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15th Jan 2019

Jayme Closs’s alleged kidnapper planned abduction after ‘seeing her on a school bus’

Jade Hayden

jayme closs

Jayme Closs’s alleged kidnapper said he planned to abduct the teenager after “seeing her on a school bus.”

Jake Patterson confessed to murdering Closs’s parents, James and Denise, with a shotgun last October with the intention of kidnapping their daughter.

The 21-year-old told Wisconsin police that he had seen Jayme getting on a school bus outside her house and that he knew “that was the girl he was going to take.”

Patterson said that he arrived at the Closs’s home wearing a ski-mask and wielding a shotgun. He said that he shot Jayme’s father through the front door while Denise and Jayme were hiding in the bathroom.

He then told Jayme’s mother to tape her daughter’s mouth shut before he shot her.

BBC reports that Patterson told police he dragged Jayme to the boot of his car and drove her to his secluded home, where he kept her captive for 88 days.

The 13-year-old said that she had been threatened with violence and was often barricaded under Patterson’s bed when he left the cabin.

Jayme escaped the home last week after stealing a pair of her captor’s shoes and walking until she met a woman out with her dog.

The pair then arrived at a neighbour’s house where they called the police. The teenager was skinny, dirty, and had “matted hair” when she was discovered.

Patterson’s bail has been set at $5 million. He is due to appear before the court again on February 6.