Jayme Closs' victim impact statement: 'I watched his routine and I took back my freedom'

BARRON, Wis. (FOX 9) - An attorney for 13-year-old Jayme Closs read a victim impact statement on her behalf Friday at the sentencing of her abductor, Jake Patterson, the 21-year-old Wisconsin man who also murdered her parents. 

Patterson kidnapped Jayme from her home in Barron, Wisconsin on October 15, 2018 after killing her parents, James and Denise. He then held her at his family’s cabin in Gordon, Wisconsin, for 88 days before she escaped on Jan. 10 and found help from a dog walker, who took her into a nearby home and called 911. Patterson was arrested in the area a short time later. 

In her statement, Jayme said Patterson took away some of the most important things in her life, specifically her parents. 

“It makes me the most sad that he took away my mom and dad,” she said. “I loved my mom and dad very much and they loved me very much. They did all they could to make me happy and protect me, and he took them away from me forever."

Jayme said she has been afraid to go out in public since her abduction and do the things a normal teenager should be able to do. 

“I used to love to go out with my friends. I loved to go to school. I loved to go to dance. He took all of those things away from me too,” she said. “It’s too hard to go out in public. I get scared and I get anxious. These are just ordinary things that anyone like me should be able to do, but I can’t, because he took them away from me.” 

But, she said, there was one thing Patterson could not take away from her: her freedom. 

“He thought he could own me, but he was wrong,” she said. “I was smarter. I watched his routine and I took back my freedom. I will always have my freedom and he will not.” 

In March, Patterson pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree intentional homicide. He faces a life sentence. 

In her statement, Jayme told the judge Patterson “should stay locked up forever.” 

“I feel like I have some power over him, because I get to tell the judge what should happen to him,” she said. “He stole my parents from me. He stole almost everything I loved from me. For almost 88 days, he tried to steal me and he didn’t care who he hurt or who he killed to do that.”