“Catch Me If You Can”

Posted by joy.the.curious on Jun 1, 2015 in Jacob | 57 comments

I have some new information to share about the wood-paneled station wagon that I just learned about this past weekend. If you recall, this is the car that was seen by the young teens who used to ride their dirt bikes and 4-wheelers through the woods near Jacob’s abduction site. The gentleman I spoke to this weekend was also a part of this group, and he had a few more interesting tidbits to share about the station wagon and the man in the woods.

First of all, I believe we have two different sightings here, possibly three. As I reported in my original post titled, “The men in the woods,” this group of boys saw an older man with a notebook sitting off in the brush, just inside the entrance to the woods. They didn’t think much of it and proceeded on to the party pit to have a quick smoke. On their way out, they saw him again. He had moved closer to them at that point, and they wondered if maybe he had been following them.

Another member of this group reported seeing another man in the woods… this time up in a tree. He said he was younger and thinner than the first man. He wore a baseball cap and had a clipboard. The boys saw the man while they were riding their dirt bikes through the woods that day. Later, they noticed him again, but this time he had moved to a different tree. Weird.

The gentleman I spoke to this weekend had more to add to the story. He used to live south of St. Ben’s, just off College Avenue. He says he and his friends used to ride their dirt bikes and four-wheelers in those woods nearly every day. He also remembers seeing a guy up in a tree, but the man he remembers seeing was older, possibly in his 50s. He was wearing a blaze orange hat and was definitely not an art student. This guy seemed out of place, like he didn’t belong there, and none of the kids had ever seen him before.

There are two interesting things this young man was able to add to the story. First, he says there was a field road that ran from College Avenue (just across from the cemetery) all the way over to 16th/91st Avenue. It ran along the south end of Klinefelter Park and was a straight shot all the way to the abduction site. Another interesting thing this guy remembers is about the car. On the day he saw it, it was parked just off 16th/91st Avenue on the approach/field road which would later become Dale Street. He remembers the car being light blue, possibly a station wagon, but he couldn’t remember if it had wood panels or not. What he DOES remember seems significant. The car had two distinct bumper stickers. One said something about Ole and Lena; the other said, “Catch Me If You Can.”

OK… back it up a bit.

Catch Me If You Can was a Hollywood movie that was filmed in the St. Cloud area during the fall of 1988. It was directed by Stephen Sommers, a St. Cloud native, and pre-premiered there on August 24, 1989. It’s a low-budget “muscle car” film about a group of high school teens who are trying to raise money and save their school by betting on illegal car races. Much of the footage was filmed at Apollo and Cathedral High Schools, and included several local residents who served as extras in the movie. The film officially premiered to a national audience on October 14, 1989, just eight days before Jacob’s abduction.

Catch Me If You Can was a Hollywood movie that was filmed in the St. Cloud area during the fall of 1988. It was directed by Stephen Sommers, a St. Cloud native, and pre-premiered there on August 24, 1989.

Film Shot in St. Cloud By Blockbuster Director Stephen Sommers Celebrates 25th Anniversary

By Peter Kay, WJON Radio, Published: February 15, 2013

Back in 1989, an ambitious young Central Minnesota film director returned to his old stomping grounds to produce his first full-length movie. Now, 25 years after it's initial release in St. Cloud, Catch Me If You Can, will enjoy a re-premiere at Parkwood Cinemas worthy of any big budget popcorn flick.

Known more for Hollywood blockbusters than for character-driven teen-rebellion flicks, Tinseltown heavyweight Stephen Sommers, released the movie a full decade before he would take on ‘The Mummy’ and a string of other big budget spectaculars.

Funded entirely by independent money, and with a measly budget of only 800K, Sommers brought an entire production crew to St. Cloud and Central Minnesota to film the movie he wrote in high school.

Based and shot in locations throughout St. Cloud and at Cathedral and Apollo High Schools, the plot follows the antics of Cathedral High School students, and their quest to save the school from closing. As fundraising begins to slow, the resident bad-boy Dylan (Matt Lattanzi) convinces the class president Melissa (Loryn Locklin) he has a way to save the school; take $3000 of already raised funds and bet on an illegal car race through the city, that he was sure he'd win. Of course he doesn't, and is forced to double-down on a virtually impossible race against the clock that only the town legend has ever accomplished. The film ends with a spectacular stunt: the "star-car" and driver end up jumping through the goal-posts during a big football game between Apollo and Cathedral.

