ST JOSEPH, Minn. — Tuesday marked the official release of Patty Wetterling’s new memoir, “Dear Jacob: A Mother’s Journey of Hope.”
The book – already a best-selling biography in the country – documents Patty Wetterling’s background and her journey from her son’s abduction on Oct. 22, 1989, through the years of her agony and advocacy, all the way to those dark days when Jacob’s confessed killer led authorities to his remains in 2016.
Wetterling has shared her story for decades, often in a voice both quiet and commanding.
But the mother, advocate and changemaker has never committed to page her perspective on her history, her heartbreak and her hope. That is, until now.
This week marked a new chapter in Wetterling’s story, as the woman known by most Minnesotans released her memoir: “Dear Jacob: A Mother’s Journey of Hope," which she wrote with writer Joy Baker.
“I think Jacob’s story touched a lot of lives, and it’s an opportunity for people to sort of make sense of some of it all and make peace with some things,” Wetterling told KARE 11’s Karla Hult from her St. Joseph home on a warm October day.
But the project that covers Wetterling’s childhood, marriage, her son’s abduction and her ongoing advocacy for children, proved daunting. This is why Patty also turned to a friend and familiar ally in the quest to bring Jacob home.
“I finally recognized I can’t do this alone; there’s no way I would have ever finished the book,” Wetterling shared, adding moments later: “We found our voice together.”
‘The story found me’
On Oct. 22, 1989, Jacob Wetterling was abducted at gunpoint by a man wearing a mask about a quarter mile from his St. Joseph home. The 11-year-old’s abduction remained a “missing person” case until his confessed killer finally led authorities to his remains in 2016.
But what happened between the kidnapping and the confession is part of what Wetterling’s book addresses, along with her personal background, professional advocacy for children and her unrelenting pursuit for answers in her son’s case; that’s also how Patty’s path first crossed that of Joy Baker.
In 2010, as an avid writer looking to move beyond her marketing career, Baker started posting about Jacob’s case in her blog “Joy the Curious.” The posts ultimately led her to partner with Jared Scheierl – the man whose own kidnapping case in 1989 was suspected of being connected to Jacob’s. Together, Baker and Scheierl contacted more survivors from the Paynesville community: men who, as boys, also had reported being molested by a man matching the description of the suspect in Jacob’s and Jared’s cases. Ultimately, the pattern presented by Scheierl and Baker – along with Jerry and Patty Wetterling’s own push to revisit the case – resulted in law enforcement running a DNA test on Jared’s clothes. That test would help them find Danny Heinrich, the man who ultimately confessed to killing Jacob before leading authorities to his remains in rural Paynesville, Minn.
“It was just a marvelous coalition of Jared, Joy, Jerry and I,” Patty recalled about those early days of sharing information about the case.
“I often say that the story found me,” Joy also reflected, noting that having two sons of her own also played a role in her interest.
“I think it was because I was a mother that I wanted to cover this story, and I wanted to help Patty from one mom to another,” Joy said.
In 2015, that partnership for answers segued into writing a book; an effort that was interrupted by the devastating conclusion of Jacob’s case. But in 2018, the pair returned to researching, writing and attending writing retreats. And through a process of piecing together personal and public information – from letters to Jacob, to news articles and community photos – they slowly created their story.
“We muscled through it. and we got through it. But it was frightening, and I just can’t be more grateful for [Patty] just believing in me,” Baker said.
‘Most proud of our children and grandchildren’
At 323 pages, “Dear Jacob” is dense with details. Wetterling reveals insights about how the case strained her family and marriage. She reflects on the politics and challenges of lobbying Congress and later running for Congress. She celebrates her accomplishments like helping to bring the AMBER alert to Minnesota, pushing for child protection laws and establishing Team HOPE – a support group for parents of missing children. Wetterling also gets personal, discussing the moments when her very identity felt overwhelmed by a devastating crime.
But among those insights and memories, Wetterling stops short of outright attacking those who investigated her son’s case. As a long-time ally of law enforcement, Wetterling recognizes areas for possible improvement but warns against judging the original investigation by today’s standards.
“Don’t judge 1989 – where we did fundraisers to make sure all law enforcement had fax machines – don’t judge 1989 by today’s standards, because we didn’t have it,” she said.
And another point on which Wetterling was careful and clear: her children. She “protected” them, she said, along with Jerry’s own story about his journey. But Wetterling didn’t shy from touting her pride that her family survived what statistically few families do.
“We heard that 87 percent of marriages don’t survive,” a child abduction, Wetterling noted, later adding: “If it’s one thing I’m proud of, it’s really, the first thing is not the book. It’s our children. And our grandchildren. They are amazing. And that’s because we did it. We did it together.”
‘He’s still here’
As for the child stolen from a dirt road near his home in St. Joseph, both Patty Wetterling and Joy Baker say his voice is also felt – if not directly heard – on every page of Patty’s memoir.
“He’s kind of my guiding spirit, really. He is a light, and I think I’m not the only one who believes that,” Baker said.
“He’s still here,” Patty also reflected. “He was just such a solid, amazing presence in a lot of people’s lives, and maybe that’s why we wrote the book. He deserved that… It’s like Jacob wasn’t done yet. He wasn’t ready to be done. And he’s still impacting lives and that part was fun to share. He’s amazing.”
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