A 21-year-old Wisconsin man has been charged with the kidnapping of 13-year-old Jayme Closs and the murder of her parents, authorities said on Friday, a day after the girl escaped following three months of captivity.
The teenager, who had been missing since her parents were discovered fatally shot in October, was discovered dirty and malnourished by a woman walking her dog in Gordon, Wisconsin, about 60 miles (100 km) north of her hometown of Barron.
Jake Patterson was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of kidnapping, Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald told reporters at a news conference on Friday.
Police pulled his car over on Thursday after Closs gave authorities a description of her captor's vehicle.
The girl's disappearance in October made national headlines and stunned her hometown of Barron, Wisconsin, population 3,400, about 90 miles east of Minneapolis and sparked massive searches with 1,500 volunteers scouring woods and fields in suburban Minneapolis. A $25,000 reward was offered for her safe return. (Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta and Gabriella Borter in New York; Editing by Scott Malone and Jeffrey Benkoe)
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