Jayme appeared bedraggled and thin Thursday afternoon after
escaping her captor and seeking help from neighbors in a remote area several miles from Gordon, Wis.
Everyone from law enforcement and others who
spoke during a news conference late Friday morning in Barron praised the teen for surviving, escaping and providing the key piece of information that led to the arrest of the man believed responsible for fatally shooting her parents and keeping her captive and undetected for weeks.
“We needed a break in this case,” said Justin Tolomeo, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Milwaukee Division. “It was Jayme herself who gave us that break.”
Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald said Patterson acted alone, targeted Jayme specifically and was in his jail Friday. A criminal complaint charging Patterson with two counts of homicide and one count of kidnapping is expected to be filed next week, the District Attorney’s Office said at the Friday news briefing.
“It’s amazing, the will of that 13-year-old girl to survive and escape,” Fitzgerald said.
District Attorney Brian Wright said he does not believe Patterson, said to be unemployed, had any prior contact with the Closs family.
“I can tell you the suspect planned his actions and took many proactive steps to hide his identity from law enforcement and the general public,” Wright said.
Fitzgerald said Jayme has been cleared from the hospital and is in the midst of undergoing mental and physical evaluations, questioning by the FBI and detectives, and finally, a reunion with family. They hope to have her back in Barron County by Friday morning or afternoon.
Fitzgerald said Patterson has no criminal history in Wisconsin or the Gordon area and “was not on our radar.”
Patterson does have ties to Barron, Fitzgerald said, but did not say what those ties were.
The sheriff said authorities would have more to disclose late Friday afternoon.
Residents of an area of woods and cabins near Gordon described the dramatic moment when Jayme was found.
Kristin Kasinskas, who lives on S. Eau Claire Acres Circle with her husband, Peter, and children, said that around 4 p.m., a neighbor walking a dog frantically knocked on their door. Standing with her was a skinny, dirty girl with matted hair, wearing shoes too big for her feet.
“This is Jayme Closs! Call 911!” the neighbor said.
Jayme was quiet, her emotions “pretty flat,” Peter Kasinskas said.
The woman who found Jayme, asking not to be identified, said in a phone interview late Thursday that Jayme “came up to me and said she wanted help.”
In the 20 minutes Jayme was in the Kasinskas home, the couple offered her water and food. She declined both but did say she didn’t know where she was or anything about Gordon. From what she told them, they believe she was there for most of her disappearance.
