Nearly 27 Years After Abduction, Jacob Wetterling's Remains Have Been Found

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Nearly 27 years ago, Jacob Wetterling was abducted at gunpoint while out for a bike ride with his brother and a friend in St. Joseph, Minn. The masked assailant let the others go unharmed, provided they flee; the 11-year-old Wetterling, however, the assailant held onto.

To this day, Wetterling's 1989 abduction remains unsolved despite decades of national attention. But on Saturday, Minnesota officials offered some measure of closure nevertheless, announcing that the boy's remains had been identified.

In a statement released to the media, the Stearns County Sheriff's Office confirmed the news, noting that it plans additional DNA testing. The office added that authorities are "currently in the process of reviewing and evaluating new evidence in the Jacob Wetterling investigation."

As Minneapolis Star-Tribune reporter Jenna Ross tells NPR's Audie Cornish, the abduction captured headlines in Central Minnesota — and continues to reverberate well beyond the state's borders.

"It's a story that is seared into the memory of most Minnesotans and beyond," Ross says. "People were shocked that such a thing could happen in such a small, seemingly safe town."

U.S. Missing Boy's Remains Found Nearly 27 Years After Abduction Missing Boy's Remains Found Nearly 27 Years After Abduction Listen · 2:24 2:24

That national attention helped boost his mother Patty's fight for legislation that bore Jacob Wetterling's name, which required states to track sex offenders and helped lead to a national sex offender registry. The Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act was passed in 1994.

Shortly after the abduction, law enforcement launched a highly publicized investigation, which drew more than 50,000 leads and an initial reward of more than $100,000, according to Minnesota Public Radio — all to no avail.

But that long-running investigation found a break recently, when a "person of interest in Jacob's abduction took authorities to a field in central Minnesota," according to The Associated Press. The news service, citing an anonymous law enforcement official, reports that the remains were discovered buried in the field. It was Daniel Heinrich, 53, who told the FBI where Wetterling's remains were located, "as part of an ongoing plea agreement," CBS News reports.

"Authorities expect to be in a position to provide more detailed information early next week," the Stearns County Sheriff's Office says.

For now, Jacob Wetterling's mother, Patty, tweeted that the Wetterling family is "drawing strength from all your love & support."

"We are in deep grief. We didn't want Jacob's story to end this way," the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center announced in a statement. "The Wetterlings had a choice to walk into bitterness and anger or to walk into a light of what could be, a light of hope. Their choice changed the world."</s>A timeline of events related to the abduction of 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling of St. Joseph, Minnesota:



Oct. 22, 1989: Jacob Wetterling is abducted from a rural road by a masked gunman as he rides bikes with his brother and a friend near his home about 80 miles northwest of Minneapolis.



Oct. 26, 1989: Deputies on horseback and hundreds of people search for Jacob, but find nothing.



Oct. 29, 1989: About 225 National Guard troops and 80 Minnesota Department of Natural Resources workers unsuccessfully search for clues. Supporters of the boy's family release more than 1,000 white balloons after a church service.



December 1989: Investigators are deluged with tips after they release a new sketch of a suspect. Authorities also say they believe the man who kidnapped Jacob was responsible for the January 1989 abduction and sexual assault of a boy in nearby Cold Spring.



1990: Jacob's parents, Patty and Jerry Wetterling, set up the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center, which works to help communities and families prevent child exploitation. Patty Wetterling becomes a national advocate for missing children.



October 1990: An FBI spokesman says about 2,000 people have been interviewed. More than 700 people attend an anniversary vigil less than two miles from where Jacob was taken.



1994: Congress passes the Jacob Wetterling Act, legislation for a sex offender registry.



2004: Patty Wetterling runs as a Democrat against Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Kennedy in Minnesota's 6th District. She loses by 30,000 votes in her first political campaign but does not rule out a future run.



2006: Patty Wetterling again runs for Congress but loses to Republican Michele Bachmann.



2010: Investigators spend two days searching and digging at a farm near where Jacob Wetterling was last seen. The sheriff later says forensic tests on items taken from the farm show no link to the crime.



Oct. 29, 2015: Federal authorities say a Minnesota man is a "person of interest." Danny Heinrich, of Annandale, is arrested on unrelated child pornography charges. Heinrich denies involvement in Jacob's disappearance and is not charged in the case.



