Report: Suspect In Closs Abduction Says He’ll Plead Guilty

Man Accused Of Abducting Girl, Killing Parents Last Fall

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Jake Patterson enters courtroom
Jake Patterson appears for his preliminary hearing Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019, at Barron County Circuit Court in Barron, Wis. Patterson is accused of killing James and Denise Closs on Oct. 15 and kidnapping their daughter, Jayme Closs, from their Barron home. Jayme escaped on Jan. 10, after 88 days. T’xer Zhon Kha/The Post-Crescent/AP Photo

A Minnesota television station is reporting that the Wisconsin man charged in the kidnapping of 13-year-old Jayme Closs says in a letter from jail that he plans to plead guilty.

KARE-TV reported Thursday that suspect Jake Patterson was replying to a letter from a station reporter. The station reported that Patterson wrote that he didn’t want Jayme’s family “to worry about a trial.”

Patterson is also charged with killing Jayme’s parents in an October attack at the family’s home in western Wisconsin.

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Prosecutors said that Patterson held Jayme in a cabin about an hour away for three months before she escaped in January.

Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald told The Associated Press he couldn’t comment. KARE-TV reported that Fitzgerald told the station he was aware that Patterson had sent a letter to a reporter.

Patterson’s attorneys didn’t immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press.

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