Jacob’s case shedding hope on Jodi’s case

After 27 years, we finally know the answer to Minnesota’s biggest unsolved mystery: Where’s Jacob?

We recently learned Jacob’s killer, Danny Heinrich, buried Jacob on a farm site barely 30 miles from where he was abducted in St. Joseph, and not far from where Heinrich lived in 1989.

1989 sketches of suspect in Wetterling case.

Heinrich kept his secret until finally deciding to make a deal for less prison time, just over a month before he was scheduled to begin a child porn trial in Minneapolis.As part of the deal, Heinrich led investigators to Jacob’s remains.

Danny Heinrich (Source: KMSP-TV)

It was difficult to sit in the front row of a federal courtroom, listening to Heinrich methodically describe the 11-year-old boy’s terrifying last hour. I’ll never forget Jacob’s question to Heinrich: “What did I do wrong?”

11-year-old Jacob Wetterling on a horseback riding excursion in 1989. (Image: Wetterling Family, Pioneer Press)

It was devastating for Jacob’s family to hear the horrific details of the crime, to learn Jacob was hidden almost in plain sight, not far from where his killer had lived.

With Jacob finally home, my thoughts often turn to, “Where’s Jodi?”

(Jodi covered Jacob’s abduction when she was a reporter in Minnesota, even interviewing Patty Wetterling, Jacob’s mother.)

Jodi covering Jacob’s story. (Image: FindJodi)

I wonder if Jodi is also buried close to where she was abducted on June 27, 1995, on her way to anchor the morning news at KIMT TV, in Mason City, Iowa.

I wonder if Jodi’s abductor is someone who, like Heinrich, was on law enforcement’s possible suspect list from the beginning- someone who already has been interviewed.I wonder if he’s a serial predator like Heinrich or someone she knew.

And, if Jodi’s abductor hasn’t kept his crime a secret all these years, I wonder if someone who knows something will now come forward, perhaps prompted by Jacob’s case being solved.

Sadly, while Jacob’s family didn’t get the answer they hoped for, at least their agonizing search is finally over and Jacob is home.

Encouraged by Jacob’s case finally being solved, our FindJodi team is committed to continuing our journey to find answers for Jodi’s family, to bring Jodi home.