Sept. 3, 2016: Authorities confirm that Jacob's remains have been found and positively identified. Additional DNA testing will be conducted.



Sept. 6, 2016: Heinrich confesses in detail to abducting and killing Wetterling in court while pleading guilty to federal child pornography charges.</s>MINNEAPOLIS -- Danny Heinrich, the man who led authorities to the remains of Jacob Wetterling, admitted in U.S. District Court Tuesday, Sept. 6, that he abducted and killed the 11-year-old boy some 27 years ago.

Heinrich described during a court hearing what happened the night of Oct. 22, 1989, the last night Jacob was seen alive.

Asked whether he abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered Jacob, Heinrich said: “Yes, I did.”

The 53-year-old Annandale, Minn., man made the admission after pleading guilty to one federal count of receiving child pornography that could send him to prison for 20 years.

He will not be charged in Jacob’s death due to a plea deal made with prosecutors and agreed to by the Wetterling family.

He recalled handcuffing the young boy and putting him in the backseat of his car after he stopped the 11-year-old at gunpoint as he rode his bike home along a rural road in St. Joseph, Minn., with his brother and best friend.

“What did I do wrong,” he said Jacob asked him, before crying and begging Heinrich to take him home.

He later told the court how he impulsively shot and killed the 11-year-old with a revolver in a panic after he said he saw a police car drive by without any lights on.

He used a Bobcat to dig a grave and bury him. He took the machine from a nearby construction company. When he returned to the grave site a year later, Heinrich said he could see Jacob’s red jacket.

He took the coat and Jacob’s remains and reburied them across the highway, Heinrich said.

Jacob’s mother, Patty Wetterling, sobbed as Heinrich recounted the details of the night that has for so long remained a mystery.

Heinrich had been charged with 25 counts of possessing and receiving child pornography; he pleaded not guilty to those charges in February and was set to go to trial in October.

Heinrich last year was named as a “person of interest” in the Jacob’s abduction.

The 11-year-old St. Joseph boy was taken from his bicycle on a rural road near his house while he, his brother, and his best friend were riding home after renting a movie. He was never seen again.

Heinrich has not been charged in that case. But last summer authorities searched his house for ties to the boy’s disappearance.

Heinrich had been under increasing scrutiny as authorities have revisited Jacob’s abduction and investigated a string of sexual assaults on preteen and teen boys near Paynesville in the mid- to late 1980s.

Jacob was taken less than a mile from his home in St. Joseph, which is about 20 miles from Paynesville. Heinrich lived in Paynesville with his father at the time of the abduction.

Retested DNA evidence last year linked Heinrich to the 1989 kidnapping and sexual assault of Jared Scheierl in Cold Spring, nine months before Jacob’s abduction. The Pioneer Press typically doesn’t identify victims of sexual assault, but Scheierl has spoken publicly for years about his case.

Authorities have long suspected a link between Jared and Jacob’s cases, leading them to circle back to Heinrich.

Heinrich also admitted in court Tuesday to abducting and sexually assaulting Scheierl.

Last week Heinrich led a team of FBI agents and state and county investigators to a pasture near Paynesville where Wetterling’s skeletal remains were buried, according to a source with direct knowledge of the search. Investigators revisited the site again Friday for crime-scene purposes.</s>MINNEAPOLIS — Danny Heinrich, the man who led authorities to the remains of Jacob Wetterling, admitted in U.S. District Court today that he abducted and killed the 11-year-old boy some 27 years ago, according to The Associated Press.

The 53-year-old Annandale man also reportedly pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography.

Heinrich had been charged with 25 counts of possessing and receiving child pornography; he pleaded not guilty to those charges in February and was set to go to trial in October.

Heinrich last year was named as a “person of interest” in the abduction of Jacob Wetterling, the 11-year-old St. Joseph, Minn., boy who was abducted from a rural road near his house on Oct. 22, 1989, and never seen again.

Heinrich has not been charged in that case, but authorities last summer searched his house for ties to the boy’s disappearance.