The movie is a favorite of locals, many of who were extras in the production. When you watch it, you’ll notice frequent references to St. Cloud landmarks.

But it just didn't achieve teen-classic status like the John Hughes movies of the time, because the studio that promised to distribute the movie went out of business shortly after the production was done. Even so, according to some sources, it's actually made 7 million dollars, mostly overseas.

However, it has become a much sought-after film by hot-rod and classic car enthusiasts because of it’s well-done race scenes and the colorful cast of vintage muscle cars, many of which were owned by Central Minnesota residents.

This Saturday’s celebration of the film is being organized by Pantowners Collector Club member Nick Prom and, by Buzz Cripe, another member who was the lead mechanic on the film.

The film will be shown this Saturday on two screens out at Parkwood Cinemas. You should be there by 9am, because the car that jumped through the goal posts will be there, as will the white Camaro dubbed 'The Widowmaker' along with actor Greg Walker who drove the car, performed some of the stunts and played one a villains in the movie.

A short pre-film will be shown and then the movie in it's entirety. There is also a private, already sold-out event at the Eagles Club, in conjunction with the anniversary.  If you’re looking for the DVD, good luck, it’s extremely hard to find, however, you can see the entire movie right now below.

Both Nick and Buzz will be on The Pete & Doug Show later today around 11:15.

The interesting thing is… two months after Jacob’s abduction, police asked for the public’s help in finding a station wagon with a “Catch Me If You Can” bumper sticker that was seen near the Wetterlings’ residence in the days just prior to Jacob’s abduction.

All three of the following newspaper articles were published on December 22, 1989:

From the St. Cloud Times

The Jacob Wetterling Task Force also is trying to find a suspicious car that was seen in the St. Joseph area about a week before Jacob, 11, was seized Oct. 22 at gunpoint.

The car recently came to authorities’ attention after residents of an apartment building near the Wetterlings said they had seen the car parked for most of a day. Because it was about two months ago, they couldn’t provide an exact day, Gigler said.

The car is described as a dark brown, four-door station wagon dating to 1970. It had a luggage rack and considerable rust on the fender and doors. The car reportedly had a black and orange sticker that said “Catch Me If You Can.” The movie was filmed in the St. Cloud area and premiered here last summer.

From the Minneapolis Star Tribune

In another development yesterday, investigators were trying to locate a 1970s-model full-sized four-door station wagon seen three days before Jacob’s abduction on the rural road where he was kidnapped.

The dark brown station wagon is said to have a luggage rack and a missing molding on the passenger side. A rear bumper sticker reads, “Catch me if you can,” an apparent reference to the title of a movie shot two years ago in St. Cloud.

“We feel that with the bumper sticker it’s a local vehicle,” Gigler said. A bulletin was sent yesterday to alert police agencies to look for the car.

From the St. Paul Pioneer Press

In a related development, authorities said they are looking for a full-size, brown, 1970s 4-door model station wagon seen in the woods west of the Wetterling abduction site three days before the kidnapping. The car did not belong to anyone in the neighborhood and police want to question its owner, Gigler said.

The wagon had a luggage rack, missing body molding on the passenger side and a rear bumper sticker that read, “Catch Me If You Can,” a reference to a movie of the same name filmed in St. Cloud. The movie previewed in St. Cloud this August, leading police to believe the car belongs to an area resident. St. Cloud is about 6 miles east of St. Joseph.

I’m unclear whether this lead about the station wagon came from the boys who witnessed the man/men in the woods, or if it came from another source. I’m curious whether the “dark brown” station wagon was confused with the “dark brown wood panels” that the boys remember.

At any rate, my main question is this. Where did these bumper stickers come from? Were they handed out at the private premiere in August? Or, maybe later, at the public premiere on October 14th? Or, maybe they were handed out during the filming of the movie, back in November of 1988? Where were they printed? Where were they distributed? At the high schools? Movie theaters? Convenience stores? Does anyone else remember getting or having one of these bumper stickers? If we can figure out that much, maybe we can figure out where the driver of the car got his bumper sticker.

And one more question… does anyone know which apartment building the police were talking about in the St. Cloud Times article above? If this is the same station wagon that the boys saw down by the woods, I wonder what he was doing at that apartment building. Did he live there? Or was he just staying with an acquaintance?

A little help here… please comment!

