On September 1, 2016, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) recovered human bones from a pasture near Paynesville, about 30 miles (48 km) from the site of the abduction.

[1][2] The location was revealed by Danny Heinrich, a long-time person of interest in the abduction of another boy, 12-year-old Jared Scheierl, in the nearby town of Cold Spring.

[5] Danny Heinrich, wearing a stocking cap mask and armed with an unloaded revolver, came out of a driveway and ordered the boys to throw their bikes into a ditch and lie face down on the ground.

On January 13, 1989, roughly nine months before the Wetterling abduction, 12-year-old Jared Scheierl was kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and physically threatened by an unknown adult man in Cold Spring, Minnesota.

The victim's statement given on that night showed the modus operandi was similar to that of the Wetterling case: the perpetrator, who was later identified as Heinrich, used a gun and, upon releasing the boy, told him to run and not look back or else he would be shot.

[7] In May 2014, investigators confirmed that they were taking another look at a series of attempted and actual child molestations that had occurred in the Paynesville area in the two years preceding the Wetterling abduction.

After months of research and interviews with some of the victims, investigators believed that these attacks were not random and that the culprit could be connected to the abduction of Wetterling, which occurred just 40 minutes from the other crime scenes.

[14] Jacob's clothing and human remains were unearthed from a pasture near Paynesville, about 30 mi (48 km) away from the Wetterling home and the abduction site and a short distance from where Heinrich was living in 1989.

In addition, the plea deal will allow state authorities to seek his civil commitment as a sexual predator at the end of his federal prison term, which could prevent him from ever going free.

You stole the innocence of children in small towns, in the cities of Minnesota and beyond.Although Heinrich could be released in 17 years from the start of his prison sentence, Judge Tunheim told him that it was unlikely, as "this crime is so heinous, so brutal and awful that it is unlikely society will ever let you go free.

[29] After the arrest was made, media reported that according to a friend of the family both Heinrich and his brother were themselves sexually abused by a man then dating their mother, later convicted sex offender Duane Hart, when they were children.