Patty Wetterling: 'For us, Jacob was alive until we found him'

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - Patty Wetterling delivered the following remarks on Tuesday, Sept. 6 following the confession of Danny Heinrich to the October 1989 abduction, sexual assault and murder of her 11-year-old son, Jacob.

“What I really wanted to say today is about Jacob. He’s taught us all how to live, how to love, how to be fair, how to be kind – speaks to the world that he knew, that we all believe in and it is a world that is worth fighting for. His legacy will go on.

“I want to say, Jacob, I’m so sorry. It’s incredibly painful to know his last days, last hours and last minutes. I couldn’t do this without my family. I’m proud, so proud, of the lives that they’ve built and the happiness they’ve found and the children and grandchildren that we so enjoy and that is the world. That is what gets us up in the morning. That is the hope. That is Jacob’s hope. That is what we’re going to continue to do.

“I also want to say one huge shout out to Jared and Joy. Jared had the courage to stand up and say, ‘This happened to me.’ And there are others and they found the others and they talked to those others and many of them will never get that full confession. Maybe it was Heinrich and maybe it was someone else, but we know he had other victims. But, they deserve so much credit for stirring the pot until he was willing to talk. Thank you.

“We love you Jacob. We will continue to fight. Our hearts are hurting. We will try to and pull I would love to talk to you all but I’m just not ready yet. For us, Jacob was alive until we found him. We need to heal. And we will speak with you. There are a lot of lessons learned and there is a lot of work to do to protect our world’s children. Thank you.”

THE CONFESSION - Danny Heinrich admits to kidnapping and killing Jacob Wetterling