#ThinkingJacob

Next time

A short rant and a brown station wagon

57 Comments

1.     Amy Webster | June 1, 2015 at 12:22 am 

Wow! Interesting information! Hope it can generate some more information about who could have driven that vehicle- someone has to know! Did Jacob ever go in those woods? Also want to know if employees at Tom Thumb remember anything about this vehicle. I know one employee had a weird conversation with an older man about Jacobs abduction a few days after he was taken.

2.     Jennifer J. Bland | June 1, 2015 at 7:44 am 

Catch Me If You Can (1989 Movie)
Full Link: Free Video/You Tube.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq9ndymLNi8

3.     Laura Garczynski | June 1, 2015 at 8:42 am 

I don’t understand HOW they missed an Odd bumper sticker back when Jacob was abducted. I mean why wasn’t the police on the lookout for that bumper sticker and it was on an Odd looking car??? Just frustrated that all these years went by and that little boy was never rescued. Doesn’t seem Fair at all! I hope someone comes forward and states who owned that car. But it probably isn’t around anymore.

4.     Carol | June 1, 2015 at 10:31 am 

“Ole and Lena” have a wikipedia entry.

(Forgive me if I’m teaching grandma how to suck eggs. I’m not from Minnesota and I haven’t heard of these characters before.)

5.     Bill | June 1, 2015 at 10:45 am 

Find out who was in charge of marketing with the movie. Anything licensed merchandise wise would have had to come from the movie company.

6.     Becky | June 1, 2015 at 10:46 am 

Do apartment building owners keep records of their renters?

7.     Kay | June 1, 2015 at 12:43 pm 

This seems VERY significant! In my opinion, this is the most impressive clue I’ve read on your blog so far, Joy. Somebody HAS to have seen that car with that bumper sticker… somebody out there HAS to remember a family member, friend or neighbor or someone with that car. Even if the guy was a loner and had no family, he had to have lived somewhere and had to have had neighbors who saw that car! I wish something like this had been mentioned on the John Walsh show that aired recently….
I feel like this clue could break the case… if only the right person reads this blog or hears this story and comes forward!
Keep it up Joy!!

8.     shilice doty | June 1, 2015 at 1:00 pm 

Has anyone checked at area junk yards for the station wagon? Called area printing companies to see about sticker? Just thinking…..

9.     Sue Dressel | June 1, 2015 at 4:26 pm 

Joy, regarding your curiosity regarding the brown station wagon vs a dark brown wood paneled station wagon..teenage boys recall details about cars better than anyone!! Back in the day, I said to my 4 yr old son, “There’s uncle’s car!”. To which he replied, “No mom. It’s got the wrong wheels!” They start early.

10.  Lisa | June 1, 2015 at 8:47 pm 

Amazing work Joy! You’ve uncovered so much since you’ve started. I wonder if the police know who the vehicle belongs to since they are keeping so much classified and they were looking for the vehicle at the time. I wonder how big the apartment complex was & if all residents living there were questioned. I wonder if the guy knew someone there or just parked his car there. Someone who knew him at the time had to have seen those bumper stickers.

11.  Terry | June 1, 2015 at 9:00 pm 

I just watched the youtube video of catch me if you can 1989 movie locations and one of the locations pictured was the red carpet. Jared said his attacker was going there. could there be a connection?

12.  Heather | June 1, 2015 at 10:01 pm 

Has anyone contacted the movie theater to see if they have information about the bumber stickers? If they handed them out you would think they would have a record of when they gave them out, how many printed, and how many were handed out. (Maybe along shot since new owners and renovated building. But it’s worth a shot)

13.  Lisa | June 1, 2015 at 10:08 pm 

Terry – Great job finding that! Before you posted, the red carpet popped into my mind when thinking about possible connections to the movie & the bumper sticker. Again, good job!

14.  Stephanie Madison | June 2, 2015 at 3:02 am 

On Facebook, there are many groups that are a meeting place for people that grew up in certain areas or towns. I belong to several from San Francisco as well as other towns. These group sites are rich resources for vintage items from the local youth from that specific area. I see it all the time. Someone will post a question like “what was your favorite restaurant growing up?” and the posts go on and on generally leading to other discussions. I feel that if someone local to the area in MN could post questions about the “Catch me if you Can” bumper sticker, there would be a lot of discussion. Some may even know of or who owned an old station wagon with one on it. We may not always know people first hand, but think of how many people you know of and the characteristics that you associate with them. Especially neighbors or people in small towns.

