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The Latest: Grandfather insists teen didn't know kidnapper

BARRON, Wis. — The Latest on a Wisconsin teenager found alive three months after she disappeared following her parents’ deaths (all times local):

8:35 a.m.

The grandfather of a Wisconsin teen abducted during a home invasion that left her parents dead says the suspect had no connection with the family.

Investigators say 21-year-old Jake Thomas Patterson shot James and Denise Closs to death in their home near Barron on Oct. 15 and took their daughter, 13-year old Jayme Closs. She escaped Thursday from a northwestern Wisconsin cabin where she’d been held. Officers arrested Patterson minutes later.

Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald says Patterson’s goal was to kidnap Jayme but that the family didn’t know him.

Jayme’s grandfather Robert Naiberg reiterated Saturday that the family had no connection with Patterson and didn’t know him. He says Jayme told FBI agents that she didn’t know Patterson at all.

He wonders whether Patterson was somehow stalking Jayme.

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11:05 p.m.

Investigators in Wisconsin say they’re trying to determine what led the man suspected of kidnapping 13-year-old Jayme Closs to the girl.

Jake Thomas Patterson is being held on kidnapping and homicide charges after his arrest Thursday. It came just minutes after Jayme escaped her captor in a remote small-town area of northwest Wisconsin.

The 21-year-old Patterson is accused of killing Jayme’s parents, James and Denise Closs, in an attack at the family home in October near Barron. Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald says Patterson extensively plotted the attack to the point where he shaved his head to avoid leaving forensic evidence behind.

Fitzgerald says authorities don’t know of any social media connection between Patterson and the girl.

Charges are expected Monday. Court records don’t list an attorney for Patterson and The Associated Press was unable to reach family members to speak on his behalf.

The Associated Press