Heinrich had been under increasing scrutiny as authorities have revisited Jacob’s abduction and investigated a string of sexual assaults on preteen and teen boys near Paynesville, Minn., in the mid- to late 1980s; Jacob was taken less than a mile from his home in St. Joseph, which is about 20 miles from Paynesville. Heinrich lived in Paynesville with his father at the time of the abduction.

On Wednesday, Heinrich led a team of FBI agents and state and county investigators to a pasture near Paynesville where Wetterling’s skeletal remains were buried, according to a source with direct knowledge of the search. Investigators revisited the site again Friday for crime-scene purposes.</s>Heinrich was instructed to describe during the court hearing what happened the night of Oct. 22, 1989, the last night Wetterling was seen alive.

Asked whether he abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered Jacob, Heinrich said: “Yes, I did.”

The 53-year-old Annandale man made the admission after pleading guilty to federal child pornography charges that could send him to prison for decades.

Heinrich had been charged with 25 counts of possessing and receiving child pornography; he pleaded not guilty to those charges in February and was set to go to trial in October.

Heinrich last year was named as a “person of interest” in the abduction of Jacob Wetterling, the 11-year-old St. Joseph, Minn., boy who was abducted from a rural road near his house on Oct. 22, 1989, and never seen again.

Heinrich has not been charged in that case, but authorities last summer searched his house for ties to the boy’s disappearance.

Heinrich had been under increasing scrutiny as authorities have revisited Jacob’s abduction and investigated a string of sexual assaults on preteen and teen boys near Paynesville, Minn., in the mid- to late 1980s; Jacob was taken less than a mile from his home in St. Joseph, which is about 20 miles from Paynesville. Heinrich lived in Paynesville with his father at the time of the abduction.

On Wednesday, Heinrich led a team of FBI agents and state and county investigators to a pasture near Paynesville where Wetterling’s skeletal remains were buried, according to a source with direct knowledge of the search. Investigators revisited the site again Friday for crime-scene purposes.

The Stearns County sheriff’s office said Jacob’s remains were identified Saturday. Authorities expect to provide more details this week.

The Pioneer Press is a media partner with Forum Communications Company, which includes the Echo Press.</s>PAYNESVILLE - The 27-year-old mystery surrounding the abduction and disappearance of Jacob Wetterling ended this weekend in the way that nobody hoped but everybody feared - his remains were found near Paynesville.

The 11-year-old Wetterling was abducted on a dirt road in 1989 near the home of his parents, Patty and Jerry Wetterling, in rural St. Joseph, about 25 miles from Paynesville.

The remains were identified as Wetterling's by the Ramsey County Medical examiner and a forensic odontologist, Stearns County Sheriff John Sanner said in a news release Saturday evening. Additional DNA testing will be performed by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

On Oct. 22, 1989, a masked gunman stepped out of the woods on a rural road in St. Joseph, just west of St. Cloud, and stopped three boys. The gunman told two boys to run into the woods and then took Jacob. The boy hasn't been seen since.

Jacob's abduction shocked and changed Minnesota and its children for a generation.

His parent's never stopped their search for their son and inspired a new national advocacy for missing and abused children.

In recent years, New London blogger Joy Baker began researching and writing about the Wetterling case and a series of sexual assaults in the Paynesville area in the mid- to late-1980s and a Cold Spring case from 1989.

Authorities last year took another look at the case and were led to Danny Heinrich, a man who had been questioned at the time of Jacob's kidnapping. When Heinrich, 53, of Annandale, was arrested in October on charges of child pornography, law enforcement officials called him a "person of interest" in Jacob's kidnapping.

There were reports Saturday morning, first from KSTP-TV, that Heinrich began cooperating in the investigation and led authorities to the remains.

The St. Cloud Times reported Monday in an online report that Heinrich could be back in federal court as early as Tuesday, the deadline for a federal judge to rule on several motions in the child pornography case.

The Times report said Heinrich led authorities to Wetterling's remains during negotiations to resolve the child pornography case.

Heinrich denied any involvement in Jacob's abduction at the time of his arrest in October and so far has not been charged with that crime. He has pleaded not guilty to 25 federal child-pornography charges.

Heinrich had been under increasing scrutiny as authorities revisited Jacob's abduction and investigated a string of sexual assaults on pre-teen and teen boys near Paynesville in the mid- to late 1980s.

