A Minnesota filmmaker and the family of Jacob Wetterling will bring a new documentary, “Echoes in the Night: The Search for Jacob Wetterling” to the St. Michael Cinema in August, for two special nights of streaming the groundbreaking film that captures some of the history behind the most infamous abduction case in Minnesota history.
From the film description:
In October of 1989, 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling was abducted on a quiet road in St. Joseph, Minnesota. The crime sent shockwaves across the country and the story became more tragic as the Wetterlings achingly searched for answers and kept the light on for Jacob for 26 years. Incredibly, that’s where Director Chris Newberry’s film begins, just as the perpetrator is finally caught and the entire investigation into Jacob’s disappearance is re-examined.
Echoes in the Night focuses on the family’s ceaseless search for answers, the work they’ve done in Jacob’s memory to change the way missing children cases are investigated and resolved.
The film will be shown at the theater August 20 and 22. Showtimes are 1 and 4 p.m. both days, with evening shows at 6:30 p.m. on August 20 and 7 p.m. on August 22. Tickets can be found here at the St. Michael Cinema website.
Wetterling was found in Stearns County after a Wright County man, Danny Heinrich, admitted to the abduction and killing of the young boy more than 25 years later, in 2016.
Historical arrest, conviction of Wright County man
It was a stunning twist in one of the nation’s most notorious disappearances, as a Wright County man led Federal Bureau of Investigation agents to remains discovered in Stearns County in September 2016. Those remains were Wetterling, the St. Joseph boy kidnapped on a fall night in 1989.
Patty Wetterling, the boy’s mother, told local Twin Cities television stations that day that Daniel Heinrich of Annandale, who worked in Buffalo, told authorities where to find Jacob’s remains. A body was discovered in recent weeks, and Wetterling confirmed to KARE 11 that the boy has, after more than 25 years, finally been found.
“We are heartbroken,” she said at the time.
Federal investigators and members of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Stearns County Sheriff’s Department released information in October 2016 that played a large role in cracking one of the nation’s highest profile disappearances.
Daniel James Heinrich, then 52, was arrested in October 2015 on federal charges of receiving and possessing hundreds of images of child pornography. An investigation into Heinrich’s Annandale home also recovered DNA evidence that linked the man, who works in Buffalo, to the sexual assault of a Cold Spring boy, who was 11-years-old at the time. Heinrich’s DNA was found on clothing that matched DNA in the case.
As a result, BCA and federal investigators said they’re looking at several abductions around the Paynesville area, which is where Heinrich lived at the time. Heinrich, in fact, was a person of interest in the Wetterling case when the boy disappeared in October of 1989.
Documents released in October showed Heinrich, who is similar in height, build and facial make-up according to a sketch released in the early investigation of the Wetterling case, owned a 1982 pickup with the same tire tread that made impressions on the gravel road near the spot the boys were abducted. Shoe prints found also matched shoes owned by Heinrich.
Heinrich, who worked at Buffalo Veneer and Plywood, denied any involvement in the case, according to then-U.S. Attorney Andy Luger. That changed recently, as multiple reports say Heinrich was pulled from his cell in federal prison as he awaited trial and interviewed multiple times about Wetterling. According to reports, he broke his silence and told authorities where to look for the body later that summer.
During the child porn case, investigators found hours of video tape in the Heinrich home, showing children in neighborhoods playing, riding bikes and delivering newspapers.
Jacob Wetterling went missing from St. Joseph, Minn., on Oct. 22, 1989. He was riding his bike home from the local Tom Thumb store with his younger brother, Trevor, and friend Aaron Larson when a masked man with a gun appeared on the remote road, told the boys to lie face down in the roadside ditch. The man all three of the boys to state their age, then telling two of them to run into the woods and not look back. Jacob was taken.