”
Nutter declined A&E Crime + Investigation ’s request for comment.
Jayme received acute treatment at the hospital after authorities got to the scene. They assessed whether she had been hurt and for malnutrition. According to ABC News, she was receiving treatment for PTSD and other mental and emotional struggles.
Jayme lived with her aunt and godmother, Jennifer Naiberg Smith, after the kidnapping.
Why Did Jake Patterson Abduct Jayme Closs?
Patterson told police there was no specific reason he chose Jayme. He had simply seen Jayme one morning boarding her school bus before he went to work and decided he would kill anyone in the house to get to Jayme, according to court documents.
Patterson said he served in the Marines for two months before being honorably discharged due to chest pain. However, the Associated Press found no evidence linking Patterson to the U.S. Marine Corps.
Patterson said he felt lost after being discharged when the idea to abduct a girl took root in his mind. When he saw Jayme, he told investigators he “immediately knew that was the girl he was going to take,” per Fox 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul.
He also said that, in the long term, he thought they could build a life together. Patterson told police he thought about getting an apartment with Jayme.
In a letter to KARE 11 reporter Lou Raguse, Patterson wrote, “The reason I did this is complicated.”
Patterson pleaded guilty to the murder of Jayme’s parents and her abduction. He was sentenced to two life sentences for the murder of her parents, a 40-year sentence for kidnapping and 15 years on parole in May 2019. He is currently serving his sentence in a New Mexico prison.
Jayme said in a statement read by her attorney at the sentencing: “Jake Patterson can never take away my courage. He thought he could control me, but he couldn’t. I feel like what he did is what a coward would do. I was brave. He was not.”