Heinrich lived in Paynesville at the time of the Wetterling abduction.

Court documents filed earlier this summer in the Heinrich case detailed the similarities between Jacob's kidnapping on Oct. 22, 1989; the Jan. 13, 1989, abduction and sexual assault of a 13-year-old Cold Spring boy; and "a string of sexually motivated assaults of young boys in the Paynesville, Minn., area in the mid- to late 1980s."

"It has long been believed that the Cold Spring and Wetterling abductions were likely to have been committed by the same person," according to the memorandum, which was filed in U.S. District Court. "The abductions were committed in the same geographic area, involved similarly aged boys, were committed by a lone male suspect and occurred within months of each other."

New testing of DNA evidence last year linked Heinrich to the 1989 kidnapping and sexual assault of Jared Scheierl in Cold Spring, nine months before Wetterling's abduction. Scheierl has spoken publicly for years about his case.

Heinrich cannot be charged in connection with the Scheierl case because the statute of limitations in place at the time has expired.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press contributed to this report.</s>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota man confessed Tuesday to abducting and killing 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling nearly 27 years ago, recounting a crime that long haunted the state with details that included Jacob asking right after he was taken: "What did I do wrong?"

Danny Heinrich, 53, of Annandale, made the admission as he pleaded guilty to a federal child pornography charge that could keep him locked up for at least 20 years, with civil commitment possible after that.

Asked whether he abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered Jacob, Heinrich said: "Yes, I did."

In the years after Jacob's disappearance, his mother Patty became a nationally known advocate for missing children. A 1994 federal law named for Jacob requires states to establish sex offender registries.

With Patty and Jacob's father, Jerry Wetterling, in a packed courtroom, Heinrich described donning a mask and confronting Jacob and two friends with a revolver near Jacob's central Minnesota home of St. Joseph on Oct. 22, 1989.

Heinrich said he told the two friends to run, handcuffed Jacob and drove him to a gravel pit near Paynesville, where he assaulted him. Afterward, Jacob asked whether he was taking him home.

"I said I can't take you all the way home," Heinrich said. "He started to cry. I said, 'Don't cry.'"

Heinrich said at some point a patrol car with siren and lights passing nearby caused him to panic. He said he pulled out his revolver, which had not been loaded, and put two rounds in the gun. He said he told Jacob to turn around. He held the gun to the boy's head and pulled the trigger. The gun didn't fire. Heinrich said he pulled the trigger a second time, the gun fired and Jacob fell to the ground.

He said he buried Jacob about 100 yards away. He said he returned to the site about a year later and saw that Jacob's jacket and some bones had become exposed.

"I gathered up as much as I could and put it in the bag and transported it across the highway" to a field, and reburied the remains, he said. Sobbing could be heard in the courtroom as Heinrich described the crime.

Heinrich led authorities to Jacob's buried remains in a central Minnesota field last week. His remains were identified Saturday.

"It's incredibly painful to know his last days, last hours, last minutes," Patty Wetterling said. "To us Jacob was alive, until they found him."

Prosecutors said the Wetterling family was consulted on and approved the plea agreement, which required Heinrich to give a detailed confession and tell them where to find Jacob.

Authorities named Heinrich as a person of interest in Jacob's disappearance last October when they announced the child pornography charges.

Heinrich had long been under investigators' scrutiny. They first questioned him shortly after Jacob's abduction, but he maintained his innocence and they never had enough evidence to charge him. They turned a renewed spotlight on him as part of a fresh look into Jacob's abduction around its 25th anniversary.

As part of that effort, investigators took another look at the sexual assault of 12-year-old Jared Scheierl, of Cold Spring, nine months before Jacob's disappearance. Investigators had long suspected the two cases were connected.

Using technology that wasn't available in 1989, investigators found Heinrich's DNA on Scheierl's sweatshirt, and used that evidence to get a search warrant for Heinrich's home, where they found a large collection of child pornography. The statute of limitations had expired for charging him in the assault on Scheierl, but a grand jury indicted him on 25 child pornography counts.

The AP typically doesn't identify victims of sexual assault, but Scheierl has spoken publicly for years about his case, saying it helped him cope with the trauma and that he hoped it could help investigators find his attacker and Jacob's kidnapper.

