St. Joseph to Dedicate Memorial Honoring Jacob Wetterling and the Values He Lived By

(KNSI) – St. Joseph will pay tribute to a child whose abduction from the city changed Minnesota forever.

The public is invited to show their support during a memorial dedication to Jacob Wetterling in Klinefelter Park. The event is on Wednesday, June 25th, at 6:00 p.m. In 1999, the community got together and planted trees in the park in memory of Jacob. At that time, a boulder known as Jacob’s Rock was also donated.

To further enshrine the boy’s memory, the Wetterling family purchased a memorial to place by the rock, so everyone will remember the 11 attributes that Jacob loved and hoped people would live by. Those are be fair, be kind, be understanding, be honest, be thankful, be a good sport, be a good friend, be joyful, be generous, be gentle with others and be positive.

Jacob, who embodied these values, was kidnapped on October 22nd, 1989 while biking home from a convenience store with his brother and a friend. A man with a gun jumped out of the darkness and stopped the boys, taking Jacob before telling the other two to run away. The kidnapping sparked one of the largest investigations in the state’s history and fundamentally changed how Minnesota families approached child safety. Many parents in the state say that before that day, parents used to let their kids roam free without hesitation, but afterward, it became difficult for parents to ever let their little ones out of their sight.

The case remained unsolved for 27 years until his body was found in September 2016 near Paynesville after law enforcement zeroed in on a suspect who later confessed to the crime. The memorial dedication allows the community to focus on celebrating Jacob’s life and the positive values he represented.

___