The alleged killer-kidnapper accused of imprisoning Jayme Closs lived in a weird ‘time warp’ world without a smart phone, social media or even an internet connection, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.
Loner Jake Patterson, 21, instead spent his free time holed up inside his family’s isolated woodland cabin poring over outdoor survival guides and books about the military.
Tristan Roberts, a longtime former neighbor, told DailyMail.com that Patterson seemed baffled when he first asked him at high school if he had a Facebook account.
‘He stared at me blankly and said he wasn’t interested in having one. He didn’t even seem to have an email account to log onto, he was strictly a notes and paper guy,’ Roberts said.
‘His family were nice people but Jake’s life was like something from a time warp. If he had a cell phone it was not a smart phone. All he was interested in was books.
‘He didn’t socialize, he didn’t have what you would call real friends, just acquaintances. He just wanted to get home to read about survival and the military.’
Jake Patterson, who is charged with kidnapping Jayme Closs and murdering her parents, didn’t have a smart phone or social media, his former neighbor said. In a high school group photo obtained by DailyMail.com, Patterson (circled at right) can be seen sitting alone, his head buried in a book, as smiling students pose for the camera
Tristan Roberts (pictured), a longtime former neighbor, told DailyMail.com that Patterson seemed baffled when he first asked him at high school if he had a Facebook account
Roberts grew up about half a mile from the ramshackle family home in Gordon, Wisconsin where Patterson allegedly kept 13-year-old Jayme prisoner for 88 days before her miraculous escape one week ago.
The cabin’s dated, wood-paneled decor and junk-strewn rooms were first laid bare in a series of photographs obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com.
There are a couple of antiquated tube TVs in the kitchen and living room but no cable boxes, computer equipment or modem.
One image reveals exactly the sort of literature described by Roberts, a book entitled ‘US Armed Forces Survival Guide’, sitting atop a table.
Patterson has lived at the $110,000 dwelling since he was a child, with his mom Deborah, 49, dad Patrick, 55, sister Katie, 26, and older brother Erik, 24.
However Deborah left after divorcing Patrick in 2007 and since then Katie, Patrick and Erik have all moved out, leaving Patterson by himself.
It’s alleged that he kept Jayme captive there after slaughtering her parents Denise and James and bundling her bound and gagged into his car on October 15 last year.
Cops say that when Patterson family members arrived from time to time to visit, the balding weirdo forced his prisoner to hide under his bed.
‘The last time I was in the house was about two and a half years ago,’ added Roberts, 21.
‘I never really spent time in Jake’s room but from what I remember he had a twin bed and a nightstand in the corner with at least a dozen books piled up on it.
‘It was just a typical room – minus the computer.’
Roberts and Patterson attended the same schools, eventually taking turns to ride share when they were old enough to drive.
Another photo obtained by DailyMail.com, shows the twisted loner (left) play-fighting with another teen on the trunk of a Toyota sedan
The image above shows the cabin in rural Wisconsin where Jake Patterson allegedly held 13-year-old Jayme Closs prisoner for nearly three months
But Roberts stops short of calling the accused double killer a friend, explaining: ‘You could never really say we were more than acquaintances, even after all those years.
‘When he was nine or 10 his mom left his dad and that changed him a lot. He became shy, he no longer wanted friends.
‘He went home and sat on his bed reading books. He didn’t let anybody in and he didn’t let anything out.
‘There were times that we smoked weed on the way to school. I remember one time we got super high and we were laughing uncontrollably.
‘There was another occasion he bought in a water bottle full of vodka. He seemed more sociable and human when he was high or drunk.’
Hours before Patterson’s first court appearance the horrifying details of the Closs murders and Jayme’s abduction emerged in the 12-page criminal complaint against him
Roberts said the pair once fell out when they got in a fight on the bus to Northwood High School, back when he was a sophomore student and Patterson was a junior.
He says the confrontation came from nowhere when the strap of his duffel bag accidentally brushed Patterson’s head.
‘He turned around and punched me in the nose. I was looking down at my phone at the time, not expecting it,’ recalled Roberts, an apprentice welder.
‘Then we got into a scuffle and the bus driver actually stopped the bus. It was a good fist fight, we both got in a few shots.
‘It wasn’t a case of shake hands and move on, he kept looking at me like he was mad and wanted to kill me. If he had the chance I think he would have kept on hitting me.
‘So, is Jake Patterson capable of doing something terrible? I would say yes, he could shoot someone. I saw the rage in his eyes.’
Despite his interest in the military and outdoor survival, Roberts said Patterson had little enthusiasm for joining local guys in hunting trips or visits to the firing range.
In fact he seemed to show far less interest in firearms than was typical of teenagers in the remote, rural community where they grew up.
Roberts said his former neighbor was highly intelligent and passionate about animals to the point that he seethed with anger at seeing a video of a dog being tormented.
Despite his interest in the military and outdoor survival, Roberts said Patterson (pictured with his mother and sister in 2015 had little enthusiasm for joining local guys in hunting trips or visits to the firing range
DailyMail.com learned 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)
‘There was a time in the computer lab when Jake watched a viral video of a dog being harassed by someone and it triggered him,’ Roberts said.
‘He really freaked out. He said something like “I would kill anybody who did that”.
‘But there were other times when Jake seemed halfway normal. And he was really smart. He ignored his math assignments all year round but would still pass.
‘People would try to talk to him but anytime a girl would talk to him he wouldn’t reply. He was shy, he avoided interaction.
‘He closed himself off to the world. And the entire time I knew him he didn’t have the internet. I guess that emotion had to come out somewhere eventually.’
Patterson stated in his high school yearbook that he wanted to join the Marines but he was discharged after only five weeks.
A Marines spokesperson said that the brevity of his career indicated that ‘the character of his service was incongruent with Marine Corps’ expectations and standards.’
Patterson 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.
But it was on first morning drive there that he first spotted Jayme on her way to school and hatched his insidious plot to snatch and imprison her.
Inside the main living room is a half-finished game of Monopoly and a book entitled ‘U.S. Armed Forces Survival Guide’
A hammer, a flashlight, a scouring pad, scissors and a spray bottle of cleaning fluid are piled on a table
Hours before his first court appearance Monday, the horrifying details of the Closs murders and Jayme’s abduction emerged in the 12-page criminal complaint against him.
It told of how Jayme cowered in the bathroom with her mother after Patterson stormed her home in Barron, Wisconsin and shot her father in the head with a shotgun.
The petrified youngster 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, covered her mouth and dragged her out of her home to his waiting car.
According to Jayme, her abductor then bundled her into the trunk and drove her approximately two hours to the cabin where he would hold her for the next three months.
Patterson is charged with kidnapping, armed burglary and two counts of first degree intentional homicide after allegedly greeting his arresting officers with the words: ‘I did it.’
Jayme was found at the Eau Claire Acres estate near the town of Gordon, which is about 70 miles away from her home in Barron where she was abducted