(AP) – A neighbor says she and her husband had problems years ago with the man suspected of kidnapping a Wisconsin teenager and killing her parents.
Authorities announced Friday that they arrested 21-year-old Jake Thomas Patterson on Thursday on suspicion of kidnapping 13-year-old Jayme Closs and killing her parents at their home near Barron in October. Investigators say Jayme escaped from a cabin in the town of Gordon where Patterson was holding her Thursday.
Patterson has no criminal history in Wisconsin. Daphne Ronning told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Patterson’s parents moved to Gordon about 15 years ago.
She says the parents later moved away but Patterson and his brother continued to use the home. She says she and her husband once caught them siphoning gas. She says her husband spoke with them and they didn’t have any further problems.
Ronning says she didn’t know Patterson was living in the house and hadn’t seen Jayme around.
