Twisted killer reveals haunting last words of boy, 11, as he finally admits sexually assaulting victim before burying him in gravel pit 27 years ago
Schoolboy Jacob Wetterling was riding his bike with his brother when a masked gunman abducted him
A MINNESOTA man has finally confessed to abducting and killing an 11-year-old boy nearly 27 years ago - recounting a crime that long haunted the US state in chilling detail.
Danny Heinrich admitted he abducted, sexually assaulted and shot Jacob Wetterling, of St Joseph, to death in 1989, then buried the boy's body in a field in rural central Minnesota.
The 53-year-old made the admission on Tuesday as he pleaded guilty to a federal child pornography charge that could put him behind bars for decades.
The confession came as part of a plea agreement in which Heinrich will not face state murder charges in Jacob's death.
As part of the deal, Heinrich, who is described as a volatile man, led authorities to Jacob's remains last week.
"This was not an opportunity we could pass up," US Attorney Andy Luger explained. ";After almost 27 years, Danny Heinrich was willing to talk, and we had to grab the moment."
In chilling detail, Heinrich stood in court and calmly described how he abducted, molested and killed Jacob, as some members of the Wetterling family cried.
Although his voice wavered at one point, he showed little emotion and expressed no remorse to authorities.
Heinrich said that on the night of the abduction, he saw Jacob, Jacob's brother, and a friend cycling down a rural road near Jacob's home.
Heinrich laid in wait for the three to return, and when they did, he put on a mask and confronted them with a revolver.
Heinrich said he told the two other boys to run and not look back or he'd shoot.
He said he then handcuffed Jacob forced him in his car.
"What did I do wrong?" Jacob pleaded with Heinrich.
Heinrich said he drove Jacob to a gravel pit near Paynesville and assaulted him.
Afterward, Jacob asked whether he was taking him home.
"I said, 'I can't take you all the way home,'" Heinrich said. "He started to cry. I said, 'Don't cry.'"
Heinrich said at some point a patrol car with sirens and lights passing nearby caused him to panic.
He said he pulled out his revolver, which had not been loaded, and put two rounds in the gun.
He told Jacob to turn around, held the gun to the boy's head and pulled the trigger, he said.
The gun didn't fire. Heinrich then fired two shots. After the second, Jacob fell to the ground.
Heinrich said he went home for a couple of hours, then went back to the gravel pit and buried Jacob about 100 yards away.
He said he returned to the site about a year later and saw that Jacob's jacket and some bones had become exposed, so he re-buried the remains.
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"It's incredibly painful to know his last days, last hours, last minutes," his mother, Patty Wetterling, said after the guilty plea. "To us, Jacob was alive until we found him."
Heinrich's attorneys declined to comment after the hearing.
Last year, authorities named Heinrich as a person of interest in Jacob's kidnapping.
He had first been questioned shortly after Jacob's abduction but he maintained his innocence and authorities never had enough evidence to charge him.
Earlier this year, Heinrich’s DNA was found on the sweatshirt of a 12-year-old boy Jared Scheierl who was kidnapped from Cold Spring and sexually assaulted nine months before Jacob’s abduction.
Using technology that wasn't available in 1989, investigators found Heinrich's DNA on Scheierl's sweatshirt, and used that evidence to get a search warrant for Heinrich's home, where they found the child pornography.
The statute of limitations had expired for charging him in the assault on Scheierl, but as part of Tuesday's plea deal, Heinrich also admitted to that crime.
Typically victims of sexual assault are not identified but Scheierl has spoken publicly for years about his case, saying he hoped it could help investigators find his attacker and Jacob's kidnapper.
In the years after Jacob's disappearance, Jacob’s parents Patty and Jerry Wetterling founded the Jacob Wetterling Resource Centre, which works to help communities and families prevent child exploitation following his abduction.
In 1994, Congress passed a law named after Jacob Wetterling that requires states to establish sex offender registries.
Heinrich is scheduled to be sentenced on November 21.
Timeline of events leading up to the abduction of Jacob Wetterling
- Oct 22, 1989: Jacob Wetterling is abducted from a rural road by a masked gunman as he rides bikes with his brother and a friend near his home northwest of Minneapolis.
- Oct 26, 1989: Police on horseback and hundreds of people search for Jacob, but find nothing.
- Oct 29, 1989: About 225 National Guard troops and 80 Minnesota Department of Natural Resources workers unsuccessfully search for clues. Supporters of the boy's family release more than 1,000 white balloons after a church service.
- Dec 1989: Investigators are deluged with tips after they release a new sketch of a suspect. Authorities also say they believe the man who kidnapped Jacob was responsible for the January 1989 abduction and sexual assault of a boy in nearby Cold Spring.
- 1990: Jacob's parents, Patty and Jerry Wetterling, set up the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center. Patty Wetterling becomes a national advocate for missing children.
- Oct 1990: An FBI spokesman says about 2,000 people have been interviewed. More than 700 people attend an anniversary vigil less than two miles from where Jacob was taken.
1994: Congress passes the Jacob Wetterling Act, legislation for a sex offender registry.
- 2010: Investigators spend two days searching and digging at a farm near where Jacob Wetterling was last seen. The sheriff later says forensic tests on items taken from the farm show no link to the crime.
- Oct 29, 2015: Federal authorities say a Minnesota man is a "person of interest". Danny Heinrich is arrested on unrelated child pornography charges. Heinrich denies involvement in Jacob's disappearance and is not charged in the case.
- Sep 3, 2016: Authorities confirm that Jacob's remains have been found and positively identified. Additional DNA testing will be conducted.
- Sep 6, 2016: Heinrich confesses in detail to abducting and killing Wetterling in court while pleading guilty to federal child pornography charges.
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