35 Years Ago: Minnesota’s Jacob Wetterling is Kidnapped, Murdered

It's really hard to believe, but Jacob Wetterling would be 46 years old today.

Let that sink in.

The St. Joseph boy who was abducted, launching a nearly three decades long journey to find Jacob and bring him home -- would've been been old enough to have his own kids today.

While the little boy with the yellow sweater and the impish smile will forever be 11, his legacy lives on.

Here's what happened all those years ago.

JACOB'S KIDNAPPING

Thirty-five years ago, a masked, repeat sexual offender named Danny Heinrich kidnapped 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling as the boy, his brother and a friend rode their bikes to a convenience store to rent a video in St. Joseph.

Heinrich sexually assaulted and killed Jacob that night, burying his body in a gravel pit near Paynesville.

That was October 22, 1989.

Jacob's kidnapping remained a mystery for years with his parents and the foundation they created working with police to get someone to come forward with the one piece of information that would help authorities bring Jacob home.

DANNY HEINRICH

From the beginning, authorities were interested in Danny Heinrich as a potential suspect. The FBI questioned him in December 1989, but he maintained his innocence and was released.

In the years since Jacob's disappearance, DNA technology improved. And in 2015, as investigators were taking a fresh look at the Wetterling case, they linked DNA found on the clothing of a Cold Spring boy who had been attacked under similar circumstances in January 1989 -- with Danny Heinrich.

Police got a search warrant for Heinrich's house in Annandale.

There they found his child pornography collection.

They arrested Heinrich and charged him with 25 child pornography counts.

But they pressed him on the Wetterling disappearance. And ultimately, authorities offered him a deal to put an end to the Wetterling investigation.

Heinrich agreed to the terms of a plea agreement that the Wetterling family signed-off on.

Under the deal, Heinrich pleaded guilty to a single count of child pornography. And he led authorities to the pasture where he had reburied Jacob's body and gave authorities details of what he had done.

As part of that deal, authorities agreed to not charge Heinrich with Jacob's murder.

A judge sentenced him to the maximum sentence for the child pornography charge -- 20 years in federal prison. And state authorities can seek his civil commitment at the end of his federal term in 2033 to keep him confined. That could mean Danny Heinrich never goes free.

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JACOB'S LEGACY

In the wake of Jacob's kidnapping, the Wetterling family created a child safety advocacy group. The Jacob Wetterling Foundation remains in operation today as The Jacob Wetterling Resource Center.

Federal legislation was named for him -- the Jacob Wetterling Act of 1994 established a state sex-offender registry. It's been amended and strengthened several times since.

But perhaps the biggest legacy was the reassurance Jacob's parents -- Jerry and Patty Wetterling -- gave young people that they were important, that they were loved and that their family and community would never stop looking for them.