Jayme Closs: Mother of man accused of kidnap is ‘scared to leave home’

Jake Patterson’s mother is ‘distraught,’ and ‘scared to come out of her house,’ in the wake of the horrifying revelations about her son’s attack on the Closs house on October 15.

Speaking to DailyMail.com a neighbor who asked not to be named said: ‘She’s distraught. They’re good people. This is just shocking.’

The stark description is the first insight into the family behind the killer and kidnapper whose horrific actions have stunned the nation. 

According to the neighbor, Deborah Frey and her second husband Kevin – Patterson’s mother and stepfather – are thoughtful people who get up early each morning to plow snow from driveways.

The neighbor said: ‘I would see him [Jake] across the street but not to talk to him. They’re good people. But he’s a freak.’

Today his mother was described as holed up at home, uncertain how to move forward in the wake of all that has happened and her youngest son’s horrifying confessions. 

DailyMail.com can also reveal that on the day Jayme Closs escaped, Patterson had made the 56-mile trip from the cabin in which he was holding the 13-year-old to his mother’s home in Haugen, Wisconsin. 

Jake Patterson’s mother Deborah Frey (pictured above with Jake and his sister Katie in 2015) is ‘distraught,’ and ‘scared to come out of her house,’ in the wake of the horrifying revelations about her son’s crimes, a neighbor told DailyMail.com 

Today Patterson's mother was described as holed up at home, uncertain as to how to move forward in the wake of all that has happened and her youngest son's horrifying confessions of kidnapping Jayme Closs (center) and shooting dead her parents

Today Patterson’s mother was described as holed up at home, uncertain as to how to move forward in the wake of all that has happened and her youngest son’s horrifying confessions of kidnapping Jayme Closs (center) and shooting dead her parents

DailyMail.com can also reveal that on the day Jayme Closs escaped, Patterson had made the 56-mile trip from the cabin in which he was holding the 13-year-old to his mother's home in Haugen, Wisconsin (pictured)

DailyMail.com can also reveal that on the day Jayme Closs escaped, Patterson had made the 56-mile trip from the cabin in which he was holding the 13-year-old to his mother’s home in Haugen, Wisconsin (pictured)

Patterson's stepfather Kevin is, according to another neighbor, a keen hunter who is often seen out taking shots. It is not known if his stepson who gunned down Denise and James Closs with such lethal efficiency ever joined him. Pictured: Target practice in the backyard of the Haugen, WI home of Jake Patterson's mother, Deborah and stepfather Kevin Frey

Patterson’s stepfather Kevin is, according to another neighbor, a keen hunter who is often seen out taking shots. It is not known if his stepson who gunned down Denise and James Closs with such lethal efficiency ever joined him. Pictured: Target practice in the backyard of the Haugen, WI home of Jake Patterson’s mother, Deborah and stepfather Kevin Frey

 

On the day of her escape, Patterson told Jayme where he was going. That visit and the hour long drive there and back gave the teen the window of time she needed to crawl to freedom.

Neither Patterson’s mother nor father has given any hint that they recognized anything unusual about their son’s behavior across the 87 days during which he held Jayme prisoner, though both saw him during that time.

The couple split for good in 2007 after a turbulent marriage when their youngest son, Jake, was 12 years old. They had filed for divorce once before, in 2005, but the suit was dropped as they endeavored to try to save the marriage that brought them three children – Jake, 21, Erik, 24, and sister Katie, 26.

Today Deborah lives with her second husband Kevin in the small town of Haugen just 20 minutes drive from Jayme’s home in Barron.

Their clapboard home is neatly kept, with clearly tended garden beneath a layer of frozen ground and a target practice out in the back yard. 

Patterson’s stepfather Kevin is, according to another neighbor, a keen hunter who is often seen out taking shots. It is not known if his stepson who gunned down Denise and James Closs with such lethal efficiency ever joined him.

Those who knew Patterson growing up have described him as ‘quiet’ ‘studious’ and a member of Northwood High School’s Quiz Bowl team.

But an ex-boyfriend of his sister, Katie, who dated her in 2009 and often stayed with her in the Patterson family home, recalled Patterson as more troubled than quiet. 

