Jayme Closs has been reunited with her aunt, Jennifer Naiberg Smith, today at the hospital, according to Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald.
The family shared a photo today of the reunion.
She will be reunited with other family members by tomorrow, Fitzgerald said.
During a Friday afternoon news conference, Fitzgerald said the Douglas County man accused of kidnapping Jayme Closs and killing her parents had made extensive plans to kidnap the Barron County teen.
Jake Thomas Patterson, 21, from Gordon, Wisconsin, was captured by Douglas County deputies Thursday shortly after Closs was found alive. Patterson was captured based on a description of his vehicle that Closs gave to the sheriff’s office.
Closs had been missing since October 15, when her parents were found murdered in their home in Barron. Authorities have spent the past 88 days searching for her.
“The suspect had specific intentions to kidnap Jayme, and went to great lengths to prepare to take her,” Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald said in a Friday afternoon news conference.
At this time, nothing in this case shows the Patterson knew anyone at the Closs home or had contact with anyone in the Closs family prior to the attack. Fitzgerald say it was not known how Patterson became aware of Closs, but that there was no social media connection.
Fitzgerald said investigators recovered a shotgun that is consistent with the one used to shoot open the door of the Closs home the night of the murders and then used to kill Jayme Closs’s parents.
Patterson was not home at the time Closs escaped, and he appeared to be out looking for her when police came upon him and took him into custody, according to Fitzgerald.
Patterson is expected to make an initial appearance by video at 3:30 p.m., Monday, Jan. 14.
For more go to WKOW: https://wkow.com/news/top-stories/2019/01/11/jayme-closs-reunited-at-hospital-with-aunt/
Photo: WKOW