Kidnapping Survivor Jayme Closs Turns 14 Today: 'I Will Always Have My Freedom'
Jayme Closs, the Wisconsin teen who escaped being held captive for 88 days after her parents were fatally shot last October, turns 14 today.
This is the first birthday she’s celebrating since her harrowing ordeal.
Jayme, who now lives with her aunt, was held captive in a cabin in Gordon after her parents, Denise, 46, and James, 56, were killed in their Barron home, about 70 miles from Gordon, last October 15.
RELATED: Jayme Closs Case: Timeline of Murder, Abduction and Her Miraculous Escape
Their killer, Jake Thomas Patterson, 21, pleaded guilty in March to two intentional homicide charges as well as a kidnapping charge.
On May 24, Patterson, was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment. He remains held at the Dodge Correctional Institution in Wisconsin.
Before the judge handed down the sentence, family attorney Chris Gramstrup read a statement from Jayme, according to USA Today.
“Last October, Jake Patterson took a lot of things that I loved away from me,” she wrote. “It makes me the most sad that he took away my mom and dad.”
She added, “He thought that he could own me but he was wrong. I was smarter. I watched his routine and took back my freedom. I will always have my freedom and he will not.”
RELATED: Amazing Escape: Inside Jayme Closs’ Harrowing Run to Freedom After 88 Days in Captivity
“He should stay locked up forever,” Jayme continued.
Patterson targeted Jayme, whom he did not know, after he spotted her getting on a school bus, the criminal complaint against him stated. He tried to kidnap her twice before October 15 but held off until his third attempt, when he drove to Jayme’s house to abduct her. He shot her father at their front door, then shot her mother and tied up the teen with tape before dragging her into the trunk of his vehicle.
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At the cabin, according to the complaint, Patterson sometimes ordered Jayme under the bed for 12 hours at a time — depriving her of food, water or bathroom breaks.
On Jan. 10, the day Jayme escaped, Patterson left her alone with a warning to stay under the bed, the criminal complaint stated. Jayme fled the cabin and encountered a woman out walking her dog, who ran to a neighbor’s home with Jayme to call the police.
Patterson was arrested shortly after.
Jodie Arnold, who Jayme’s mother’s cousin, told PEOPLE at the time, “Jayme is a complete badass. As far as I’m concerned, she saved herself.”
