In October 1989, 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling was abducted near his home in the small town of St. Joseph, Minnesota. Despite an unparalleled effort to find him, his whereabouts remained a mystery for 27 years--until his kidnapper, arrested on another charge, confessed to Wetterling's murder and led authorities to his buried remains in September 2016. Wetterling's disappearance--and the national media attention that followed--had far-reaching effects. No longer was small-town America considered safe from the exploitation of children. In 1993, Congress passed the "Jacob Wetterling Act," setting up a nationwide registry for offenders convicted of crimes against children. Based in part on earlier publications by the author, this detailed account chronicles the decades-long search for Wetterling and his abductor. Long-overlooked names and information that pointed the way to solving the case are brought to the forefront of the investigation.

In October 1989, 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling was abducted near his home in the small town of St. Joseph, Minnesota. Despite an unparalleled effort to find him, his whereabouts remained a mystery for 27 years--until his kidnapper, arrested on another charge, confessed to Wetterling's murder and led authorities to his buried remains in September 2016. Wetterling's disappearance--and the national media attention that followed--had far-reaching effects. No longer was small-town America considered safe from the exploitation of children. In 1993, Congress passed the "Jacob Wetterling Act," setting up a nationwide registry for offenders convicted of crimes against children. Based in part on earlier publications by the author, this detailed account chronicles the decades-long search for Wetterling and his abductor. Long-overlooked names and information that pointed the way to solving the case are brought to the forefront of the investigation.

Solving a cold case is extremely difficult and many are left unresolved. In this book, retired NCIS Special Agent Joe Kennedy details the methodology he created to solve cold case murders. He offers an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look into why cases go cold, how they are investigated and what is needed to successfully resolve them. Author Kennedy shares his motivations and the lessons he has learned while solving these challenging cases. Also examined are cold cases where other detectives have successfully implemented Kennedy's methodology. Many books delve into the perspectives of criminals who commit murder, but this text takes a fascinating gumshoe journey into the mind of a cold case detective and his passionate search for the truth. Helping law enforcement solve cold cases brings justice and resolution for the victims and their families, and this book provides detectives and true crime enthusiasts the tools to investigate cold cases in their own communities.

Here’s help for all adults who want to talk to young children about personal safety. Written by an expert in child safety, this full-color picture book teaches kids (and helps adults reinforce) seven important rules to personal safety in a nonthreatening way. It covers topics like safe versus harmful secrets, safe versus harmful touches, and the importance of having a community of trusted adults to turn to for help. Emphasizing the “check-in” rule and teaching kids to trust their gut instincts, this book gives children the knowledge and confidence they need to make smart choices about their personal safety every day.

Umberto Anastasio, better known as Albert Anastasia, was an Italian-American mobster and hitman who became one of the deadliest criminals in American history and one of the founders of the modern American Mafia in New York City. For all-out savagery and ruthlessness, few other leaders of the Mafia worldwide have rivaled Anastasia, known to peers as "The Mad Hatter" and to journalists as "The Lord High Executioner." After escaping a death sentence in 1921 and multiple other arrests for murder, he later served as director of the national crime syndicate's contract murder department ("Murder, Inc.") from 1931 until informers brought it down ten years later. By 1951 he led one of New York City's Five Families, a post he held until his public barbershop assassination in October 1957. This first-ever book-length biography of Anastasia traces the mobster's life and the ripple effects his career had on the American crime world. The story also tracks his brothers and their families, while debunking certain widespread myths about their parentage, various deportations, trials, convictions, and eventual retirement from the mob, dead or alive.

Anyone who was living in the Midwest in the fall of 1989 was familiar with the Jacob Wetterling kidnapping. The story was all over the news. There were newspaper articles, television news stories, posters, billboards, and buttons. Jacob was everywhere, but he couldn't be found. "It Can't Happen Here" is an investigative and historical chronicle of Jacob's case from several perspectives. It is a well-documented journey that begins with the day of the abduction and the massive media following. The book recounts the support of the local community, and offers a glimpse of how Jacob's kidnapping spawned significant progress toward the safety of all children through the efforts of the Jacob Wetterling Foundation. The book then moves on to a detailed presentation of the investigative effort to find Jacob and his kidnapper, and concludes with an examination of several individuals who were investigated in the case. "It Can't Happen Here." Those are four seemingly defiant words, and at one time they offered what many considered a sense of immunity from the growing horrors of society. In reality, the phrase was merely an empty promise, and it represented the immediate collective reaction to the shocking truth that was realized in St. Joseph, Minnesota, after the night of October 22, 1989. What happened to Jacob Wetterling changed the world. No longer were the small towns in the Midwest considered immune to the horrors of the exploitation of children. The search for Jacob Wetterling has been unlike any other search for a missing child. The purpose of this book is to accomplish two primary objectives. First, the kidnapping of Jacob Wetterling is an incredible, true story, one that is as compelling and mysterious as any such crime could be. Jacob's story is in many ways stranger than fiction. For every question that has been answered during the course of the investigation, it seems that the answers have led to more questions. It is a complex story that has been longing to be told, and never to be forgotten. Second, the case of Jacob Wetterling's kidnapping is a solvable crime. Someone has the answers, or that one piece of information, however small, which could help solve Jacob's case. This book contains a significant volume of information, including a glimpse of several individuals who have been investigated, and several promising but forgotten leads that developed over the course of the investigation. Ultimately, the goal of this book is to not only tell the story of the search for Jacob Wetterling, but also to provide some detail or trigger someone's memory of that one bit of information that could help solve the case. If this book is put into the hands of the right person, I truly believe it actually could help. It should be noted that this book was written without input from the Wetterling family or the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center. Family members were not interviewed for the book, nor was their input sought. As a research and investigative work, my goal has been to make this book an objective, unbiased work. Relevant quotes attributed to Wetterling family members or acquaintances, and persons associated with the Wetterling investigation are credited to their respective media sources, and are included for emphasis and continuity.

Stearns County in central Minnesota is well known for it's friendly people, as well as a wide variety of outdoor activities, restaurants that specialize in hearty comfort foods, and strong winds that often blow across the county from the west and south. It is also home to a relatively large number of unsolved or long-term murder cases, some of which are the most horrific and unimaginable crimes in the history of the state of Minnesota. "Cold Cases of Stearns County, Minnesota" chronicles many of those cases, beginning with the still unsolved disappearance of little Jackie Theel from the streets of Paynesville in 1944, to the seemingly solved but still open 2012 murder of Officer Tom Decker in Cold Spring, and many other cases in between. Robert M. Dudley, the author of "Finding Jacob Wetterling," chronicles a number of cases in the book: Jackie Theel, The Reker Sisters, Ivend Holen, The Huling Family Murders, Joanie Bierschbach, Myrtle Cole, Cynthia Schmidt and Ronnie Bromenschenkel, Herbert Fromelt, Joshua Guimond, and Officer Tom Decker. These cases span the careers of several Stearns County sheriffs including Art McIntee, Pete Lahr, Jim Ellering, Charlie Grafft, Jim Kostreba, and John Sanner. Most were generally well liked by constituents, but through the years some administrations saw their share of controversial moments.