I, along with many thousands of people who have lived in Minnesota for a long time, find ourselves with heavy hearts along with some sense of relief. An 11 year old boy, Jacob Wetterling, who was snached by a sick fuck nearly 30 years ago will be returned to his family...albeit his remains.
His story has been kept alive by his family, who also founded a foundation in Jacob's name to help prevent child abductions and support other families that have had to face this horror.
The case was alway open, but got an extensive review last year. That led to the arrest of a "person on interest" in October. His collection of neatly labeled child porn was found in his home. His DNA was matched with a sweatshirt of a young boy who was attacked just a few months before Jacob's.
His family never gave up hope, plus continued to work to prevent this happening to others. Patty Wetterling, the mother, gave key testimony before congress leading to passage of the bill that now requires sex offenders to be registered.
Now what ever spark she held that she'd see her son again has been snuffed out. I never saw much hope, yet today's news struck me like it just happened yesterday. We've lived with this story for so long. It's a relief it's ended, yet the sadness is so great. I'm sure I'm not alone feeling this way.
After sitting in custody for 11 months the killer/rapist led authorities to the remains. What makes me even sicker is wondering what kind of deal they offered the puke to make him give in and admit his guilt. Guess we'll have to live with this some more as his case is drawn out.
Here's a link to today's news story if anyone wants to read more:
http://www.startribune.com/wetterling-suspect-leads-officials-to-unidentified-remains/392238471/#1