15.  Tina Van Herr | June 2, 2015 at 1:29 pm 

I won a poster, keychain and I believe a bumper sticker from the movie from KCLD radio. I even have a recording of the bit that was played on the air of me winning them. I don’t know where it is exactly and I know I don’t have the prizes from the station anymore. I don’t know if that helps but if you need the recording I can look for it. I don’t know how the recording would help but…

16.  Kari Robak | June 2, 2015 at 2:53 pm 

There are 2 restaurants in Grand Marais, MN that give out free bumper stickers. One is a cafe called Inga and Lena’s and the other is Sven and Ole’s, a pizza place. I know this because I had a yellow Sven and Ole’s sticker that I put on my jeep in college. I know a lot of people have them but that is more than likely the source of that bumper sticker. So this person perhaps frequented the North Shore. I don’t know if they have a sign-in book or if they did, if it would go back that far but it’s worth checking. Here’s a link to the pizza place: 

http://www.svenandoles.com

17.  Lauren Marsh | June 2, 2015 at 7:31 pm 

It says in the Pioneer Press excerpt that the car did not belong to anyone in the neighborhood (first paragraph) so it must have belonged to someone from out of town.

18.  Lauren M | June 2, 2015 at 8:06 pm 

Interesting maybe you already looked into this Joy but I googled “Ole and Lena’s” and there is a pizzeria in Rothsay, Mn. Which is just up 94 northwest of St. Cloud. From what I gather on the website, it is a family business that has been around a while and it is a small town. I don’t know if they have been around since the 1980’s but maybe and maybe the suspect would have lived in that town. I wonder if local police of the different towns didn’t look up who owns a vehicle like that, or if they could now since there are not too many left.

19.  Jim | June 2, 2015 at 9:45 pm 

great work Joy , Kari’s comment is very interesting a great lead on that car maybe

20.  Tamara | June 3, 2015 at 9:07 am 

I agree with Jim, Kari and Lauren – it might be worthwhile to have a conversation with the owners of the restaurants in Grand Marais as well as with the Ole and Lena’s Pizzeria in Rothsay. The description of that car might ring a bell. Amazing work Joy!

21.  Lisa Z | June 3, 2015 at 9:59 am 

It seems he was sending a message with that bumper sticker, if he was the abductor. Very tongue in cheek.

22.  Molly | June 3, 2015 at 5:23 pm 

I know many of the cars used in the movie belonged to MN residents, perhaps the car was used in the movie or the owner was an extra and they gave out bumpers sticker to those people?

23.  Jim | June 3, 2015 at 6:20 pm 

good ideas both Lisa Z and Molly, it would be nice though if law enforcement would at least tell Joy weather they had any luck finding that car years ago ,
on another note
does anyone know who the suspect, a sex offender. who was caught for break and enter 18 months later. and then police realised he live in a half way house near the abduction site at the time of Jacobs disappearance
sounds like the police didn’t even know the house was there till they arrested this guy for break enter
anyway hope this car lead works out good ,keep talking it up . tell a friend tweet tweet

24.  Jim | June 3, 2015 at 6:42 pm 

also Shilice Doty I notice at least one scene in the movie is filmed in a scrap yard , might be a good place to look for that car, or a suspect , people drop cars off at scrap yards that still run sometime , a guy who worked there could have access to several cars , and we have several suspect cars . is that scrap yard from the movie still around ? , looked like it. had the name Phillips… something

25.  shilice doty | June 3, 2015 at 8:24 pm 

I’m not sure about the Phillips thing but I do know al I t of Junk Yard owners due to my many years of stock car racing! I can get the word out there and see if any memories are jogged if it’s ok!

26.  Anthony | June 4, 2015 at 1:16 am 

I wonder, those men are n the trees in the woods, so odd, frightening. Why would grown men be in trees? If its confirmed there was no surveying, it makes me wonder if they weren’t look outs. Perhaps there was something going on in the woods, digging? I still wonder about a dugout there. It may seem ridiculous, but stranger things have happened. Ac

27.  Anthony | June 4, 2015 at 1:20 am 

The junk yard theory ,with all those dilapidated cars sighted is truly worth investigating.

