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Who is Jake Thomas Patterson? Suspect in Jayme Closs kidnapping identified

By Theresa Seiger, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

Sheriff's deputies in Wisconsin arrested Jake Thomas Patterson, 21, on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019.

By Theresa Seiger, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

BARRON COUNTY, Wis. — Authorities in Wisconsin have arrested a 21-year-old man suspected of killing a couple before abducting their 13-year-old daughter in October.

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Officials took Jake Thomas Patterson into custody Thursday afternoon in Douglas County, authorities said. He’s accused of killing James Closs, 56, and Denise Closs 46, and abducting their daughter, Jayme Closs, on Oct. 15.

Here’s what we know about Patterson:

  • Deputies said Patterson was taken into custody after Jayme gave a description of his vehicle to authorities. Officials said Friday that he was taken into custody without incident.
  • Deputies said Patterson is from Gordon, Wisconsin, a town with a population of 645 about 65 miles north of Barron, where the Closs family ylived.
  • Daphne Ronning, one of Patterson's neighbors, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Patterson's parents moved to Gordon about 15 years ago. Patterson was raised in the home alongside a brother, according to the newspaper. He and his brother continued to use the home even after their parents moved.
    "We had some problem with them when they were teenagers – we caught them siphoning gas," Ronning told the Journal Sentinel. "My husband talked with them and there was never anything else."
  • Investigators believe Patterson killed the elder Closses to kidnap Jayme, although Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald said it did not appear as though he had any contact with the family prior to Oct. 15.
  • Barron County District Attorney Brian Wright said Friday that Patterson will face at least two counts of first-degree murder and one count of kidnapping. He said charges were likely to be formally filed against Patterson next week.

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