BARRON, WI (WTAQ) – UPDATE: Jake Patterson has been transferred to a different jail.
The 21-year-old, was transferred to Polk County Jail on Monday night as a relative of Closs works at the Barron County Jail.
Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald says the transfer was an “administrative decision”, and not for safety reasons. Patterson will still be held in Barron County for any court appearances.
Patterson will return to Barron County on February 6th for a calendar call.
Jake Patterson had a $5 million cash bond set on Monday. He will return to court on February 6 where additional charges may be filed against him. Conditions of his bond include no contact with Jayme in any way, including indirectly through a third party. He is also to abstain from contacting the Gordon residents who helped her once she escaped from Patterson’s house including Jeanne Nutter, a retired social worker who was out walking her dog, and Peter and Kristen Kasinskas, who sheltered Jayme until sheriff’s officials arrived.
Detailed Information about the case were released in the criminal complaint on Monday.
Jayme Closs says her mother was shot in front of her after her father was shot by Jake Patterson when he arrived at their home on October 15th.
Closs’s details of the murder, kidnapping, 88 days of being held hostage and her escape were all given in the criminal complaint released Monday.
(Warning some details may be disturbing)
Deputy James Pressley with the Barron County Sheriff’s Department reported that a 911 call came in from a home on Highway 8 around 12:53 a.m. Pressley reported that screaming could be heard in the background.
Upon arriving at the house, another deputy tried to make contact with people inside, and upon entering, noticed feet lying on the floor and located the body of James Closs, who appeared to have been shot.
The deputy located two shotgun shells in the home, one next to the body of James Closs and one in the hallway in front of the bathroom.
Deputy Eric Sadani then located the body of Denise Closs in the bathtub. The deputy also determined that she had also been shot.
Investigators determined that the door to the home had been forcibly opened and shot in for someone to gain entrance.
It was also determined that the Closs’s had a 13-year-old girl that resided with them who was not in the house.
The complaint also details the call that came in on January 10 to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department.
The 911 call stated that Jayme Closs was at a residence in the Town of Gordon and needed help.
She was in the home of Peter and Kristen Kasinskas after being found by another woman who was out walking her dog.
The report says that Closs told Kristen Kasinskas that a male subject, identified as Jake Patterson had killed her parents and that she wanted to go home.
When deputies arrived, Closs was wearing a pair of dirty athletic shoes and had the shoes on the wrong feet. She was removed from the area for safety out of concern that Patterson may be trying to locate her.
The deputy that was transporting Closs noticed a vehicle that was similar to the description of Patterson’s vehicle.
Another deputy arrived in the area and ran the plates to determine the vehicle to be registered to a Katie Patterson and conducted the traffic stop.
The driver was asked his name and identified himself as Jake Patterson. Upon exiting the vehicle he told the deputy, “I know what this is about, I did it,” according to the complaint.
During her interview with deputies, Closs said she was asleep in her bedroom the night of October 15th. She said she woke up when she heard her dog bark. She told investigators that she got up to see what was going on and noticed a car coming up her driveway.
Closs said she went to alert her parents and her father went to the door. She said she noticed a man there with a gun and she and her mother went to go hide in the bathroom. She said they closed the door and hid in the bathtub.
Closs said she heard a gunshot and knew that her father had been killed, and her mother used her cellphone to call 911. According to the complaint, Patterson told her mother to hang up the phone and instructed her to put tape over Jayme’s mouth. Closs said after her mother put tape over her mouth, she was shot one time by Patterson.
Closs told investigators that Patterson taped her hands and ankles and placed her in the trunk of his car.
She reported hearing police sirens, but he kept driving for what she said felt like two hours. She said the car stopped and Patterson took her out of the trunk and told her she was at his house.
Closs said Patterson told her to take off her clothes so he could get rid of any evidence.
She then said that throughout the 88 days that she was with Patterson, he would have people come over to the house, but she was told to hide under the bed and stay quiet or bad things would happen to her.
She said that when she was under the bed, he would put totes and baskets in front of her and put weights on top so he would know if she was trying to move them.
She said he would make her stay under the bed when he left the house. “Sometimes is was up to 12 hours with no food, water or bathroom breaks.”
Closs told investigators that on January 10, he told her that he was going to be gone for five or six hours and told her to go under the bed.
Closs said when he left, she was able to push the bins out of the way and crawl out. She then put on a pair of his shoes and went outside and located a woman that was walking her dog.
According to the complaint, on the night of his arrest, Patterson was interviewed by detectives.
Patterson confessed to killing James and Denise Closs. He said one morning on his way to work at the Suputo Cheese Factory, he stopped behind a school bus and watched Jayme get on. He told investigators that he did not know who she was, but “knew this was the girl that I was going to take.”
Patterson told investigators that he planned the kidnapping and even drove to the house two times prior to do it, but was scared off by cars in the driveway. Days later he tried again but was scared off when he noticed lights on in the house and people walking around.
Patterson said he put more thought in how to kidnap Closs. He said he stole license plates off of another vehicle to hide the identity of his vehicle, disabled the dome light in his vehicle so he could not be seen when he opened the door and removed the trunk light and what he described as the kidnapping cord from the trunk so nobody could release the trunk from the inside.
Patterson said he took his father’s shotgun and said he chose a shotgun because it would “do the most damage.”
Other examples of premeditation admitted by Patterson include, cleaning the gun with gloves on to avoid fingerprints, and shaving his face and his head so he did not leave any DNA evidence behind.
When asked about the night of the murders and kidnapping, Patterson said he saw James Closs standing in the window with a flashlight. He said he told him to get on the ground, but Closs did not and asked Patterson to show him his badge, indicating that he thought he was a police officer.
Patterson said that was when he shot Closs and then the door to gain access. He said once inside, he started looking for Jayme and noticed that a door was closed. He said it was barricaded and he needed to use his shoulder multiple times to open it.
He explained that he told Denise Closs to put tape of Jayme’s mouth and once he did, he shot her. He said he shot both in the head because it was the best way to kill someone.
According to the complaint, he put Jayme in his trunk and started driving towards Barron. He said just seconds after driving away, he noticed squad cars with lights.
He told investigators that he knew he was going to take Jayme that night and was going to kill anyone that got in his way. He even indicated that because he had the shotgun with him in the car, he would have probably even shot at officers if they attempted to pull him over.
Patterson said that he scared Jayme enough into not attempting to run away when he was gone. He said he even kept her kidnapping secret from his father who came to visit from time to time.
On the day her escape, Patterson said he noticed that Jayme was not under the bed and that there were footprints outside. He said he drove around trying to find her and when he returned home, he was met by police.
Patterson said he never met Jayme through any kind of social media and only learned her name after he brought her to the house. He said he only learned the names of her parents after it was reported on the news. He told investigators that he never would have been caught if he had planned everything perfectly.
New photographs of the home where Jayme was kept for 88 have also become public. The house, about 200-feet back from a road, has an unfinished ceiling and mismatched furniture. The yard was littered with discarded food and alcohol containers and rusted-out cars. The property had been owned by Patterson’s father. It was signed over to Superior Choice Credit Union of Superior on October 23, eight days after Jayme’s abduction.
