Jayme Closs, a 13-year-old girl who vanished after her parents were found dead in their northwestern Wisconsin home, has been found alive, the Barron County Sheriff's Department said. / CNN
The man accused of kidnapping Jayme Closs, 13, and holding her captive in a remote cabin for three months after murdering her parents has pleaded guilty to the charges.
Jake Patterson, 21, from Wisconsin in the US, pleaded guilty Wednesday to kidnapping Jayme, intentionally killing her parents and holding her hostage for 88 days. One count of armed burglary was dropped.
Patterson, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, appeared in a Barron County Court on Wednesday afternoon and answered "yes" to a judge asking him if he wanted to plead guilty. As the judge read the charges, Patterson cried, NBC News reports.
Jake Patterson appears for his preliminary hearing at Barron County Circuit Court in Barron. Photo / AP
"Mr. Patterson has wanted to enter a plea since the day we met him," his lawyer told the court.
"He has always been consistent in his statements and belief that this is what he wants to do."
The intentional homicide counts carry a sentence of life in prison. As Patterson was led away from court by officials, he uttered two words: "Bye Jayme," he said.
Patterson had said he would plead guilty in a letter sent earlier this month to a Minneapolis TV station, saying he didn't want the Closs family "to worry about a trial".
Patterson admitted kidnapping Jayme after killing her parents, James and Denise Closs, on October 15 at the family's home near Barron, about 145km northeast of Minneapolis.
Jayme escaped in January, after 88 days in Patterson's cabin in near the small, isolated town of Gordon, some 97km from her home.
According to a criminal complaint, Patterson told authorities he decided Jayme "was the girl he was going to take" after he saw her getting on a school bus near her home.
Jayme told police that the night of the abduction, the family dog's barking awoke her, and she went to wake up her parents as a car came up the driveway. While her father went to the front door, Jayme and her mother hid in the bathroom, clutching each other in the bathtub, with the shower curtain pulled shut.
They heard Jayme's father get shot. Patterson then found Jayme and her mother. He told detectives he wrapped tape around Jayme's mouth and head, taped her hands behind her back and taped her ankles together, then shot her mother in the head. He told police he dragged Jayme outside, threw her in the trunk of his car, and took her to his cabin, the complaint said.
Jayme was in the family's home when her parents, Denise and James Closs, were killed. Photos / Supplied
During Jayme's time in captivity, Patterson forced her to hide under a bed when he had friends over and penned her in with tote boxes and weights, warning that if she moved, "bad things could happen to her."
Patrick Patterson, right, and his daughter, Katie, arrive for the arraignment hearing of his son, Jake Patterson. Photo / AP
He also turned up the radio so visitors couldn't hear her, according to the complaint.
Authorities searched for Jayme for months and collected more than 3500 tips. On January 10, Jayme escaped from the cabin while Patterson was away.
She then flagged down a woman who was out walking a dog and pleaded for help. Patterson was arrested minutes later.