Jacob's abduction shattered childhood innocence for many rural Minnesotans, changing the way parents let their kids roam. His smiling face was burned into Minnesota's psyche, appearing on countless posters and billboards over the years.

His mother, Patty Wetterling, always kept hope her son would be found alive. She became a national advocate for missing children, and with her husband, Jerry Wetterling, founded the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center, which works to help communities and families prevent child exploitation. In 1994, Congress passed a law named after Jacob that requires states to establish sex offender registries.

Follow Amy Forliti on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/amyforliti . More of her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/amy-forliti</s>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota man confessed Tuesday to abducting and killing 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling nearly 27 years ago, recounting a crime that long haunted the state in chilling detail that included a handcuffed Jacob asking him: “What did I do wrong?”

Danny Heinrich, 53, of Annandale, made the admission as he pleaded guilty to a federal child pornography charge that will likely keep him locked up for 20 years, with civil commitment possible after that, meaning he could spend the rest of his life in custody.

Asked whether he abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered Jacob, Heinrich said: “Yes, I did.”

As part of the plea agreement, Heinrich will not face state murder charges in Jacob’s death. U.S. Attorney Andy Luger said it was the only way to get Heinrich, whom he described as a volatile man, to show authorities where they could find the boy’s remains.

“He’s not getting away with anything. We got the truth. The Wetterling family will bring him home,” Luger said.

Prosecutors said the family was consulted on and approved the plea agreement, which required Heinrich to give a detailed confession and tell investigators where to find Jacob.

In the years after Jacob’s disappearance, his mother, Patty, became a nationally known advocate for missing children. A 1994 federal law named for Jacob requires states to establish sex offender registries.

With Patty and Jacob’s father, Jerry Wetterling, in a packed courtroom, Heinrich described seeing Jacob, Jacob’s brother, and a friend bicycling down a rural road near Jacob’s central Minnesota home in St. Joseph the night of Oct. 22, 1989.

Heinrich laid in wait for the three boys to return, and when they did, he put on a mask and confronted them with a revolver. He said he ordered them into a ditch and asked their names and ages.

Heinrich said he told the two other boys to run and not look back or he’d shoot. He said he then handcuffed Jacob and drove him to a gravel pit near Paynesville, where he molested him. Afterward, Jacob said he was cold, and Heinrich let him get dressed. Jacob then asked whether he was taking him home.

“I said, ‘I can’t take you all the way home,'” Heinrich said. “He started to cry. I said, ‘Don’t cry.'”

Heinrich said at some point a patrol car with siren and lights passing nearby caused him to panic. He said he pulled out his revolver, which had not been loaded, and put two rounds in the gun. He said he told Jacob to turn around. He held the gun to the boy’s head and pulled the trigger. The gun didn’t fire. Heinrich then fired two shots. After the second, Jacob fell to the ground.

Some of Jacob’s family members cried openly as Heinrich calmly described the crime.

Heinrich said he went home for a couple of hours, then went back to the gravel pit and buried Jacob about 100 yards away. He said he returned to the site about a year later and saw that Jacob’s jacket and some bones had become exposed.

“I gathered up as much as I could and put it in the bag and transported it across the highway” to a field, and reburied the remains, he said.

Heinrich led authorities to Jacob’s buried remains in a central Minnesota field last week. The remains were identified Saturday.

“It’s incredibly painful to know his last days, last hours, last minutes,” Patty Wetterling said after the guilty plea. “To us, Jacob was alive, until we found him.”

Heinrich’s attorneys declined to comment after the hearing.

Authorities named Heinrich as a person of interest in Jacob’s disappearance last October when they announced the child pornography charges.

Heinrich had long been under investigators’ scrutiny. They first questioned him shortly after Jacob’s abduction, but he maintained his innocence and they never had enough evidence to charge him. They turned a renewed spotlight on him as part of a fresh look into Jacob’s abduction around its 25th anniversary.

As part of that effort, investigators took another look at the sexual assault of 12-year-old Jared Scheierl, of Cold Spring, nine months before Jacob’s disappearance. Investigators had long suspected the two cases were connected.

