A man convicted of killing two Jennie-O Turkey Store employees and kidnapping their daughter was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Appearing in court on May 24, Jake Patterson, 21, was given one life sentence for each of the homicides he committed, plus a 40-year sentence for the kidnapping conviction, CNN reported.
Patterson on March 27 pleaded guilty to charges of first-degree intentional homicide for the killing of Jennie-O Turkey Store employees James and Denise Closs at their home in Barron, Wisconsin. He also entered a guilty plea that day for the kidnapping of Jayme Closs. Those incidents occurred on October 15, 2018, but Patterson also held Jayme captive for 88 days at a cabin about 65 miles from the Closs home before she escaped and sought help from a passer-by, who took her to a nearby home, where the occupants of that home called 911. Patterson was arrested later that day.
Jayme is now living with relatives.
Through her attorney, a statement from Jayme was read at the sentencing. In the statement, she said: “Jake Patterson took a lot of things that I love away from me. It makes me the most sad that he took away my mom and my dad. I used to love to go out with my friends. I love to go to school. I love to dance. He took all of those things away from me, too. It’s too hard for me to go out in public. … (Paterson) should stay locked up forever.”
During the time when Jayme’s whereabouts were unknown and a suspect was still at large, Jennie-O Turkey Store and its parent company, Hormel Foods, offered a $25,000 reward for the capture and conviction of a suspect.
Following her return to Barron, the company decided to donate that reward money to Jayme.
