At 12:53 a.m. on October 15th the Barron County WI Sherrif’s Department received a 911 call. The call lasted less than one minute. Dispatchers traced the call to a cell phone located at a home at 1268 13 1/2 Ave USH 8. Officers were dispatched at 12:56 a.m. They arrived at 1:00 a.m., just 7 minutes after the call was placed.
Meanwhile it was discovered that the cell phone belonged to Denise Closs who resided at that address. The dispatcher attempted to call the phone back and there was no answer. The dispatcher then made an attempt to call the landline and found it to be disconnected.
Its unclear what was heard during that seconds long 911 hang up call. The dispatcher only noted that there was a lot of yelling.
As officers arrived they noted that the front door was open. At 1:03 a.m. they advised that it was a possible suicide attempt. Officers requested backup, 503 and first responders. At 1:04 a.m. officers paged EMS to respond and stage for a possible suicide attempt. At 1:05 a.m. officers entered the home to discover 56 yr old James Closs laying in or near the doorway unresponsive and a victim of an apparent shooting. They advised of multiple spent rounds. At 1:06 a.m. officers advised that the door had been kicked in and that the male who is down had answered the door. At 1:11 a.m it was advised that two subjects were down as they discovered the body of 46 yr old Denise Closs. At 1:32 a.m officers advised that no gun was found. At 3:06 a.m. the call log was changed from suicide to homicide. At 3:57 a.m. the call went out for a missing juvenile, the Closs’s 13 yr old daughter Jayme. At 4:02 a.m. a call went out to request contact with an FBI field agent. At 4:25 a.m. officers we 10-76 to 1341 17th st. (Family of victims) At 4:32 a.m. investigators made contact with security at the St. Croix Casino.
At 5:13 a.m. Jayme L. Closs was listed as ‘Abducted by a Stranger’. Investigators list the time of abduction as 12:55 a.m. At 12:35 p.m. the family’s dog was removed from the scene and placed with family.
A neighbor reported hearing two gunshots around 12:31 a.m. but did not report the shots to police as they surmised that gunshots were a normal occurrence in the rural area in which the Closs’s resided.
Later in the afternoon as investigators and forensic teams worked the crime scene witnesses noted evidence being removed from the home. The outer glass door was removed and loaded into the evidence van. A conspicuous kitchen/dining chair was carried out by a technician and appeared to contain rope on the legs, back spindles and upper spindles leading to much speculation that at least one of the victims had been bound to the chair.
While investigators have received over a thousand tips they state that they have no credible leads as to who committed this crime or to Jayme’s whereabouts. They have taken an unusual step of stating that Jayme is 100% alive.
What happened to the Closs family? Why was 13 yr old Jayme Closs abducted from the scene after the homicides of her parents? It’s reported that Denise and Jayme attended a family party earlier in the day. James Closs is reported to have worked a shift ending at 11:00 p.m. at nearby Jennie-O Foods, where both James and Denise were employed. Interviews with friends and family paint the portrait of a typical working class family. There are no reported gambling, drug or alcohol addictions within the small family. It’s not expected that the family had a large amount of cash, jewels or other items that would lead someone to target them. The motive is an absolute mystery to all those who knew the Closs’s.
Investigators deny any involvment by Jayme Closs in the homicides of her parents. So who would be so bold as to loudly kick in a seemingly strong door on a Sunday, in the middle of the night, shoot James as he answered the door, shoot Denise in another room shortly afterwards, allegedly tie one of the family members up in a chair and then make their escape with a 13 yr old teen? Why take Jayme and not murder her also?
Was the killer known to the family? Was it a family member, friend, coworker, neighbor…or just a random stranger? Were they looking for something? Did they target the wrong home? Was it someone Jayme was involved with either in person or online? Was someone angry with one of the Closs’s? Why did someone do this?
As often is the case, there are many more questions than answers. Now we must locate Jayme. If you have any information about the homicides of James and Denise Closs or the abduction of Jayme Closs please contact the FBI or the Barron County Sheriff’s Department.
Police are looking for information on these vehicles of interest that were seen in the area at the time of the homicides/abduction.
Evidence removed from the Closs home
The broken door frame
First five pages of the dispatch logs. There are 14 in all. The first four are the most significant.
Truth Tellers 
While not confirmed by LE, a woman has come forward stating that the black Acura MDX is hers. She was traveling near the Closs home the night of the homicide. This leaves the red charger as the remaining vehicle of interest.
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Barron Co Sherrif has stated that items found during the search on 10/23 were not connected to the Closs case
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I think more than one person had to be involved. It would take considerable force to kick open that door. And I do believe it was kicked in and not shot through as some have speculated. There was enough force used to break the door across the top and down the hinged side. The door did not come off the hinges, it broke apart. Someone would seemingly not be able to hold the screen door open while they kicked with force. But why did the door break across the top? Was there a lock in the upper corner?
Surely it took a couple kicks to break down the door. Why didn’t anyone call police in those moments? If we believe the neighbor, that two shots were fired at 12:30am, then the 911 call was made 25 minutes later. It appears there was no struggle upon gaining entry. James was allegedly found in the doorway. You can see in photos that there are what appear to be vases or jars of some type right inside the door that are undisturbed. So he must have been shot immediately.
The question is…what’s the motive? James worked until 11pm that night. Was he really at work or did he say he was working and really doing something else? Was he having an affair with a married woman and it was an angry husband? Unlikely. James’ friend stated that he gambles occasionally. Could he have stopped by the casino on his way home from work, won, and followed home? Unlikely. Probably not drug involved.
I can’t imagine any reason why Denise would be the target.
Police claim that Jayme isn’t involved. I’m not 100% convinced of that. That theory actually makes the most sense, outside of the chair bindings. Was Jayme the target? This is definitely not sex trafficking. Traffickers don’t need this type of attention. It could be someone she met online. But this doesn’t appear to be only an abduction. There would be much better ways to abduct her rather than killing her parents and making all that noise. They risked a lot by being so forceful and loud.
What would be the purpose in tying someone up? Did they want something from the home? Some type of valuable or money? These were working class people. I can’t imagine they had anything worth killing over. And who was tied up? Was it Denise or Jayme?
Who made the 911 call from Denise’s cell phone? The killer was still there as yelling was heard during the call. As well, whatever was said or whoever was yelling led police to confirm that Jayme was still in the home at that time. The call was seconds long. Police were there 7 minutes later. They had to have known the call was made and cleared out quickly, just missing police. Was Jayme tied up or incapacitated? Did she leave willingly or quietly? Any resistance on her part could have led to them not getting out of there in time.
Could the killer have been already inside when James arrived home and Denise and Jayme were tied up? Did James break the door in? Unlikely. Surely he would have contacted police. Did the dog bark? The dog was unharmed. No mention of dog barking on the 911 call. Why are they 100% sure Jayme is still alive? Are her captors allowing her to communicate? Is it the case of a ransom? Likely not…who could pay the ransom unless they have a wealthy family member.
I do believe the killer or killers is known to the victims. I do not think this was planned out far in advance due to the noise and risk. I do not think it was a typical home invasion by a stranger. It could be a psychopath or serial killer if in fact it is a stranger. Too many unanswered questions.
And why does the St. Croix casino keep coming up? Why would police contact casino security so quickly? Did they find something in the home to make them believe this altercation started at the casino? I cannot imagine any reason why they would need casino security otherwise. Days later police told searchers that this was a 14 mile long crime scene. Those 14 miles being between the casino and the home. They did measure something along that route. I think the casino connection is significant.
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