An extensive new YouTube true crime documentary has emerged about Jacob Wetterling, one of Minnesota’s most notable missing child cases, generating significant outrage among viewers – but not for the expected reasons. (Warning: some may find this content distressing.)
Jacob, just 11 years old, was abducted at gunpoint on October 22, 1989, while riding his bike to rent a movie in St. Joseph, Minnesota, with his brother Trevor, 10, and their friend Aaron, 12.
The attacker forced Trevor and Aaron to flee, choosing Jacob as his victim. As explained in the documentary by true crime YouTube channel Explore With Us, it took police nearly three decades to uncover that the perpetrator had been right under their noses all along.
The criminal was Danny Heinrich, previously a suspect in a separate case involving several attacks on young boys in Paynesville, Minnesota, between 1986 and 1988.
The documentary reveals Heinrich altered his appearance after the release of a composite sketch.
Despite similarities in the descriptions of the perpetrator and patterns of the attacks, police were initially skeptical about the cases being connected, showcasing several investigative missteps.
The narrator recounts an incident that occurred 10 months before Jacob’s disappearance, in which a 12-year-old boy named Jared Scheierl was kidnapped at gunpoint and sexually assaulted in a vehicle.
The assailant allowed Jared to keep his snowsuit but tampered with it, seemingly to erase any DNA evidence. In a 1990 inquiry, officers confronted Heinrich with clothing tied to multiple incidents that contained unidentified male DNA.
This included “likely Jared’s snowsuit” and a hat linked to another attack. “A DNA sample was retrieved from Heinrich,” the narrator states. “Surprisingly, it doesn’t seem that any comparison was made.”
During another investigation in 2015, Heinrich admitted to being in a lineup in 1990. While Jared couldn’t definitively identify his attacker, he did narrow it down to two men, one of whom was Heinrich.
Rather than re-evaluating Heinrich’s status as a suspect, police chose to exclude him from consideration.
Jared Scheierl’s snowsuit contained DNA from a previously unidentified male.
Further evidence at the time showed Heinrich failed a polygraph test and had tire tread patterns matching those found at the site of Jacob’s abduction.
Despite this evidence, Heinrich was released from custody, with the Stearns County Sheriff even apologizing to him. Law enforcement continued to follow leads that lacked substantive evidence.
When authorities finally revisited Heinrich nearly 30 years after Jacob’s disappearance, a search of his residence revealed an alarming collection of child pornography, including hundreds of explicit videotapes and images, some appearing homemade.
Investigators, still without Jacob’s remains, offered Heinrich a deal: divulge what happened to the missing boy, and he would only face charges for the child pornography.
In 2016, Heinrich, then 53, confessed to Jacob Wetterling’s murder and the abduction and sexual assault of Jared Scheierl. As part of the plea deal, he received a 20-year sentence.
Two years later, Stearns County Sheriff Don Gudmundson acknowledged the numerous blunders that allowed Heinrich to evade justice for so long. “I will accept the responsibility speaking for all of law enforcement in this case,” he stated. “All of us failed.”
Since Explore With Us released its comprehensive review of the case, featuring exclusive interviews with key figures, viewers have expressed their outrage over the investigative errors.
Heinrich’s plea deal resulted in only a 20-year prison sentence.
“The police had ample evidence pointing to one individual but chose to ignore it, relentlessly pursuing a family with no evidence against them,” one commenter observed. “Incredible work.”
Another added, “Danny Heinrich will spend less time in prison than the 27 years it took for his arrest. What a tragic miscarriage of justice.”
“Matching descriptions, tire tracks, and failed polygraphs, yet they dismissed him,” a third commentator noted, highlighting the alarming incompetence of the investigations.
Many expressed disgust at Heinrich receiving a plea deal, believing he deserved harsher punishment. One person stated, “It’s sickening that this country allows someone to plead guilty to child pornography to avoid facing charges for kidnapping, rape, and murder. Unacceptable!”
If you seek similarly frustrating cases, look into other notorious crime documentaries available on platforms like YouTube.
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