True Crime Collection

Kidnapping of Jayme Closs

Jayme Lynn Closs was born 13th July 2005. Jayme was the only child of James and Denise Closs of Barron, Wisconsin. On 5th October, 2018, Jake Patterson drove to the Closs home to kidnap Jayme Closs, but was deterred by activity in the home and afraid he would leave witnesses. He made a 2nd attempt 2 days later, but was again afraid to leave witnesses. On 15th October, he made a 3rd visit, this time armed with a shotgun. Shortly before 12:53am, Jake parked his car at the end of the driveway. Wearing a black coat and ski mask, he approached the front door of the home carrying the shotgun. James Closs, 56, shone a light on Jake through a glass portion of the front door and asked him to show him his badge. Jake said, "Open the f*****g door." Jake fired one, fatally shooting James. Forcing his way into the house, Jake checked every room in the house because he wanted "no witnesses left behind." He found the bathroom door locked and began shooting it down. Inside the bathroom were Denise Closs, 46, and Jayme. Denise was comforting Jayme, who was crying loudly. At 12:53am, Denise Closs made a 911 call. 

While Denise did not speak, the operator heard a disturbance and yelling before the phone call was disconnected. When the dispatcher called the number back, they reached the voicemail of Denise. Jake bound Jayme's wrists and ankles using duct tape, then fatally shot Denise. He dragged Jayme outside, almost slipping on blood, placed her in the trunk of his car and drove away. The police arrived 4 minutes after the 911 call. Jake later told investigators that he pulled over 20 seconds down the road from the house while deputies sped by with emergency lights and sirens on. Neighbours said they heard 2 gunshots, but dismissed them since hunting was common around their homes. After arriving at his cabin, Jake made Jayme change into a different pair of pyjamas, then forced her under his mattress and sealed off all exits before going to sleep. 

Volunteers searched on the sides of US Route 8 near the home and spent 23rd October searching for Jayme. By 26th October, a $50,000 reward had been announced for information leading to her recovery. Investigators received more than 2,000 tips and reviewed most of them. The police had no suspects during the time Jayme was held captive for 88 days at a house owned by Jake's father on South Eau Claire Acres Circle in Gordon, Wisconsin. Jayme later told police that Jake would force her to hide under his bed to conceal her presence when his family members came to visit him. When Jake left from time to time, he barricaded Jayme under the bed with tote bags, laundry bins and weights stacked around it and told her that he would know if she tried to move them while he was gone. On Saturdays, she was forced under Jake's twin bed when his family visited. Jake beat Jayme on one occasion because he thought she had moved out from under the bed. During the Christmas celebration Jake threatened to kill Jayme if she moved. Jake also had sexual fantasies about Jayme, but never acted on them because of guilt of killing Jayme's parents. 

Jake believed that Jayme was too afraid of him to make any escape attempts, stating he "never put special locks on doors because she wouldn't escape." They also slept on the same bed. Jake would rarely let Jayme out of the cabin, only for brief walks on the lawn after checking for bystanders. On the afternoon of 10th January, 2019, Jake told Jayme he was leaving for a couple of hours and put her under his bed before boxing her inside with his belongings, per his usual routine. After he departed, Jayme pushed out the objects around the bed far enough for her to escape and ran from the house wearing a light shirt, leggings and a pair of Jake's sneakers. Jayme came across a local woman, Jeanne Nutter, walking her dog. Jeanne recognised Jayme from news reports and immediately took her to a neighbours' house. After police were called, Jayme told them "Jake Patterson" had killed her parents, taken her and kept her prisoner just a few houses away from her current location in the neighbourhood. The neighbours described Jayme as calm, quiet, dazed and surprised that they recognised her from news coverage. 

The police arrived around 4:45pm and decided to remove Jayme from the area for her safety. The description Jayme provided of Jake and his vehicle enabled deputies to spot his car just minutes afterward when Jake drove by the house. After a deputy stopped him, Jake exited his vehicle and said, "I did it."

Jayme was admitted to a hospital under guard. The next morning, she was released to the custody of her aunt, Jennifer Smith. Hormel, the parent company of the Jennie-O store where Jayme's parents had been employed, announced on 24th January that $25,000 of the reward money would be given to Jayme for rescuing herself. 

Jake confessed to police that he had kidnapped Jayme and killed her parents. He had no previous criminal history in Wisconsin. He was charged with 2 counts of first degree intentional homicide, one count of kidnapping and one count of armed burglary on 14th January, with bail set at $5 million. On 27th March, he pleaded guilty to two counts of intentional first degree homicide and one count of kidnapping. 

The judge agreed to dismiss the armed burglary count. On 24th May, Jake was sentenced to the maximum of two consecutive life sentences in prison without the possibility of parole for the murders plus an additional 40 years for the kidnapping. Douglas County authorities did not pursue charges against Jake related to Jayme's 88 days in captivity because they did not want to bring Jayme in for questioning and believed there was sufficient evidenced to pursue a life sentence without parole without needing additional charges.

Police did not believe Jake had any social media contact with Jayme or her family and relatives of Jayme did not recognise Jake's name. Jake told authorities he saw Jayme getting off a school bus outside the family residence in September while he was driving home from work and that he "knew that she was the girl he wanted to take". While in jail in March, Jake wrote a letter in response to questions sent to him by a reporter from a television station in Minneapolis. He apologised for his crimes and states they were committed "mostly on impulse", contrasting with the reports from the police that he had taken various measures in preparation for the crime. He added that his intention from the beginning was to plead guilty in order to spare Jayme and her family the trauma of the case going to trial. Later that month, a television reporter in Minneapolis received a cell phone call from Jake in which he briefly answered questions sent to him in a letter. Regarding the time Jayme spent in captivity, Jake said, "We were just like watching TV, playing board games, talking about stuff. We cooked a lot, everything we made was homemade, you know". 

At Jake's arraignment, his father told a reporter he had a note of apology he was trying to get to Jayme. Jake's grandfather stated, "Something went terribly wrong, nobody had any clues... We are absolutely heartbroken. It's wrenching to deal with. He was shy and quiet, he backed off from crowds, but a nice boy, polite. Computer games were more of a priority than social interaction."

Jake's parents divorced in 2007. He graduated from Northwood High School in nearby Minong, Wisconsin in 2015. He enlisted in the U.S Marine Corps, but was discharged after 1 month at MCRD San Diego. 

On 20th June, he registered officially as a sex offender. In July, he was transferred from the Dodge Correctional Institution to an out of state prison in New Mexico and got in a fight with another inmate in August 2019.