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Police missed teen being abducted from home 'by 20 seconds'

A girl who was abducted from her family home was almost rescued by police as she was taken, but authorities were 20 seconds too late and even unknowingly drove past the car she was in.

When police turned up at the Closs family home in Barron, Wisconsin, on October 15 last year, they found the bodies of James Closs, 56, and Denise Closs, 46, but their 13-year-old daughter Jayme was nowhere to be seen.

A criminal complaint says accused killer Jake Patterson told investigators he had left the home with the teenager locked in his trunk just 20 seconds before he paused to yield to three oncoming squad cars with emergency lights flashing.

Jayme Closs was found alive on January 10, almost three months after she went missing. Source: AAP
Jayme Closs was found alive on January 10, almost three months after she went missing. Source: AAP
Jake Thomas Patterson, 21, s accused of abducting 13-year-old Jayme Closs and holding her captive for three months. Source: Associated Press
Jake Thomas Patterson, 21, s accused of abducting 13-year-old Jayme Closs and holding her captive for three months. Source: Associated Press

A Wisconsin sheriff said his deputies did everything they could on the night Jayme was abducted and her parents slain.

Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald said on Wednesday that deputies “didn’t know what kind of call” they were responding to that night.

Jayme told investigators that her mother called 911 after Patterson fired shots in their home, but that the intruder ordered her to hang up.

Fitzgerald said the Closs home is on a major highway with cars on the road at all hours.

He said his department has “excelled” in handling the Closs case and that he plans no changes in how his deputies respond to emergency calls.

Investigators believe Patterson broke into the Closs home, killed her parents and abducted the girl, tying her at the wrists and ankles and covering her mouth with tape before holding her in a remote cabin for nearly three months.

Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald, left, said that deputies “didn’t know what kind of call” they were responding to that night. Source: Associated Press
Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald, left, said that deputies “didn’t know what kind of call” they were responding to that night. Source: Associated Press

Last week, she escaped and was discovered by a woman walking her dog.

According to court documents, Patterson told detectives he spotted Jayme getting on a school bus one day and decided he would take her.

Patterson has been charged with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide and one count of kidnapping.

Richard Jones and Charlie Glynn, Patterson’s public defenders, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that they know everyone wants to know why Jayme was abducted.

Jones said: “There will come a time in this proceeding when that question will be answered.”

They declined to comment on Patterson’s mental health.