28.  Anthony | June 4, 2015 at 1:29 am 

If you are familiar with the letters sent to Scotland yard from Jack the Ripper .you may recall he taunted them in a letter saying ” Catch Me if You Can”. If these \thisvpredator wants attention or notoriety he may have left clues but was not very thorough as he’s never written letters to Police or sent any personal items from the boys. As the ripper did. It is mentioned he did keep some of Jared’s clothing.why would he mention the red carpet? Why would an obductor tell his victim he had appt. At a local restaurant? He may have been trying to sound like a local resident. He may have much farther away.

29.  Anthony | June 4, 2015 at 4:43 am 

Since all these assaults took place in the open . meaning no boys claim to have been taken to someones home or cabin, I think perpetrators may have been developing a secret place to take victims. Alas my theory of a dugout. Maybe when Jacobs abduction brought so much publicity they abandoned it. Maybe their is a dugout of sort in those woods.

30.  Molly | June 5, 2015 at 11:39 am 

I’ve read that there was a half way house for criminals (I think sex offenders) near the abduction site, have the people living in the house ever been interviewed?

31.  Jim | June 5, 2015 at 4:52 pm 

I think the scrap yard in the movie might have been French lake auto parts im the Annandale area and they provided some cars also

32.  shilice doty | June 5, 2015 at 8:50 pm 

I know the owner of French Lake, Martini Auto Parts and a bunch others around the area I’d like to check with!

33.  Jim | June 7, 2015 at 9:58 am 

shilice doty one of the cars on the French lake website is a 1966 caprice wood panel wagon ,only one picture so I don’t know if it has a bumper stickers
very very very long shot

34.  Jim | June 7, 2015 at 10:05 am 

Joy I wonder if your witnesses . contacts could maybe try to narrow down that car some , if they had some time they could look online at pictures of older model wagons

35.  Bill | June 9, 2015 at 10:33 am 

Many of the junkyards over the last 10 years have had to close down due to EPA regulations. A few of the local car clubs, notably the St Cloud Pantowners supplied cars for the movie. Has anyone watched the movie lately? Perhaps there’s a station wagon in the film that could be of interest.

36.  Jim | June 11, 2015 at 5:04 pm 

maybe the man in the woods , in the trees is a bird watcher , someone seriously into it not just as a cover . taking notes counting birds ? and maybe he likes to watch more than just birds , maybe he sticks around after dark sometimes
I wonder if there were any bird watching clubs back then in the area

37.  Jim | June 14, 2015 at 2:33 pm 

Bill there is a wood panel wagon in the movie. if you go to Jennifer j . Blands
youtube post of the movie and stop it at 57.25 mins there is a wood panel wagon parked across the street in the scene , I would guess it to be a 1978 to 1987 GM wagon but I cant be sure

38.  Jim | June 14, 2015 at 3:11 pm 

facial recognition technology …frt. occasionally online I will come across a mugshot that I cant help but think looks like a person of interest in this case
that happened again recently when I viewed a picture of a man who shot his neighbor across the street in a deer feeding dispute in MN. something about his picture made me think of Jared’s drawing the one he worked 10 hours on
anyway im most likely wrong , they all look alike to me . , computers though are a lot less bias 

i wondered if frt could be used on drawings , composites . I read a story about it being done with great results in a college experiment with mugshots
and drawings
it would be great if police could run a drawing through a data base of mugshots and come up with potential suspects
be great if someone could run that drawing Jared helped make

39.  shannon | June 16, 2015 at 12:36 am 

I don’t think the men in the woods were affiliated with any of this. My theory is that the two men were together and looking for a hunting spot to sit or set up stands. Being it was towards the end of October and one of the guys was wearing a blaze orange hat. They were most likely deer hunters. Why would the guy wear blaze orange if he was going to follow boys in the woods? Deer firearm season was always first weekend of November. My guess is the two men never ended up hunting that land after finding out about the abduction.

40.  Lisa Z | June 16, 2015 at 1:39 pm 

I agree with shannon and Jim that the men in the woods likely had good, innocent reasons for being there. It’s pretty common for people around here to be in the woods to hunt, walk, etc. I don’t have any feeling that they are part of this case.

