Complaint reveals chilling details of Jayme Closs’ abduction, captivity

FAN Editor

Barron County, Wis. — A criminal complaint says a Wisconsin man accused of kidnapping 13-year-old Jayme Closs spotted her getting on a school bus one day and made up his mind to take her. 

Prosecutors filed the criminal complaint Monday laying out the allegations against Jake Thomas Patterson, 21, who faces charges of two counts of intentional homicide, kidnapping and burglary. The complaint says Patterson admitted he broke into the Closs home near Barron, Wisconsin, in October 2018, killed Jayme’s parents and kidnapped her.

The criminal complaint says Patterson told investigators he was driving to his job at a cheese factory one day near Almena, Wisconsin, when he stopped behind a school bus and watched Jayme get on. 

The complaint quotes Patterson as saying when he saw Jayme, “He knew that was the girl he was going to take.”

Patterson appeared in court via a video feed wearing an orange prison jumpsuit Monday afternoon as a judge read the charges against him.  The prosecutor said Patterson, of the northern Wisconsin town of Gordon, had no ties to Barron County, other than working at the cheese factory for two days. He said the only reason Patterson came to the area was to abduct the girl.

A prosecutor asked for a cash bail to be set at $5 million, calling Patterson a flight risk and a danger to the public. A judge agreed to the bail amount. 

The judge ordered a DNA sample to be collected from Patterson. When the judge asked if he had received a copy of the complaint, Patterson replied, “Yes, sir.”

Patterson told investigators he went to the Closs home twice with the intent of taking Jayme but was unable to do so because too many people were around before he was able to kidnap her, the complaint states.

On the night of Oct. 15, investigators believe Patterson blasted through the door of the Closs home with a shotgun. Jayme has told police she tried to hide from Patterson, but he dragged her out of her home and threw her in the trunk of his vehicle. The complaint states Jayme and her mother hid in the bathroom as Patterson came to the front door. They heard a gunshot and knew Patterson had killed her father. 

Patterson allegedly admitted killing James Closs near the home’s front door and then said he scanned the house to see if anyone else was there before breaking down the bathroom door. The girl said her mother had called 911 from a cellphone, and Patterson told her to get off the phone. Patterson allegedly said he gave the woman duct tape and told her to tape Jayme’s mouth, and when she struggled to do so he taped the girl himself, binding her mouth, wrists and ankles. 

He said he then aimed the shotgun at the woman’s head and opened fire, killing her, and dragged Jayme to his car, according to the complaint.

Patterson allegedly told investigators he carefully planned the abduction, at one point stealing a license plate to put on his Ford Taurus so he could avoid detection and removing lights and a trunk release lever from his trunk. He said he stole one of his father’s 12-gauge shotguns prior to the attack, choosing the Mossberg brand weapon because he thought it was heavily manufactured and would be difficult to trace. He told investigators he brought 12-gauge shotgun shells because he felt they would “inflict the most damage.”

Patterson also said he took a shower and shaved his face and head before the attack to avoid leaving DNA or hair at the scene. 

Police responding to the crime scene saw a red Ford Taurus driving in the opposite direction, according to the complaint, and the girl told investigators she heard police sirens when she was in the trunk.

Deputies found Jayme’s father James Closs dead from a shotgun blast near the home’s front door, and Jayme’s mother Denise Closs also dead of a shotgun wound to the head in a bathtub.

Investigators believe Patterson held her captive for nearly three months at a home in Gordon. The girl told investigators Patterson would force her to hide under a bed when he left the home, for as long as 12 hours with no food or bathroom breaks. She said he would pile totes and laundry bins against the bed, with weights stacked against them “so she could not move them without him being able to detect it if she did.” Patterson would sometimes have friends and relatives over but would force the girl to hide under the bed, turning on music and telling her that “bad things would happen to her” if anyone found out she was there, according to the complaint.

Jayme said Patterson once got angry with her and hit her with a handle used to clean blinds. He said the punishment would be worse if she angered him again, according to the complaint. Patterson admitted threatening the girl and warning her not to leave the house. He said the girl had at least twice tried to get out from under the bed but that he struck a wall and screamed “to the point where he knew she was scared and she knew that she better never try that again.”

Patterson told investigators he thought he had gotten away with the crime after he wasn’t apprehended within the first two weeks, the filing says. He allegedly said he had not had contact with Jayme through social media and only learned her name on the news after he abducted her.  According to the complaint, he told investigators he “never would have been caught if he had planned everything perfectly.”

The girl was able to escape the home Thursday when Patterson had left the home for about five or six hours, the complaint says. She told investigators Patterson had again forced her to hide under the bed but she pushed one of the totes out of the way and left. She asked a woman walking her dog for help, saying she was Jayme Closs. The girl said “He killed my parents,” “Please help — I want to go home” and “I don’t know where I am,” the filing says. The girl appeared disheveled and was wearing men’s shoes, the woman said.

Shortly after her escape, Closs was able to identify Patterson and the color of his car to a 911 dispatcher, according to a family who lives nearby Patterson and came to the girl’s aid. Patterson, apparently out looking for Closs, was pulled over in the car a short time later. The complaint says he told a Douglas County Sheriff’s sergeant that he knew what it was about and “I did it.”

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Jake Thomas Patterson, 21, was arrested in the kidnapping of Wisconsin teen Jayme Closs. Barron County Sheriff’s Department

Speaking with Gayle King on “CBS This Morning,” Closs’ family said they are focusing on making Jayme feel safe and loved.

“I have to pinch myself,” her aunt Sue Allard told King. “I woke up this morning and finally, I didn’t have that pit in the bottom of my stomach any more.”  

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