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Station: Suspect in abduction of 13-year-old Jayme Closs says he’ll plead guilty

A Minnesota television station is reporting that the Wisconsin man accused in the kidnapping of 13-year-old Jayme Closs plans to plead guilty.

FILE - In a Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019, file photo, Jake Patterson appears for a brief hearing in Barron County Circuit Court in Barron, Wis. A Minnesota television station reported Thursday, March 7, 2019 that Patterson, who is charged in the kidnapping of 13-year-old Jayme Closs, says in a letter from jail that he plans to plead guilty. Patterson, 21, is accused of killing James and Denise Closs on Oct. 15 and kidnapping their daughter, Jayme Closs, from their Barron home. Jayme escaped on Jan. 10, after 88 days. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii / Star Tribune via AP, Pool, File)
FILE - In a Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019, file photo, Jake Patterson appears for a brief hearing in Barron County Circuit Court in Barron, Wis. A Minnesota television station reported Thursday, March 7, 2019 that Patterson, who is charged in the kidnapping of 13-year-old Jayme Closs, says in a letter from jail that he plans to plead guilty. Patterson, 21, is accused of killing James and Denise Closs on Oct. 15 and kidnapping their daughter, Jayme Closs, from their Barron home. Jayme escaped on Jan. 10, after 88 days. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii / Star Tribune via AP, Pool, File)Read moreRichard Tsong-Taatarii / AP
    by The Associated Press, The Associated Press
    Published 

A Minnesota television station reported Thursday that the Wisconsin man charged with kidnapping 13-year-old Jayme Closs says in a letter from jail that he plans to plead guilty.

KARE-TV reported that suspect Jake Patterson's Feb. 28 letter was in response to a letter from a station reporter. Patterson wrote that he planned to plead guilty because he didn't want Jayme's family "to worry about a trial," the station said.

Patterson, 21, is also charged with killing Jayme’s parents in an Oct. 15 attack at the family’s home near Barron, about 90 miles northeast of Minneapolis in western Wisconsin. Prosecutors say Patterson spotted Jayme getting off a school bus near her home and made up his mind to take her. He’s accused of holding Jayme for 88 days in a cabin about an hour north of Barron before she escaped in January.

In the letter attributed to Patterson, he wrote to reporter Lou Raguse that he had “huge amounts” of remorse and that “I can’t believe I did this.”

A photo of the letter posted on the station's website had "I'm Sorry Jayme!" in large balloon letters, followed by "For everything. I know it doesn't mean much."

Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald told the Associated Press he could not comment on the report. KARE reported that Fitzgerald told the station he was aware that Patterson had sent a letter to a KARE reporter.

Patterson's attorneys did not immediately respond to messages from AP.

He is being held on $5 million bail pending a March 27 arraignment, where he’s expected to formally enter a plea.