The neighbor who heard the gunshots that stole the lives ofWisconsin teen Jayme Closs’parents is thrilled thatshe was found alivenearly three months after she went missing.
“All I can say is it’s a cry for joy,” Jayme’s neighbor, Barron resident Tom Smrekar, tells PEOPLE. “It’s been a terrible time. Now everybody is thrilled. Everybody is relieved.”
Courtesy of Jennifer Halvorson
Jennifer Halvorson
Police announced on Friday that they’d arrested Patterson and charged him with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide and one count of kidnapping.
He’s scheduled to appear in court on Monday to enter a plea. It’s unclear if he has retained a lawyer who can comment on his behalf.
Barron County Sheriff’s Dept
Jayme disappeared the night of Oct. 15— the same day her parents, Denise, 46, and James Closs, 56, were found dead in their home.
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Declared “missing and endangered,” an AMBER Alert was issued for her as thousands of people joined investigators in their search for her.
Jayme was rescued Thursday around 4 p.m. when she fled her alleged captor’s cabin, racing out of the woods and asking Jeanne Nutter, who was out walking her dog, for help.
Jerry Holt/Star Tribune/ AP
“We knew it was a gun going off,” he says.
They had no idea the gunfire they heard had killed their neighbors, whose house is next door but about “a city block” away, says Smrekar, who didn’t know the Closses well and would sometimes see Jayme getting off the school bus.
“It wasn’t that far from hunting season,” he says. “We thought somebody was shooting at a coyote or a bear. Around here, it’s not uncommon.”
“Everybody was afraid,” he says. “Now everybody is feeling a lot of relief.”
source: people.com