41.  Jim | June 16, 2015 at 4:00 pm 

Shannon im not sure but I doubt hunting would be allowed there .I think it would still be with in the city limits and a lot of kids about ,.people wear blaze orange though so the dont get shot by hunters
bird watchers carry clip boards maybe books to identify birds check lists ect
if it is true that the police never found that car . no one ever came forward saying it was them ,or they knew someone it belonged to , then I think that makes it more a car of interest , a person or persons of interest
a car like that with the bumper stickers too , someone would remember ,. a neighbor co worker . I doubt though that back then they could get the word out as good as we can today
im no expert at all on social media but cant someone twitter something and pass it on to another friend and they do the same . could be all over the area in a short time , ie. does anyone remember who owned a wood panel wagon with the bumper stickers … please help us find please pass it on

42.  Jane | June 17, 2015 at 12:12 pm 

Good eye Jim on seeing that station wagon in the video. I wonder if additional footage is available that shows more details on that wagon,

43.  tmomma | June 18, 2015 at 8:08 pm 

I am really feeling that this new odd clue has to pay off in some way or form like many others have posted before. If there is anyway to get this out there for all to see in the towns connected and surrounding area. This surely must produce some kind of memory. I wonder if any locals from the day at that Red Carpet bar would be around and recall a regular with that car? I shall keep looking for updates! Also, the Walsh show is now on Netflix and I saw this case on it and it made me think of your web site again. So there is still interest bringing ppl back to it!

44.  Jim | June 22, 2015 at 8:57 pm 

thanks Jane , any little thing could be a stroke of luck needed in the case ,
it is frustrating though because I cant help doubt that law enforcement is barely working on the case , if at all , unfortunately I assume they are very busy and under resourced and have to choose which leads they can follow
really think they should consider opening up the case some , the culprit could be dead by now maybe in jail for something else , anyway he will get his sentence when he meets his end , maybe he will come clean before he goes

45.  keepinglifesimple2015 | June 25, 2015 at 1:18 am 

I agree that the “Catch Me If You Can” bumper sticker being put there may have a deeper meaning by an abductor(s)

46.  anthony crowley | July 1, 2015 at 4:33 pm 

A man in a tree wearing a bright orange hat could also be spotted if he signaled to his cohorts anyone approaching there site. i know its a long shot.

47.  Gentry | July 3, 2015 at 6:21 am 

God bless you Joy for your tireless work in this. I shared this with my fb page and will try to do more. This case needs to be solved. It’s one of the saddest stories ever. I can’t imagine the pain his family has been through.

48.  Francesca Mastromatteo | July 16, 2015 at 10:11 pm(Edit)

Hello Joy,

My name is Francesca and I am from Vancouver, BC, Canada. I became interested in Jacob Wetterling’s case after seeing it profiled on The Hunt. I decided to google his name to find out more and came across your amazingly detailed, factual, yet still interesting blog. After going back to read everything from the beginning I have wanted to post a comment for quite some time and today I finally found the time! 

I wanted to throw out the idea of getting the Vidocq Society involved. I’m not sure if you know anything about them so, if not, here is a little bio from Wikipedia:

“The Vidocq Society is a members-only crime-solving club that meets on the third Thursday of every month in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.”

“Vidocq Society Members are forensic professionals; current and former FBI profilers, homicide investigators, scientists, psychologists, prosecutors and coroners who use their experience to provide justice for investigations that have gone cold. Members are selected by committee invitation only, pay a $100 annual fee, and commit to attend at least one meeting per year.”

“Vidocq will only consider cases that meet certain requirements: they must be unsolved deaths more than two years old, the victims cannot have been involved in criminal activity such as prostitution or drug dealing, and the case must be formally presented to them by the appropriate law enforcement agency. The Society does not charge for its services, and pays for the travel expenses of the law enforcement agents who come to present cases.”

Their website is: 

http://www.vidocq.org

Anyways I don’t know if they would take the case. I know their requirements state that it must be an unsolved murder, but maybe considering how long the case has gone cold and because of the errors made during the initial investigation they might agree to it. It never hurts to ask, right?

In closing Joy, I just wanted to tell you how much I admire and appreciate what you are doing with this blog. Your honest dedication to Jacob’s case is inspiring. Keep at it!

Much love from Canada

49.  Olivia | July 16, 2015 at 11:18 pm 

I basically read through your entire Jacob part of your blog in one day. Wow is it interesting. There is one detail that I can’t get out of my head about Jareds case, the abducter kept asking, “do you recognize me?” That leads me to believe he was possibly more from the Cold Spring/ St. Joe area rather than the Painesville area since the abducter wasn’t worried about those boys recognizing him. Is it a possibility that the abducter asked Jacob the same question, “Do you recognize me? Do you know me?” What if the part that went wrong in Jacobs abduction is that Jacob did in fact, know the abducter. Also, I think it’s strange that all these cases were happening so close to each other & almost constant for a few years, & then all of a sudden they just stopped. In my opinion the abducter either moved on to a new area, so I’m not sure if it’s possible to see if there is any cases like this happening other places in the state or even the country, or the person was sent to jail for a different crime. What are your thoughts?

