Decades later, hope remains for Jacob Wetterling

Twenty years after Jacob Wetterling was abducted near his home in St. Joseph, MN on October 22, 1989, hope remains that he will someday still come home.

The St. Cloud Times, The Star Tribune, and countless local stations like Fox 9 News, have published annual stories on the disappearance of the boy.

Specifically, the Star Tribune, focused on a feature about Aaron Larson, Wetterling's best friend, and one of the only individuals with Wetterling when he was abducted in a corn field after going to a Tom Thumb convenience store for a video and candy.

Larson is now 31, and has becomes quiet and reverent when talking about the event. He mentioned that it was hard to be known as "the boy who was with Jacob Wetterling." He said that it was difficult even as he got older, knowing that he would always be labeled that way.

Fox 9 focused on Jacob's mother, Patty Wetterling, who still carries a photo of her son wherever she goes. The station quoted Wetterling about the photo: "I treasure it,” said Wetterling. “I carry him in my heart. I always carry it with me."

The St. Cloud times, decided to recount the story of the night--albeit, not as effectively as the Star Tribune's focus of Larson's personal account of the night. The times tells the story in present tense, perhaps to add urgency to the tale, but utilizes conventional news speak, rather than a more effective narrative to recount the story. The present tense renders the story ineffective, especially as the reader understands they story has happened in the past and has very little knowledge of the setting before the reporter recounts the details of a masked individual with a gun, coming out of a local corn field.

The Times briefly recounts the story and reports, "The St. Cloud Times revisited the case and talked to the people directly involved in it. Most cold cases fade from memory and the enthusiasm to solve them diminishes. But a common theme of undying hope ran through the interviews." The reporter then concludes the story with a small bow stating that the town has never let Jacob leave its heart.

While this is true--as this author writing comes from Jacob's town--the story fails to get at anything other than the simple facts of the case. It fails to investigate how this little boy's abduction still affects the town, or how the town remembers that day. That has merely been left to the local individuals who have added their own personal comments and recounts of the story below the poorly reported piece.