EAST HAMPTON, NY — Jan. 13 marked 26 years since Katie Beers, who was kidnapped when she was just 9 years old and kept in an underground bunker for 17 days in Bay Shore, was set free. And on that day that marked her survival, she expressed joy that another kidnapping victim, Jayme Closs of Wisconsin, had been found.
Closs had been able to escape and seek help 87 days after she was kidnapped in October and her parents shot dead.
“26 years ago today, I was released from captivity,” Beers, who lived in Springs with her beloved foster family after her childhood ordeal, wrote on social media.
Today, she lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two children’ and she thanks her family, her therapist, and her supportive East Hampton community for their love, protection — and her new chance at life.
“My parents are the reason for my beautiful recovery and being able to become a survivor rather than remaining a victim. They’ve also taught me how to love. And, to make things more special, 13-year old Jayme Closs escaped her captor on Jan. 10. So, here’s to a new year filled with love and hope,” Beers wrote on social media.
Beers, who had endured neglect and sexual abuse during childhood at another predator’s hands, wrote about her experience in the book “Buried Memories: Katie Beers’ Story,” which was released in 2013.
Beers and her therapist, Mary Bromley of East Hampton, both spoke from their hearts to Patch about how they feel Jayme Closs will be able to move forward from her nightmare and into the next chapters of her life — and what challenges she may encounter.
Jake Patterson, the 21-year-old Wisconsin man accused of abducting missing endangered teen Jayme Closs and shooting her parents in Oct. 2018, has been charged in court. According to court records, Patterson faces two counts of first-degree intentional homicide and a third charge of kidnapping. If convicted, Patterson faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Barron County and released to the public, Patterson confessed to the murders of James and Denise Closs and explained why he targeted their daughter, Jayme.
Patterson, the complaint said, told authorities that one day on his way to work, he stopped behind a school bus on Highway 8. As he sat in his vehicle behind the bus, Patterson admitted he watched Jayme get on the school bus. He told investigators that he had no idea who she was, nor did he know where she lived, but knew upon seeing her that “this was the girl he was going to take.”
According to the criminal complaint, Patterson admitted that he never met Jayme through any social media sites, and only learned her name after she was abducted and was imprisoned in his house.
Patterson said he learned the names of Jayme’s parents once their names were reported on multiple news programs and social media.
According to the criminal complaint, during the early morning hours of Oct. 15, Jayme told investigators she was asleep in her bedroom when her dog began to bark. She went to investigate and noticed there was someone in her driveway. She went to her parent’s room and woke up her mother, Denise, and her father, James.
Also according to the complaint, James went to the door and found Patterson with a shotgun outside. As Jayme and Denise went to hide in the bathroom, Jayme told investigators she heard a gunshot. She knew her father had been killed, she told investigators.
Jayme told investigators that Patterson entered the house, broke down the bathroom door and told her mother to hang up a cellphone that she was trying to use to dial 911. Jayme told investigators that Patterson ordered Denise to put tape over Jayme’s mouth. After she did, Patterson shot and killed Denise, according to the criminal complaint.
Patterson taped Jayme’s hands and ankles together and dragged her out to his car and put her in the trunk, where she stayed for about two hours as Patterson drove to his house in the small town of Gordon, the complaint said.
Jayme told investigators that Patterson held her prisoner in her house, forcing her to stay under a bed in his bedroom, the complaint said. When Patterson left the house, or when company would come over, Jayme said Patterson forced her to hide under his bed “or something bad would happen.” According to the criminal complaint, Patterson would force Jayme to hide under the bed for stretches of 12 hours at a time without food, water or bathroom breaks.
Jayme also told investigators about the miracle day of her escape: According to the criminal complaint, on Jan. 10, Patterson left the house and told her he was going to be gone for between five and six hours. Jayme said she was forced to once again hide under the bed. Jayme was able to push some heavy bins and weights away from the bed frame so she could escape.
Jayme, her hair matted and without warm clothes to protect her from the cold, reportedly put on a pair of Patterson’s shoes, walked out of the house and found a woman walking her dog, whom she begged for help, telling woman that Patterson kidnapped her. They went to the nearest house, where the resident called 911 — and blessed help finally came for Jayme, after so many long days and nights of brutal despair.
When Patterson got home, he saw that Jayme was not under the bed. He looked briefly around the house and saw fresh footprints in the snow, according to the criminal complaint. The complaint stated that Patterson got into his car, and began driving around in an attempt to look for her. After a few minutes, he returned to his house, and was met by the police. At that time, Patterson admitted, he knew that he had been caught.
“I was filled with a sense of joy to know that Jayme had escaped and was found alive.”
Although 26 years have passed since she was saved, hearing about the escape of another young girl, kidnapped and forced to endured days of terror, gave Beers incredible happiness.
“I was filled with a sense of joy to know that Jayme had escaped and was found alive,” she said. “I then, almost immediately, turned into ‘mom mode’ — because she is going to have such a long road to recovery. It’s not going to be easy but with the right support system, she’ll be able to work through victimization and become a survivor.”