50.  Debbie | July 16, 2015 at 11:50 pm 

Yay! I hope this group will consider taking the case and look into it!

51.   Heidi | July 17, 2015 at 8:02 pm 

Great points made Olivia!

52.   Derek | July 18, 2015 at 3:11 am 

But Olivia he was wearing a mask when he abducted Jacob. In Jared’s case he was not wearing a mask and had pulled up to him in his car asking for directions. Why would someone who thought they’d be recognized not wear a mask and if they were wearing the mask why then take it off? Also what other crime could the abductor have committed that would have given him life in prison. And he seemed to make all the same threats in every abduction at least having some kind of signature wouldn’t it make sense that if he had moved and repeated elsewhere he would have been traced to that location.

53.   Gillian | July 20, 2015 at 2:07 pm 

Hmmmm. Stephen Sommers is my mom’s cousin. I could try to put the two of you in touch.

54.   Brian L | August 9, 2015 at 3:41 pm 

I had a thought about this possibly being a sticker from a video store. Video companies have always put out free posters, ads, keychains, shirts, etc to promote their new releases.

But I checked and the movie wasn’t released on video until 1990 (after the stories were published). So it has to be from movie-theater promotion (or production). It had been released in theaters a few months before the stories.

That’s why it’s important to figure out more about the sticker… 

– Was it a studio-based promotional sticker?
— Local print-shop made? By whom?

– Who had access to them?
— Extras?
— Set crew?
— Handed out at theaters as a local promotion?
— ???

55.   JESSICA | October 31, 2015 at 7:35 am 

My mom works for a printing company in Shakopee and she said they do printing for movies all the time. She is going to ask around to see if they did any jobs around that time. If not she will try to figure out who has the capacity in the area to do bumper stickers. Anyway if you fjljljlind out who printed the sticker you can find out the customer and then figure out where they were distributed. Another possibility is the person could have worked for the printing company and grabbed one of the stickers. My mom gets products that have slight defects all the time.

56.   Jessica | November 1, 2015 at 5:57 pm 

Joy – More detail on bumper sticker. According to my mom only a large printing company would be able to produce a multi-colored and detailed sticker. It requires a very expensive machine (either a Nilpeter or Mark Andy) because there is an undercut so the sticker can be peeled open. These machines cost roughly 3.5 million dollars. Either Quality printing in Elk River or Imagine Print Solutions in Shakopee would be good places to start. Imagine has been in business for at least 27 years, not sure about the other.

57.   Howl | December 2, 2015 at 11:37 am 

I know that after Heinrich’s arrest, this case seems closer than ever to reaching its conclusion. But in reading through this blog, it’s the car details that are most curious to me. People remembered several unfamiliar cars with jacked up rear ends… one a station wagon (they described it as orange, but a dark shade wouldn’t be so different from brown in the right light). Now this movie about muscle cars. 

Is it possible that there was a group of men who got together to modify their vehicles? Whether it was Heinrich, his brother, and Hart or another group. It’s possible that they all had more than a shared interest in cars… if one of them hinted that they were a pedophile and others expressed curiosity about it as well, there could have been a ring of them all working together – perhaps some as scouts, some as abductors, all sharing in the abuse. All with jacked up or otherwise modified vehicles. It sounds like these were junk cars (rusted and in otherwise poor repair) that they could get for cheap and use to tinker with.

This could also explain the different men people saw. The two men in the trees. The old man buying soup and crackers. The man in a cop-like car (perhaps an old one bought on the cheap at a public auction or found in a junk yard) that Kevin saw passing by the scene before the cops even arrived.

Dan has specific memories of two different cars whipping around his yard that day. All told, it’s too many cars for just one person. This sounds like something that started in Paynesville, probably with a single perp, and then branched out into a ring of abusers who found each other through some common thread.

Has anyone found a connection with a group of gear heads/amateur mechanics in the area who might know more about the vehicle aspect of the crimes? Even just a junkyard or parts store whose proprietor might have had some shady regulars?