Person of Interest named in Jacob Wetterling Case

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Authorities have named a person of interest in connection to the disappearance of Jacob Wetterling. 

52-year-old Daniel Heinrich of Annandale, was arrested Wednesday night on unrelated charges of possession of child pornography.   Heinrich was charged Thursday in federal court with possessing and receiving child pornography.

He has not been charged in the Wetterling case, but is a person of interest. 

U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger says advances in DNA technology helped link Heinrich to a kidnapping and sexual assault case of a young boy in Cold Spring, Minnesota that occurred just 10 months before Wetterling was abducted. Police say there were similarities between the two cases.  

Authorities cannot charge Heinrich with that case due to the statute of limitations expiring. 

The Stearns County Sheriff’s Office say Heinrich may also be connected to eight other sexual assaults on young boys that occurred in the Paynesville area between 1986 and 1989.   

FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard T. Thornton said there are enough similarities between Wetterling’s abduction, the unsolved sexual assault cases and the alleged criminal actions of Heinrich to call him a person of interest in Jacob’s disappearance. 

The Wetterling case underwent a full cold case review last year with the purpose of putting a fresh set of eyes on the case.  Heinrich was questioned 26 years ago in relation to the case, and after a review, police determined he should be investigated further.  

He has denied any involvement in Wetterling’s abduction. 

On July 28, authorities executed a search warrant at his home.  They were looking for items related to the Wetterling case, including a red t-shirt with the name “Wetterling” on the back, and a red hockey team jacket with the name Jacob stitched on the front. 

Evidence of child porn was discovered instead.  Police recovered nineteen 3-ring binders full of pornographic images of young boys, and VHS tapes showing hours of boys playing on playgrounds or riding bikes.

No physical evidence has been discovered linking him to Wetterling’s disappearance. 

Police did reveal, however, that tire marks found at the scene of Wetterling’s abduction were similar to Heinrich’s. They also revealed that shoe prints from the abduction site might possibly  match Heinrich. 

At the time of the abduction, Heinrich lived in Paynesville, which is about 30 miles from where Wetterling was taken. 

Wetterling was abducted at gunpoint on October 22, 1989 while riding his bike home from a convenience store with his brother and a friend in St. Joseph, Minnesota. 

Drew Evans with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension says the Wetterling case remains active and ongoing and they will not rest until Jacob is brought home. 

Anyone with information on Daniel Heinrich’s activities and whereabouts in the 1980’s and late 1990’s is asked to contact the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office.