A neighbor who wished not to be named told DailyMail.com: 'She's distraught. They're good people. This is just shocking.' The neighbor added: 'I would see him [Jake] across the street but not to talk to him. They're good people. But he's a freak' 

A neighbor who wished not to be named told DailyMail.com: ‘She’s distraught. They’re good people. This is just shocking.’ The neighbor added: ‘I would see him [Jake] across the street but not to talk to him. They’re good people. But he’s a freak’ 

Patterson's older brother, Erik, and father Patrick (pictured together) were the only family present for Patterson in his first court appearance on Monday. They refused to answer questions following the hearing and Patrick shook his head when asked if he knew what had happened at the cabin

Patterson’s older brother, Erik, and father Patrick (pictured together) were the only family present for Patterson in his first court appearance on Monday. They refused to answer questions following the hearing and Patrick shook his head when asked if he knew what had happened at the cabin

He said: ‘I often stayed there for a week at a time so as to save on gas money for the ride home – I lived about an hour away from their place in Gordon.’

Patterson’s parents got joint custody of the children but the ex recalled Patterson’s father Patrick as the primary care giver.

He said: ‘Patrick was just a great guy and so welcoming. But he worked long hours. He’d be up at four to leave the house and not back till late and Jake was kind of alone, isolated even in his family. His brother and sister were that bit older.

‘Nobody would really engage with Jake. I never saw him out playing with their dog or taking part in any sporting activity or even with friends.

‘He was just always indoors sitting by himself. He’d be watching TV and just staring straight ahead at it. One of the last times I saw him I was getting ready to leave and I sort of said my goodbyes to him and he just kept looking straight ahead, he didn’t react at all or turn his head or wave…nothing.

‘There was something very flat and emotionless about him. There was nothing behind his eyes. I remember feeling that even back then.’

On his graduation in 2015 Patterson stated in his high school yearbook that he wanted to join the Marines. But his career with the Marines was cut short. Military records show he was discharged after only five weeks.

A spokesperson for the Marines said that the brevity of his career indicated that ‘the character of his service was incongruent with Marine Corps’ expectations and standards.’

He held a job at Barron’s Jennie O Turkey Factory – where Denise and James Closs worked for more than two decades – for just one day some three years ago.

His latest job at Saputo Cheese Factory lasted just two days. His first morning drive there was the one on which he claimed to have first seen Jayme getting on her way to school.

Patterson displayed that same flat affect recalled by his sister’s ex-girlfriend when he appeared in Barron County Circuit Court via video link on Monday.

Patterson told cops he decided Jayme was 'the girl he was going to take' after seeing her get on a school bus when it stopped in front of him as he drove to work one day 

Patterson told cops he decided Jayme was ‘the girl he was going to take’ after seeing her get on a school bus when it stopped in front of him as he drove to work one day 

The gruesome scene is laid bare as deputies attending the scene told of 'blood and brain splattering on the… wall directly behind the wooden entrance door'

Pictured is James Closs

Patterson is charged with shooting dead Jayme’s parents Denies (left) and James Closs (right). The gruesome scene is laid bare as deputies attending the scene told of ‘blood and brain splattering on the… wall’

Pictured is the front door of the Closs home. It appears to be covered with plywood and a blanket, and sources say it was kicked in during the home invasion

Pictured is the front door of the Closs home. It appears to be covered with plywood and a blanket, and sources say it was kicked in during the home invasion

He sat, impassive, as the horrific charges of his apparently inexplicable crime spree, were read to the court.

At one point he seemed to almost stifle a yawn. He blinked. He looked down at the copy of the charge sheet on the table before him. And he showed not one flicker of emotion, remorse or care.

His father wept openly, as the charges against his son were read out in court and bail set at $5 million.

Patterson’s brother, Erik, and father, Patrick, were the only family present for him in court.

Erik wore a blue and black hooded jacket and sat hunched forward. His father, seated next to him, was dressed in a grey pin stripe suit. He took his glasses from his nose as he sat down and held them in his hands. He fretted with them briefly.

‘You don’t have anyone else coming on your side do you?’ Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald asked as he tried to accommodate media, public and court officers in the rapidly filling benches. Only the bench reserved for Patterson’s family remained relatively vacant.

‘No we don’t sir,’ Patterson Sr responded. 

As the court waited and 3.30pm approached Patterson’s father put a protective hand on his son Erik’s knee. He gave it a squeeze and his hand remained there a while.

They refused to answer questions following the hearing. Mr Patterson shook his head when asked if he knew what had happened at the cabin or witnessed anything strange. 

Patterson will not be allowed firearms, contact with Jayme or the neighbors and dog walker who alerted authorities to her escape.

Asked if he understood that Patterson answered confidently,’Yes sir.’ With that the court was adjourned.

Hours before his first court appearance, the horrifying details of the Closs murders and Jayme’s abduction emerged in the criminal complaint that was filed on Monday. 

