The eventual identification of Danny Heinrich as the man who killed Jacob Wetterling came thanks to new DNA technology that linked the killer to a spate of child sex crimes that occurred in Minnesota in the late 1980s. One of Heinrich’s previous victims was a boy named Jared Scheierl, who in January 1989 at the age of 12 was kidnapped and molested by Heinrich, but managed to escape with his life. Scheierl was able to give an account of the attack and a description of the attacker to the authorities, who drew similarities between that and the Wetterling case. Indeed, Heinrich was identified as a possible suspect in the course of the early investigation into these attacks and the kidnapping of Wetterling, but he was released without charge.
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When evidence finally came in the form of DNA on an article of Scheierl’s clothing and was identified as a match for Henrich in 2015, police searched the suspect’s home and discovered a collection of child pornography for which he was placed under arrest. Heinrich then confessed to the attacks and gave intimate details of the murder. He said after molesting Jacob in a remote field, Heinrich believed that a police cruiser was approaching. Thinking he was at risk of being caught, he told Jacob to turn around. He shot the child from behind with a revolver, according to court testimony (via APM Reports).
