Jake Patterson, a 21-year-old man from Gordon, Wis., has been charged with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide and one count of kidnapping in the Jayme Closs case. Patterson is being charged with the murder of James and Denise Closs and the kidnapping of 13-year-old Jayme Closs.
Patterson is in custody in Barron County after being arrested Thursday evening in Gordon. Authorities say Patterson took planned and extreme steps to remain hidden from authorities after allegedly kidnapping Closs.
After being missing for 88 days, Closs was found alive on Thursday after escaping from a Gordon, Wis., residence where authorities say she was being held against her will. Closs was able to escape that residence yesterday and found an individual walking their dog. She told the person she was Jayme Closs. That individual took Closs to a nearby neighbors house and called 911.
Douglas County Sheriff Deputies immediately responded to the home and confirmed the girl to be the missing Jayme Closs.
Closs was then taken to a nearby hospital where she was evaluated overnight. Officials are still interviewing Closs to frame everything that happened to her.
“There was no reason to give up hope,” Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald said at a Friday morning press conference. “That is the will of a kid to survive.”
Sheriff Fitzgerald said that details in the case remain fluid and he will update the media again at 4 p.m. on Friday.
Search warrants for the residence Closs was being held at as well as search warrants for area vehicles possibly involved are being served at this time. Sheriff Fitzgerald was unable to say what ordeal Closs had been through during these three months or if there was any abuse involved. But he did say this was a planned kidnapping and that Closs was the target of the people who carried it out.
