The 21-year-old Wisconsin man accused of kidnapping Jayme Closs pleaded guilty Wednesday to abducting the girl and fatally shooting her parents.
BARRON, Wis. (Tribune News Service) — The 21-year-old Wisconsin man accused of kidnapping Jayme Closs pleaded guilty Wednesday to abducting the girl and fatally shooting her parents.
Jake T. Patterson, of rural Gordon, was charged with murder, kidnapping and burglary in the Oct. 15 slayings of James and Denise Closs and the abduction of their 13-year-old daughter, who was held captive for 88 days before escaping from Patterson’s cabin about an hour north of Barron in January.
The plea deal also stipulates that Patterson will not be charged with any offenses in Douglas County, where he held Jayme, and dismisses the burglary count against him. Judge James Babler scheduled sentencing for May 24.
During a hearing that lasted nearly 20 minutes, Babler received one-word answers from Patterson to a series of routine questions affirming his desire to plead guilty.
One of Patterson’s attorneys, Richard Jones, told the judge that “we are satisfied that this is knowing and voluntary. Mr. Patterson has wanted to enter a plea from the day we met him, and we wanted to consider our own due diligence. We wanted to read the discovery and go through all the details,” but have been unable to do so.
Jones added that Patterson was briefed about all of his options, “including a court trial and a jury trial.
