WASHINGTON: A 21-year-old American pleaded guilty Wednesday to shooting a couple dead and abducting their teenage daughter in a brutal Midwestern home invasion that shocked the nation.
The slaying of James and Denise Closs in Wisconsin last October sparked a nationwide hunt for missing 13-year-old Jayme, who spent three months in captivity before she was able to escape.
In an agreement with prosecutors, Jake Patterson admitted two charges of first degree murder and one of kidnapping. He faces a probable life term when he is sentenced on May 24.
Patterson, described by local media as a “loner” who had very few friends, appeared to be crying as he entered his pleas.
In a handwritten letter sent to Wisconsin television station KARE in February, he promised he would plead guilty to spare his young victim a trial.
“I knew when I was caught (which I thought would happen a lot sooner) I wouldn’t fight anything,” Patterson wrote, according to KARE.
“The reason I did this is complicated,” the killer went on. “This was mostly on impulse. I don’t think like a serial killer.”
Patterson had seen Jayme boarding a school bus while he was driving to work. He did not know her, but said he tracked down her home in Barron County — driving by twice in aborted attempts to kidnap her.
On October 15, he returned with his father’s 12-gauge shotgun. He had shaved his face and head to avoid leaving forensic evidence at the scene and wore a balaclava and gloves.
At the Closs home, he saw Jayme’s father through a decorative glass panel in the front door and shot him dead.
Inside, Patterson barged a bathroom door down and found Denise Closs hugging her daughter as they cowered in a bathtub.
He bound the girl with duct tape and shot her mother dead.
Patterson told investigators after his arrest he had intended to kill anyone in the house because he could not leave witnesses.
Patterson kept the girl captive in his house in an isolated area about 75 miles (120 kilometers) from the Closs home.
The teen told detectives that, under threat of violence, he would make her stay under a bed for up to 12 hours with no food, water or bathroom breaks.
But when he was out one day in January, she was able to escape, finding help from a neighbor walking a dog. Patterson was arrested minutes later.
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