According to the complaint, a Deputy Sgt. from the Barron County Sheriff’s Department and agents from the Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) “responded to a 2:22 a.m. (CST) call and set up a perimeter around the home, located about 90 miles east of Minneapolis”
From what I could gather, DCI agents and the Barron County Sheriff’s Deputy parked some distance from the Closs home and approached with caution not to alert suspect(s) as they set the perimeter. After they saw movement inside the Closs’ home, the Deputy ran back to his squad car to retrieve his K-9. Upon returning to the property, the DCI agents could be heard ordering the man at gunpoint to go outside.
Kyle Jaenke, 32, of Cameron, Wisconsin, had on his glasses, a flashlight, black gloves and a mask with “a skull on the front” according to the complaint filed against him.
From CNN:
“Jaenke conceded he had broken into the home and stolen multiple items, the complaint says. In his coat pocket, the sergeant found a pink extra-small tank top, orange-and-green girl’s underwear, a red-and-white girl’s tank top and an orange-and-white girl’s dress…”“…FBI and DCI agents interviewed Jaenke, who said he went to the Closs home after leaving work at the Jennie-O Turkey Store in Barron, the same facility at which Jayme’s slain parents worked. A 911 call led authorities to the Closs home on October 15, where they found the parents’ bodies and learned Jayme was missing”Jaenke told police that after leaving the store, he rode his bike to a laundromat in Barron and then walked to the Closs home, the complaint says. The patio door was unlocked when he arrived, he said, according to police.“The defendant was asked how many items he took and he stated three or four items, including some underwear that he believed belonged to Jayme,” the complaint says.Jaenke said he did not know the Closses and he stole items that he thought the family wouldn’t miss, according to the complaint.“Additionally, the defendant stated he was curious about what size Jayme was,” the complaint says.
Kyle Jaenke has been cleared of having any involvement in the abduction and murders of her parents. On August 11th Jaenke was released on bond for another burglary charge, and a condition of bail is that he “commit no other crimes”.
Yesterday a judge set his bail at $5,000 for burglary and “bail jumping”.
Jaenke represented by Andy Knaak at the hearing and has “no comment” to the media.
This is not only disturbing, but very alarming. On the surface and legally, this was a burglary indeed. Had it been for some valuables, I’d be more inclined to believe this was a crime for personal gain- like most burglaries.
I have no doubt that this burglary was sexually motivated. For him to knowingly enter the scene of heinous crime on the national stage to steal a young teenager’s “panties” demonstrates that his issues are much deeper than a money motivated criminal looking to profit simply for gain or to feed a drug habit.
While some could argue that his motivation was to obtain her clothes for some type of profit, through perhaps an auction, is pure bullshit. Fencing teenage panties to crime fanatics is unheard of.
Aside from the death penalty, courts- hell the entire justice system in the United States fails to recognize “aggravating factors” when it comes to “petty crimes”. Death penalty opponents, where they failed to get capital punishment abolished, they manage to create lists of aggravating factors that must be met in order for capital punishment to be carried out.
Long ago, I would rail against these bills because I felt it was an attempt to abolish the death penalty in general, however, they address criminal psychology “in general” when it comes to murder. Honestly, many of these “factors” need to be deeply examined and applied in predatory crimes in general.
Rape, domestic violence and sexual abuse are some of the most horrific crimes that can alter and torment victims for life. Sadly, majority of these crimes are classified as misdemeanors with a litany of so called “enhancements” that most have a very simplified view of- but is extremely complex legalese rarely applied. Let’s not even get into “plea bargains”.
Law enforcement, courts and society in general needs to do a better job in recognizing “signs, patterns and the course of conduct” that violent predators engage in. The system has failed victims almost each and every time in these cases. While our system is designed for individuals to be “guilty until proven innocent”, it has been a very poor excuse as to why predators are able to abuse victims often their entire lives with little to no intervention.
Domestic violence is one of the most horrific crimes for anyone to experience, be it the abused, family of the abused or a witness. The cycles, the patterns, the hope, the fear and worse of all, the unknown. The public is conditioned to believe that domestic violence is mostly just a couple in “crazy love”, where both are actors in relationship extremes that sometimes involves violence. The remaining more serious cases of domestic violence the focus and blame is on the victim.
While there are couples in so-called “crazy love”,it is not the norm. It is not typical nor is it acceptable.
When courts intervene, their first few instances whether through a plea agreement or even upon conviction, the offender is often put on “court supervision” and ordered to “anger management”. Once a domestic abuse survivor who endured abuse far worse than some tortured by serial killers asked me- “Why?”
The answer is simple. Public perception of domestic violence and abusers is twisted. Abusers are often treated as some type of “victim” with some sort of “condition” who needs “help”. Yet, most are dangerous predators that have done horrific things. We have this view that when the violence breaks out, he may have had “too many beers” or is “under a lot of stress” and “cannot find work”. Worse, folks perceive that both individuals are equal actors in the abuse, so the public and the courts view relationships as complex, therefore domestic violence and applying the law, enhancements in the penalty phase and the bills designed to protect these women and children in both family and criminal courts are rarely applied, if ever.
In our failed “War on Drugs”, laws have been passed that determines before any type of investigation or vetting that if an individual amount of a drug is in an individual’s possession it is “conspiracy to distribute”, regardless of his or her’s intent. The law says that once that amount is in your possession, you’re a drug dealer. That folks, is how tough we are on some kid buying dope, yet if he beats and strangles your daughter, even if she cooperates with the prosecution, he might get anger management.
Anger management is worthless when it comes to domestic violence. It is two very different issues. Angry people don’t just beat and choke loved ones. Predators do.
Our judicial system is so weak and tolerant of domestic violence abusers- that the recidivism rate is estimated to be nearly 100%. Some psychologists argued that abusers rarely change if ever, simply because their views on women and relationship dynamics are completely absent. If a woman is worthless in an abuser’s eyes to begin with, what does a relationship or anger have to do with it in the first place? Exactly. These are people with deep emotional issues that only if they really want to change, they are in need of serious help.
When it comes to men like Kyle Jaenke, we have the same problem. Now, this man has admitted to breaking into the house in which a little girl was abducted and her parents were murdered, to steal some personal items of Jayme Closs, including her underwear. He did not just start this, he is 32 years-old. He did not get this brazen unless he was deeply obsessed with Jayme Closs(Jaenke did work with her parents) or he is fantasizing about the crime itself.
I can only hope that law enforcement will use this opportunity to speak with little children that have been in contact with Kyle Jaenke in the past decade or so. Once again, the courts missed an opportunity to protect society. This is far worse than a “burglary”. If the system can put this much effort into a failed “War on Drugs” and apply, examine and dissect all these “aggravating factors” when considering whether applying the death penalty is appropriate or not; certainly law enforcement and the courts could recognize and intervene when a predator is demonstrating known predatory behaviors- regardless of the criminal offense. If we are truly obsessed with not only the crime itself, but an individual’s intent behind it, we must recognize that Kyle Jaenke is a dangerous man.
He is a predator with a compulsion that was unable to control himself and steal a child’s panties from a house that is sitting right on the national stage- in one of the most horrific publicized crimes in the media today.
I can guarantee you thing. This isn’t the last we’ve heard of Kyle Jaenke.
