Storms start to move out of Minnesota, continue for western Wisconsin

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

Jayme Closs, the 13-year-old Wisconsin girl who vanished after her parents were found shot to death in their Barron, Wis., home in October, 

 Jan. 10 after she flagged down a woman walking her dog in northwestern Wisconsin.

Authorities launch a search for Jayme Closs after her parents — James Closs, 56 and Denise Closs, 46 — 

 in their Barron, Wis., home. Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald says that Jayme was home at the time of the homicides and that she isn't a suspect in her parents' deaths. 

 they say were near Jayme's home around the time her parents were shot to death and she disappeared. 

 is held that night at Riverview Middle School in Barron, where Jayme is a student. 

More than 2,000 volunteers stream into Barron

 to search for Jayme. Volunteers, walking about 10 feet apart, 

 for information leading to Jayme. The reward 

The Barron County Sheriff's Office says it has 

shut down its around-the-clock command center

 set up to organize the search. Fitzgerald, the sheriff, calls the move a transition "from a 24/7 reactive operation to a more deliberate and methodical effort to progress the investigation," because of a declining number of tips.

With the start of the firearms deer season, Wisconsin officials 

ask hunters across the state to keep an eye out

 for any evidence that might provide a break in the case. 

announce plans to provide an update on the investigation.

 The sheriff says he'll update the media about new partners and an expanded team that's working to find Jayme. 

 at 4:43 p.m. after emerging from a heavily wooded area and flagging a woman walking her dog in Gordon, Wis., a town of several hundred residents about 60 miles north of Barron.

tells reporters at an emotional news conference

 that the suspect, Jake Thomas Patterson, 21, of Gordon, Wis., took Jayme against her will and has been arrested in connection with her kidnapping and the killing of her parents.

Authorities, he said, believe Jayme was the only target and that Patterson did not have any prior contact with the Closs family.

Barron, Wis., celebrates after Jayme Closs found alive

 with kidnapping, two counts of first-degree intentional homicide and armed burglary in Jayme's abduction and the slaying of her parents.

A criminal complaint is filed that says Patterson made up his mind to take the teen when he spotted her getting on a school bus, and he made two aborted trips to her family's home before finally carrying out an attack in which he killed Jayme's mother in front of her.

The complaint also says Patterson forced Jayme to hide under a bed in his remote cabin for hours at a time.

 to kidnapping Jayme Closs and killing her parents during a court hearing. Earlier in March, he wrote a letter to KARE-TV that he intended to plead guilty.

MPR News Staff

Author

Jayme Closs, the 13-year-old Wisconsin girl who vanished after her parents were found shot to death in their Barron, Wis., home in October was found alive in January in northwestern Wisconsin. Here's a look back at the case.

Timeline: The Jayme Closs case

Go Deeper.

Like this?