Wetterling killer sentenced to 20 years in prison

MINNEAPOLIS -- Danny Heinrich, the man who confessed to killing Jacob Wetterling almost three decades ago, was sentenced to 20 years in prison Monday, Nov. 21, in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis.

Officials set up extra courtrooms for spectators as an overflow crowd of family, media and others arrived. After victim impact statements from Wetterling’s family and friends, along with a brief statement from Heinrich himself, Chief U.S. District Judge John Tunheim sentenced him to 20 years in federal prison on a child-pornography charge, as planned in a plea agreement.

Heinrich, 53, of Annandale confessed in court to abducting, sexually assaulting and fatally shooting Jacob on Oct. 22, 1989. In chilling detail, he described taking Jacob at gunpoint less than a mile from his home in St. Joseph, Minn., and driving him to Paynesville, Minn., where Heinrich was living at the time. At a spot near a gravel pit, Heinrich forced Jacob to undress and sexually assaulted him. He said Jacob cried after the assault, told him he was cold and asked to go home.

http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/news/region/4163815-wetterling-killer-sentenced-20-years-prison