Someone burst into a rural home in Barron, Wisconsin in the early morning hours of October 15, 2018. Neighbors heard something that sounded like two gunshots, and twenty minutes later 911 received a garbled emergency call from Mrs. Closs' cell phone. When police arrived, the mother was deceased, and the father died shortly after the police arrived. Thirteen-year-old Jayme Closs was missing. Where can this quiet, well-mannered teen be?
There's a ton of online theories on this case, but the evidence released thus far doesn't point to any of them. As of today, the parents are deceased, and Jayme is considered missing and endangered. The murder weapon wasn't found on the scene, and the police are quick to say that Jayme is in no way a suspect in this case.
It's been eleven days, and hundreds of tips have poured in, and the authorities are checking every one of them. The FBI is offering a $25,000 reward for information that leads to the whereabouts of Jayme.
The family members made an emotional plea for information on October 24th proclaiming their love for their missing loved one. The authorities are looking for two vehicles. Surveillance videos picked up a red or orange Dodge Challenger or Charger and a Black SUV believed to be a Ford Edge or an Acura MBX.
In a small town of 3,500 people, 2,000 volunteers gathered to search for the missing teenager. Unlike other cases, the authorities have kept the searches well organized in hopes of finding the one clue that could save a child's life. Unfortunately, the searches haven't yielded the smoking gun everyone was hoping for. Citizens are left to wonder why this happened and how could it have happened in their otherwise safe community.
Amber Wilde was a 19-year-old student at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay working on becoming a pediatrician. Amber kept a detailed diary throughout her life and this chronical is now giving the police hope that this case can be solved. Clues in this diary lead to a suspect, but 20 years have passed with no arrests. What happened to Amber and why does her aunt believe she's buried somewhere under the asphalt of Hwy 29?
Amber is in a car accident on her way to school. Amber had re-ended the car in front of her. Although the accident was minimal, she hit her head hard on the windshield and complained of an intense headache. The drivers exchanged phone numbers and the day continued for both. Unfortunately, this would be Amber's last day.
Amber checks in with the medical staff at the school and they advise her that she may have received a concussion. She called her father and relayed the events to him and he promised to call periodically throughout the day to check on her. The last call he received from her was around 7 pm. He was scheduled to call her first thing in the morning to make sure that she was ok before she went to class. That call went unanswered as well as several others. A worried father went to her apartment to check on her and although he found nothing obviously disturbing, he knew something was wrong. His daughter was pregnant and she had been having issues with the father of her child.
A few days pass without any word before the police find Amber's abandoned car parked in the parking lot of Lambeau Field. Strangely, the car was unlocked, the phone was still charging on the front passenger seat, and her purse was locked in the trunk. Nothing looked odd or out of place until her father looked closer. Amber Wilde is reported as 5′ 2″ – 5′ 4″. (Some people fuss over this discrepancy, but as a short girl myself, I find my height determined by my stilettos.) The father noticed the drivers' seat was pushed all the way back. There was no way his daughter could have driven the car with the seat in that position. Was this a clue or was this an intentional diversion?
To make things even worse, two days before her disappearance Amber's car had been serviced and the mileage had been noted at that time. Now an extra 900 miles were on the odometer. Where had this car been?
In Amber's diary, she outlined the love affair she had been having with a gentleman named Matthew Schneider. When she became pregnant this narrative changed drastically. She began to document their phone conversations. Schneider didn't want his fiance or his family to find out about Amber and he didn't want a baby. He even tried to convince her, according to Amber, to have an abortion. She refused. Could this be the motive behind Amber's disappearance? Or, could she have run off to start a new life? Her family says it's not possible and the police tend to agree.
When police interview Schneider he denies everything claiming that he never touched her. His fiance claims Amber was nothing more than a lovestruck teenager that had an infatuation with her man. Unfortunately, the phone records indicate that there were over 60 phone calls between Schneider and Wilde. Was he fighting for his innocence against a determined teen, or was the love affair a reality?
When Crime Watch Daily approached Schneider about this case he refused to talk. I'm sure that's what his attorneys want him to do. What I find even more disturbing about this case is the comments by online skeptics. Some vilify the man before he can be proven guilty, but most vilify the victim claiming she had no right to approach Schneider's family. She was a teenager that had been in love with an older man. Was he promising her the world? Who knows? But, whatever the case may be, it is never ok to murder someone.
All information used to create this content is a matter of public record and can be easily found online. Any participation or alleged involvement of any party mentioned within this site is purely speculation. As the law states an individual is Innocent until PROVEN guilty. ©2017-2019. All rights reserved.
Raised in a mob-controlled suburb of Chicago, Sidney Heard grew up wanting to be a gangster. He was on probation by the age of thirteen, and continued building his criminal resume over the next half a century. He was a professional arsonist for nearly twenty years; escaped from jail twice; ran a gold scandal grossing over a quarter of a million dollars, and that's just to name a few of his illegal escapades. To top it off, he played a role in one of the most important Supreme Court Decisions of all time (Gideon vs. Wainwright).