Using technology that wasn’t available in 1989, investigators found Heinrich’s DNA on Scheierl’s sweatshirt, and used that evidence to get a search warrant for Heinrich’s home, where they found a large collection of child pornography. The statute of limitations had expired for charging him in the assault on Scheierl, but a grand jury indicted him on 25 child pornography counts.

As part of Tuesday’s plea deal, Heinrich also admitted to assaulting Scheierl.

The AP typically doesn’t identify victims of sexual assault, but Scheierl has spoken publicly for years about his case, saying it helped him cope with the trauma and that he hoped it could help investigators find his attacker and Jacob’s kidnapper.

Jacob’s abduction shattered childhood innocence for many rural Minnesotans, changing the way parents let their kids roam. His smiling face was burned into Minnesota’s psyche, appearing on countless posters and billboards over the years.

Heinrich is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 21.

Follow Amy Forliti on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/amyforliti . More of her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/amy-forliti</s>MINNEAPOLIS — Danny Heinrich, the man who led authorities to the remains of Jacob Wetterling, is expected to appear in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 6.

A status conference in the child-pornography case against Heinich, 53, of Annandale, is set before Chief Judge John Tunheim. Heinrich has been charged with 25 counts of possessing and receiving child pornography; he pleaded not guilty to those charges in February and is to go to trial in October.

Heinrich last year was named as a "person of interest" in the abduction of Jacob Wetterling, the 11-year-old St. Joseph boy who was abducted from a rural road near his house on Oct. 22, 1989, and never seen again.

Heinrich has not been charged in that case, but authorities last summer searched his house for ties to the boy's disappearance.

Heinrich had been under increasing scrutiny as authorities have revisited Jacob's abduction and investigated a string of sexual assaults on preteen and teen boys near Paynesville in the mid- to late 1980s; Jacob was taken less than a mile from his home in St. Joseph, which is about 20 miles from Paynesville. Heinrich lived in Paynesville with his father at the time of the abduction.

Last Wednesday, Heinrich led a team of FBI agents and state and county investigators to a pasture near Paynesville where Wetterling's skeletal remains were buried, according to a source with direct knowledge of the search. Investigators revisited the site again Friday for crime-scene purposes.

The Stearns County Sheriff's Office said Jacob's remains were identified Saturday. Authorities expect to provide more details this week.
• Remains confirmed to be that of Jacob Wetterling</s>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Latest on the abduction and killing of Jacob Wetterling (all times local):

The man who killed 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling more than a quarter-century ago is detailing how he carried out the crime.

Danny Heinrich admitted in federal court Tuesday that he killed the boy whose 1989 disappearance has transfixed Minnesota in the years since.

The 53-year-old Andover man described donning a mask and confronting three children with a revolver near Jacob’s central Minnesota home. He says he took Jacob, handcuffed him and assaulted him in a grove of trees.

Afterward, he shot Jacob and later buried him in a gravel pit, and reburied him a year later.

Heinrich says when he took Jacob, the boy asked, “What did I do wrong?”

A Minnesota man has confessed to kidnapping and killing 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling nearly 27 years ago.

Danny Heinrich made the admission Tuesday as he pleaded guilty to child pornography charges in federal court in Minneapolis.

Heinrich led authorities to Jacob’s remains last week, according to a law enforcement official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing case.

He admitted abducting Jacob near the boy’s home in the central Minnesota community of St. Joseph on Oct. 22, 1989.

Authorities named Heinrich as a person of interest last October when they announced the child pornography charges.

A Minnesota man who led authorities to the remains of an 11-year-old boy who was abducted in 1989 is expected to appear in federal court in a child pornography case.

Danny Heinrich’s status conference is set for 1 p.m. Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis.

Last year, authorities named Heinrich as a person of interest in the abduction of Jacob Wetterling, who was snatched from a rural Minnesota road on Oct. 22, 1989.

Heinrich was never charged in that case. But he led authorities to Jacob’s remains last week, according to a law enforcement official who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing case.

The Stearns County Sheriff’s Office said Jacob’s remains were identified Saturday. Authorities expect to provide more details this week.

Associated Press writer Amy Forliti contributed to this report.
About 27 years after his abduction, the remains of Jacob Wetterling are discovered.