The Doe Network:
Case File 132DMMN

1 2 3 3
3 3 3 Age-Progression
Bottom Right: Age-progressed to age 29 (circa 2007)

Jacob Erwin Wetterling
Missing since October 22, 1989 from St. Joseph, Stearns County, Minnesota.
Classification: Non-Family Abduction

Vital Statistics

  • Date Of Birth: February 17, 1978
  • Age at Time of Disappearance: 11 years old
  • Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'0; 75 pounds
  • Distinguishing Characteristics: White male. Brown hair; blue eyes. He wears contact lenses which are possibly tinted blue.
  • Marks, Scars, Tattoos: Mole on left cheek, mole on right eye, fractured right wrist, scar on left knee.
  • Clothing: Jacob was last seen wearing a red St. Cloud Hockey jacket with a large St. Cloud Police Department logo embroidered
    on the back; an orange vest; blue sweatpants; and white Nike high-top running shoes with a gray stripe.
  • Dentals: Available

    Circumstances of Disappearance
    Jacob was riding his bicycle with his brother and a friend during the evening of October 22, 1989. The trio was approached by an unidentified man wearing a mask and holding a gun. They were told to abandon their bikes and to walk to a wooded area nearby. The man instructed Jacob's brother and his friend to run away without looking back at him. Jacob was never seen or heard from again; extensive searches and manhunts for the unknown suspect have yielded little in the way of clues to this case.

    Sketches of Wetterling's abductor are posted below this case summary. The boys described the man as being approximately 40 - 50 years old and 5'8. He had broad shoulders and spoke in a low, raspy voice.
    Jacob's family maintains The Jacob Wetterling Foundation, an organization devoted to Jacob's case and additional missing children's cases.

    Suspect 1 Suspect 2
    Sketches of Wetterling's abductor

    Investigators
    If you have any information concerning Jacob's case, please contact:
    Stearns County Sheriff's Department
    Detective Dave Nohner
    320-259-3700
    All information may be submitted anonymously.

    Agency Case Number: 89-006407

    NCMEC #: NCMC731065

    NCIC Number: M-391782685
    Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

    Source Information:
    The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children
    America's Most Wanted
    Court TV
    KARE 11 2004
    Polly Klaas Foundation
    Minnesota Department of Public Safety
    Texas Missing Persons Clearinghouse
    CA DOJ

    Return to the Unexplained Disappearances' Index