It told of how Jayme cowered in the bathroom with her mother as Patterson shot her father in the head and then watched in horror as he did the same to her mother minutes after kicking in the flimsy door.

Dressed in black from head to toe including a face mask, hat and gloves, Patterson grabbed the terrified teenager, taped her hands and ankles together, covered her mouth with tape and dragged her out of her home to his waiting car.

According to Jayme, her abductor then bundled into the trunk and drove her approximately two hours to the cabin where he would hold her for the next three months.

Patterson stole his father's 12 gauge Mossberg shotgun (file photo)- chosen because it was so common and would be hard to trace

Patterson stole his father’s 12 gauge Mossberg shotgun (file photo)- chosen because it was so common and would be hard to trace

Patterson took her into the cabin, removed the tape from her mouth, hands and ankles and told her to go into the bathroom and remove all her clothes, the complaint states.

He made her put the clothes in which she had been abducted into a bag, making some comment about ‘not having evidence.’

When friends of relatives visited Patterson, he ‘made it clear that nobody was to know she was there or bad things would happen to her.’

He made her hide under his bed in one corner of his bedroom and stacked totes and laundry bins around the bed with weights stacked against them so she could not move them. 

On one occasion, according to the documents seen by DailyMail.com, Jayme stated that Patterson got mad and ‘hit her really hard on the back with the handle of something he used to clean blinds.’ She could not remember what had angered him.

Her escape came when he left the cabin and she managed to push the weights away and flee.

Patterson has confessed has been charged with two counts of first degree homicide, kidnapping and armed burglary. 

Patterson told cops he decided that Jayme was ‘the girl he was going to take’ after a chance sighting of her getting on the school bus when it stopped in front of him as he drove to work.

According to Patterson he ‘had no idea who Jayme was’ when he decided to take her and set about plotting his crime. 

He bought a black balaclava mask from Walmart and drove to the Closs home twice with the intent to kidnap her but was deterred by cars in the driveway and lights in the house.

On the night of October 15, he finally followed through and stole his father’s 12 gauge Mossberg shotgun – chosen because it was so common and would be hard to trace. 

He took six 12 gauge shells because ‘he felt the 12 gauge would inflict the most damage on someone and would most likely be the best choice of shell and weapon to kill someone.’

As well as the balaclava, he wore two pairs of gloves. He shut off his headlights and coasted to the end of the driveway. As he approached under cover of darkness Patterson saw Jayme’s father, James, standing in the large window.

Jayme told detectives that she had been woken by her dog Molly barking and noticed somebody coming up the driveway when she went to investigate.

She woke her parents and her father ‘went to the door to see what was going on.’

Patterson claimed that he yelled at Closs to get on the ground but that he ‘kept shining a flashlight and looking outside.’

The gunman then approached the front steps, opened the glass storm door and began pounding on the wooden door.

As James Closs peered through the decorative glass window, he asked to see Patterson’s badge – assuming that he was law enforcement.

In that moment, Patterson said, he raised his shotgun, pointed it at James Closs’ head and pulled the trigger.

James is described in the complaint as having ‘significant trauma to his face and head.’  

He said that Jayme had tried to escape his makeshift lair at least twice and when she had done so, he 'struck a wall and screamed a lot to the point where he knew she was scared and …she better never try that again.'

Chillingly after he had dragged the shocked teen to his car, bundled her into his car and made his get away Patterson recounted 'he yielded to three passing squad cars that were travelling west towards the house with their red and blue emergency lights and sirens on'

Chillingly after he had dragged the shocked teen to his car, bundled her into his car and made his getaway, Patterson recounted ‘he yielded to three passing squad cars that were travelling west towards the house with their red and blue emergency lights and sirens on’

The image above shows the cabin in rural Wisconsin where Jake Patterson allegedly held 13-year-old Jayme Closs prisoner for nearly three months

The image above shows the cabin in rural Wisconsin where Jake Patterson allegedly held 13-year-old Jayme Closs prisoner for nearly three months

He tried to shoulder open the door behind which James Closs had collapsed but when he couldn’t he lowered his shotgun and blasted the doorknob. 

Once in, he stepped over James Closs’ lifeless body and headed to the closed door directly in front of him. He quickly scanned other rooms checking for anybody else.

When he found nobody else inside the house, he returned to the closed door where Denise and Jayme were hiding, kicking and shoving the door 10 to 15 times before it burst open.

In a terrifying scene he tore the shower curtain down, taking the rod with it and found Denise ‘with her arms wrapped around Jayme in a bear hug.’

