While child abduction cases are nothing new, the missing-child panic was sent into a nationwide frenzy when an 11-year-old Minnesota boy was kidnapped in 1989. The case went unsolved for nearly three decades, sparking a wave of "stranger danger" panic that permeated communities across the nation and had a lasting impact on millions of lives.
On the evening of October 22, 1989, 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling set off with his 10-year-old brother and 11-year-old friend on a bike ride to a store about a mile-and-a-half from his home in St. Joseph, Minnesota to rent a VHS tape.
On their way home, the boys were stopped by a masked man with a gun who grabbed Wetterling and told the others to run into the woods without looking back. When they did, Wetterling was gone.
Local police quickly launched a search and investigation, which eventually grew nationwide and included FBI resources. But it turned up nothing.
With a suspect on the loose, parents across the nation incessantly warned their kids not to talk to strangers and avoid any contact with people they didn't know. Fears that their children could also wind up missing caused many to limit their children's activities, not allowing them out unsupervised or after dark. Many kids weren't even allowed to walk to the bus stop by themselves.
And the fears only grew as the search for Wetterling continued. His abduction remained a mystery for nearly 27 years.
On September 1, 2016, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension recovered human bones from a pasture near Paynesville, about 30 miles from the original site of the abduction. Wetterling's family announced that the bones were those of Jacob, and local law enforcement stated that the identity of the bones had been confirmed by dental records.
The location of Wetterling's remains was revealed by Danny Heinrich, a long-time person of interest in the abduction of another boy, 12-year-old Jared Scheierl. Heinrich led police to the remains as part of a plea deal in a child pornography case. He also confessed to kidnapping, sexually assaulting and murdering Wetterling, as well as abducting and sexually assaulting Scheierl.
During his federal trial, Heinrich testified that on the night of October 22, he handcuffed Wetterling and drove to a secluded area where the assault occurred near a gravel pit. While walking back to his car, Heinrich saw a patrol car drive by with its lights on and panicked. He told Wetterling to turn around and then shot him in the back of the head and buried his body.
Prosecutors agreed not to charge Heinrich with Wetterling's murder or Scheierl's assault in exchange for his plea to federal child pornography charges. In November 2016, he received the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Wetterling's disappearance led to the nation's first law requiring states to have sex offender registries. In September 1994, Congress passed the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act and Child Safety Act, which requires anyone convicted of a criminal offense against a minor or a sexually violent felony to register a current address with state law enforcement for 10 years after their release from prison, parole or probation.