Wrongly suspected, Wetterling neighbor explains suit against sheriff
It was suspicious to Stearns County investigators that Dan Rassier only got one Christmas card during the month they surveilled his mail in the winter of 2007.
That footnote just added to the case they were building against Rassier before naming him a "person of interest" in the 1989 disappearance of Jacob Wetterling.
Rassier had nothing to do with the crime, and he maintained his innocence throughout the investigation.
The case wasn't solved until last fall when Danny Heinrich confessed to killing and abducting Jacob.
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Rassier said the sheriff's office still hasn't publicly cleared his name, and he says local law enforcement has ruined his reputation by once naming him in the Wetterling case.
Despite being associated with the investigation into the heinous crime for many years, Rassier said he's now trying to have a bit of a sense of humor about his situation.
And some of the people who had cut ties with Rassier are coming around to him again.
"This year, I can't even count how many Christmas cards I got."
In his first broadcast interview since filing suit against the investigators in the Wetterling case, Dan Rassier told All Things Considered host Tom Crann why he's decided to file a lawsuit now. Use the audio player above to listen.