Sidney's underworld connections ran from the Chicago-based Italians, to the Mexican Mafia. He even worked undercover for the Federal Government at one point in his life. However, all of Sidney's so-called glory would come with a price. While working undercover for the F.B.I. D.E.A., Sidney became hooked on drugs. He soon found himself staring at 125 years of jail time , a massive criminal record, and pushing his fiftieth birthday.
Samantha Sperry, 25 spent the evening of Tuesday, March 27, 2018, with friends. According to witness statements, Samantha and her boyfriend's father, Dusty went for an ATV ride through the wooded area. Dusty stumbled out of the woods the next morning alone. Samantha hasn't been seen since. What happened to this young mother? Why did her boyfriend leave her there and go back to her house to spend the night?
The timeline, in this case, is a bit skewed. The only version we have comes from the two men who admitted to doing meth the night of Samantha's disappearance. I will try to lay it out as we have it.
On the evening of Tuesday, March 27, 2018, Sperry and her boyfriend, Rhen Hendrickson visit his father Dusty Holder. Holder claims the two had an argument and Henderson took Sperry's car and returned to her house for the night. Holder and Sperry rode ATVs through the woods until they became stuck in the mud. For some reason, they decided to stay with the ATVs until sunrise. He claims they kept them running trying to keep warm until they eventually ran out of gas. The next morning, witnesses saw Dusty stumble from the woods soaking wet claiming that he spent the night out there. Samantha Sperry was nowhere to be found and no one called it in.
Wednesday evening, Rhen returns to his father's place in Samantha's car and hears the story from Dusty. Rhen suddenly becomes suicidal, calls his mother and tells her this around 7 pm. He drives Samantha's car about half a mile before abandoning it beside the road. He enters the woods alone. At 7:20 pm, the frantic mother calls police telling them her son is going to commit suicide in the Kentucky woods.
Here's another strange part of the story. The police call the fire department search team off claiming that Henderson is possibly armed and dangerous. At the time there had been an active shooter situation under investigation and Henderson had ties to that case. The search for the suicidal man wouldn't begin until Thursday morning.
In the meantime, Samantha's family is frantically trying to reach her and call in a missing person's report. Sheriff Redman claimed she was a meth user that had just walked away and she would return. Finally, after spending an entire day focusing on the suicidal man in the woods, they add Sperry to the Missing Persons' list.
Five days later, Rhen Hendrickson emerges from the woods dehydrated and suffering from Hypothermia. He his taken to the hospital for treatment. The family of Samantha is left to wonder what happened to this young mother.
Samantha Sperry had recently separated from her husband. Police questioned him and the two men who were with her at the time. On Monday, April 9, 2018, Dusty Holder is arrested on drug charges and outstanding warrants. A couple weeks later, Rhen Hendrickson is also arrested on drug charges. Both sit in jail as the community is left to wonder what happened to this woman. Blood was found in Samantha's home and vehicle and was sent off for analysis. Now everyone waits and wonders.
She was a bright-eyed 1st grader walking to the Hi-Mount Public School four houses down the street from her home. It was May 3, 2002, and the child would be out of school for the summer soon. Unfortunately, she wouldn't be enjoying the upcoming summer break. Fellow students reported seeing her in the playground before school, but she never made it to class and hasn't been seen since. Sixteen years have passed, and sweet Alexis still hasn't returned. Who snatched her? Where is she now?
Alexis Patterson, 7 was walked to school by her stepdad and was seen by other kids in the playground. Everyone assumed she would be in class. She had a perfect attendance record, but it would be broken on this fateful day in May. When she didn't return home from school, her family reported her missing. Within 24-hours of the call, the Milwaukee P.D. set up a mobile command unit in a nearby park. It would stay there for the next five weeks, while the entire community searched for the girl.
A month later Elizabeth Smart was found alive, and I'm sure the news gave Ayanna Patterson hope that her daughter would be found as well. While the news found many other missing girls, her daughter's name was never among them.
Three months later the authorities received a tip that she might be in the Milwaukee River near Estabrook Park. They had already checked the area but rechecked the place just in case. She wasn't found. Many new leads poured into the case files, but not one of them lead to anything.
Fast forward a grueling 14 years and the authorities had been all over the country chasing leads in this case. One lead seemed promising in 2016. A man from Ohio called in claiming he thought his ex-wife was the missing child. She couldn't remember anything before the age of ten, she had no photos of her childhood, she couldn't remember how she ended up in Ohio, and she had several of the characteristics of Alexis Patterson. As usual, the police keep a few details private to help determine the truth in these cases. When this woman had a physical characteristic that wasn't publicly known, the police made a trip to Ohio to get a DNA sample.
While everyone in the Wisconsin community waited and hoped, the DNA test came back negative. It was not Alexis Patterson. The mother put on a brave face for the cameras and said she will never give up, but it was apparent she was struggling with the new information. She had so desperately hoped that this woman was her child and now that hope was gone.
There haven't been any new developments in this case in the last two years; at least none that the police are sharing publicly. If you have any information on this case, please contact the Milwaukee Police Department at (414) 278-4788.
Today I am greatly humbled by a gift from a Texas Congressman. I received a folded flag from our nation's capital and an accommodation from the honorable John Abney Culberson, member of Congress Texas, District 7. I don't deserve such an honor. I've cried my makeup off twice. Thank you all for supporting my work.