12 Jan 2019; AFP: A 21-year-old man has been charged with murdering the parents of an American teen as part of a calculated plot to kidnap her, police said Friday, after 13-year-old Jayme Closs was found alive following three months in captivity.
The subject of a nationwide search since her parents were found murdered in their home in rural Wisconsin in October, Closs made a seemingly miraculous escape Thursday afternoon, seeking help from a neighbor who alerted authorities.
Minutes later, police arrested the man she identified as her captor, Jake Thomas Patterson, and have charged him with abducting Closs and fatally shooting her parents.
"Jayme was taken against her will and escaped from the residence in which she was being held and found help," Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald told reporters.
The teen was said to be in good health and was to be reunited with her extended family late Friday. She was cleared to leave the hospital and has been talking to investigators.
"She is doing as well as circumstances will allow," Fitzgerald said.
Patterson, who had no previous criminal record in Wisconsin, is accused of carefully planning his attack -- specifically targeting the young teen for reasons that remained unclear.
He was to appear in court Monday.
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