It was 20 years ago tonight that a stranger stopped three young boys near St. Joseph. Then the man told two boys to run and he kept Jacob Wetterling.
This action took 11-year-old Jacob from the Wetterling family, shocked the community of St. Joseph and changed Minnesota.
In St. Joseph and across Minnesota, kids stayed closer to home and parents became more attentive as well as restrictive.
A generation of young Minnesota hockey players wore JW stickers on their helmets in support of the search for Jacob, a fellow hockey player.
It all started so simply. Three young boys decided to go to the local Tom Thumb to rent a movie for the night.
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On the way, a man stepped out of the bushes, told the boys he had a gun and made them lie on the ground. He quickly told two of them to run and then disappeared along with Jacob.
Law enforcement and the Wetterling family's foundation have chased thousands of leads and exhausted thousands of hours in investigative time in the search for Jacob.
The search for Jacob continues.
We hope this ongoing search will find Jacob someday. Then his family and friends will no longer have to wonder.
So take a minute or two today to remember Jacob and say a prayer for his return.