Reflecting on her own experience, Beers said what helped her in her healing and recovery process was the love and support of her “amazing family, my therapist and the fact that I was never made to talk about anything before I was ready.”
Yes, she said, she had to speak to police, who conducted an interview after she was released from captivity — Beers was abducted by John Esposito, who died in prison in 2013. And, too, she said, she had to speak about the agony she endured when the case went to trial and she testified against Salvatore Inghilleri, her godmother’s husband, who was convicted of sexually abusing her in the years before her abduction.
“But other than those two —big — things, I was never made to discuss anything before I was ready. I was also shielded from the media blitz. It was as if, one day, everyone just forgot about it and I went on as a ‘normal’ 10-year old girl,” Beers said.
And yet, the memories of the horror are just a heartbeat away.
Writing her book “Buried Memories” definitely “brought new memories to light for me, which isn’t unusual. A smell, a noise, an object, anything can force a flashback or a memory. Depending on the memory will depend on how I react to it and how I can work through it,” Beers said.
“I didn’t want to give up — I wasn’t going to give up”
Reflecting on how she was able to summon the will to keep going after being forced into the bunker, Beers said: “I had a strong will to survive. Before I was abducted, I had already lived nine years of pure hell. I didn’t want to give up — I wasn’t going to give up. I didn’t want to give anyone that control over me. My strength and will to survive were things that only I could control and I wasn’t going to allow anyone to take those away from me.”
Beers also said she believes that every experience you have shapes you in some way, either big or small. “I think that God had bigger plans for me,” she said. “He knew that I was going to come out on the other side of my upbringing and be able to flourish, survive and thrive. So many people would lose hope. I never gave up hope that one day, my life would be better and I would be able to do something special with it.”
Speaking about how Inghilleri and Esposito died in jail, while Beers said she was “relieved to know that they won’t be able to put anyone else through the hell that they put me through,” she remembered that they had families and people who cared about them. “I feel terrible for their families. They lost a loved one, no matter how evil they were — someone loved them. I would never have wanted to see them get out of prison but a life is lost. I feel sad for their families. “
Thinking about Jayme, Beers said she hopes she will be given the same opportunities as she was given, to be able to survive, thrive and recover. “Too many times, a victim isn’t given the correct opportunities for recovery and things are halted,” she said.
Therapist Bromley, who stood by Beers and helped guide her path toward healing, to a new beginning and a life of feeling loved and safe, also discussed Jayme’s journey ahead.
“They both must have feared death was imminent”
Bromley said she feels there are not many parallels between the Beers and Closs abductions. “However, both victims were held in constrained spaces, both restrained, both heard other people nearby but knew they couldn’t hear their cries for help. For example, Beers saw the police looking for her in the house through a closed circuit TV but they could not hear or see her. Closs knew there were visitors in the home but she was restrained under the bed and loud music was played so they could not hear her. The idea that help is so close — and yet not heard or seen — is terrifying. They both must have feared death was imminent,” Bromley said.
The recovery process for Closs, Bromley said, “will be brutal, because she apparently witnessed the killing of her parents. However, she will not necessarily have to testify in trial as Katie did. The media presence will be worse for Closs as there was no ‘social media’ when Katie was abducted and her privacy was generally respected. Many people had no idea Katie was living in East Hampton until she wrote her book.”
As for her recovery, Bromley said that the road, for every child, is different.
“Katie possessed a natural resilience and an ‘inner spiritual spark’ which helped her survive,” Bromley said. “She had great foster parents and the Springs School that protected her. She also had 10 years of therapy.”
There are many unknowns, still, that remain to be discovered, that will determine Jayme’s course as she lives the rest of her life, Bromley said.
“Jayme’s life will never be ‘normal’ moving forward. However, if she, like Katie, has years to process what happened, and has great family support — if she has inner strength, has a spiritual practice of some sort, has privacy from the media, has friends and love surrounding her, then her chances are better. She will suffer from PTSD and major anxiety.”
In Beers’ experience, the ability and choice to help others has been a defining point in her recovery, Bromley said. “She wrote a book to that end. She has become a motivational speaker. She has found love. She has her own children who she loves dearly. But this does not prevent the occasional bout of anxiety and fear, particularly about parenting.”
Reading about the horror that Closs endured has also sparked fear in the public consciousness, Bromley said.
“Closs’ case is a parent’s worse nightmare, even though it is very rare. Most abuse and abduction cases involve someone the child may already know and trust. Fearing strangers is not the answer. In most situations, strangers are compassionate and eager to help a child in trouble,” she said. “There is simply no way to profile a potential child abuser or mass shooter.”
Even seemingly, well-meaning neighbors or authority figures are not always safe, Bromley said. And so, she offered parents advice that could potentially save their children’s lives: “Be aware! Teach your children to trust their instincts and fight, to not always respect authority — and to know how to ask for help.”
Patch lead photo of Katie Beers and Mary Bromley courtesy of Mary Bromley.
Image of Jake Patterson via Barron County Sheriff’s Department.
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