Patterson told Denise to place black duct tape over her daughter’s mouth but when she ‘struggled to do that’ he put down his shotgun, took back the tape and wrapped it around Jayme’s mouth and head. 

He made the teen stand up while he ‘took and placed [tape] around her wrists, with her palms together to restrain her hands and arms.’

Patterson then taped her ankles, removed her from the tub and, as she stood beside him, he took aim at her mother’s head and pulled the trigger.

As he dragged Jayme away he told officers he nearly slipped on the blood that had pooled on the floor.

The gruesome scene is laid bare as deputies attending the scene told of ‘blood and brain splattering on the… wall directly behind the wooden entrance door.’

Denise had also been shot in the head, ‘with the rear backside of her head and skull plate completely removed and lying next to her body in the bathtub.’  

As Jayme's family prepares to face down Patterson in court, DailyMail.com obtained exclusive photos of the squalid basement 'cell'  in Patterson's home 

As Jayme’s family prepares to face down Patterson in court, DailyMail.com obtained exclusive photos of the squalid basement ‘cell’  in Patterson’s home 

The image above shows the filthy basement den where authorities believe 13-year-old Jayme Closs was held prisoner by her alleged abductor, Jake Thomas Patterson, 21 

The image above shows the filthy basement den where authorities believe 13-year-old Jayme Closs was held prisoner by her alleged abductor, Jake Thomas Patterson, 21 

Inside the main living room is a half-finished game of Monopoly and a book entitled 'U.S. Armed Forces Survival Guide' 

Inside the main living room is a half-finished game of Monopoly and a book entitled ‘U.S. Armed Forces Survival Guide’ 

This aerial photo shows the cabin where 13-year-old Jayme Closs was held by Jake Thomas Patterson, surrounded by law enforcement vehicles

This aerial photo shows the cabin where 13-year-old Jayme Closs was held by Jake Thomas Patterson, surrounded by law enforcement vehicles

Chillingly after he had dragged Jayme to his car, he bundled her into his car’s trunk  and made his getaway.

Patterson recounted ‘he yielded to three passing squad cars that were travelling west towards the house with their red and blue emergency lights and sirens on.’

Asked what he would have done if he he been stopped by police as he made his escape, Patterson said ‘he still had the loaded shotgun in the front seat of the car [and] would most likely have shot at the police.’ 

Patterson said ‘knew he was going to kill anyone in the house [that night] because..he could not leave any eyewitnesses behind.’

He described Jayme as ‘scared and crying’ when he finally let her out of the trunk. 

She had urinated herself and so he told her to change into a pair of his sister’s pajamas.

He then kept her in a space under his bed which is twin-sized  and sits approximately 2 1/2 feet off the ground.

He said that Jayme had tried to escape his makeshift lair at least twice and when she had done so, he ‘struck a wall and screamed a lot to the point where he knew she was scared and …she better never try that again.’

He believed her to be ‘fearful enough not to leave the bedroom without him.’ 

According to Patterso, Jayme did not leave because he had scared her enough with his outburst to the point where she complied to his wishes

According to Patterso, Jayme did not leave because he had scared her enough with his outburst to the point where she complied to his wishes

Jayme Closs cowered in the bathroom with her mother as Jake Patterson shot her father in the head then watched in horror as he did the same to her mother minutes after kicking in the flimsy door

Jake Thomas Patterson, 21 is being held for two counts of first degree intentional homicide and and one count of kidnapping of Jayme Closs

The details of Jayme Closs’ abduction have emerged in the criminal complaint filed on Monday ahead of Jake Patterson’s (pictured) first court appearance in Barron, Wisconsin 

According to Patterson she did not leave because he had scared her enough with his outburst to the point where she complied.

Patterson said he left her alone for 12 hours at Christmas while he visited his grandparents in Superior and when his father visited, he simply turned up the radio to mask any sound she might make.

On the day of her escape and his arrest Patterson had told Jayme he was leaving for a few hours.

When he got home he discovered she was not under the bed and began a frantic search for her.

After a few minutes he returned to his house and when he saw police ‘he knew he was caught.’

In a bizarrely nonchalant admission Patterson told cops he ‘assumed he had gotten away with killing James and Denise and kidnapping Jayme since he hadn’t been caught in the first two weeks.’

He denied having ever met Jayme either in real life or online and that he only learned her name after the abduction.

He claimed he learned her parents names when he saw the reports of their killings.

Patterson told a detective ‘he never would have been caught if he would have planned everything correctly.’   

THE 12-PAGE CRIMINAL COMPLAINT DETAILING JAYME’S ABDUCTION

 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk