On December 15, 2008, Milwaukee police arrived at the home of 62 year old Vernon Seitz to check on him after a concerned citizen called to say he had not been to work at his barber shop since December 10.
It has been reported that Vernon's therapist, contacted authorities on December 10th to inform them that her patient had confessed to killing a child over 40 years ago after being kidnapped himself. He told his therapist that he was abducted from a zoo on June 19, 1959 and then forced to kill a 14 year-old boy at gunpoint while his abductors killed another 13 year old boy in front of him. Authorities arrived at Vernon's door with a search warrant in hand.
The problem?
No such crime or abduction was ever reported by Vernon or his family. No children in the area were missing at that time that fit his description.
His therapist, who had been treating him for 11 years claims she had this information for years and was treating him for traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. However, some reports say he confessed this crime to his therapist from his death bed.
On December 15, police found Vernon dead of a coronary condition in his home in his bed. Surrounding him and filling his lair, were countless drawings, VHS tapes and paintings of little boys, either naked or being sexual tortured or both.
In addition to those disturbing items, police found numerous maps of desolated areas and parks. They found newspaper clippings of missing children, they found photos and posters of these missing children.
It has been reported that Vernon's therapist, contacted authorities on December 10th to inform them that her patient had confessed to killing a child over 40 years ago after being kidnapped himself. He told his therapist that he was abducted from a zoo on June 19, 1959 and then forced to kill a 14 year-old boy at gunpoint while his abductors killed another 13 year old boy in front of him. Authorities arrived at Vernon's door with a search warrant in hand.
The problem?
No such crime or abduction was ever reported by Vernon or his family. No children in the area were missing at that time that fit his description.
His therapist, who had been treating him for 11 years claims she had this information for years and was treating him for traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. However, some reports say he confessed this crime to his therapist from his death bed.
On December 15, police found Vernon dead of a coronary condition in his home in his bed. Surrounding him and filling his lair, were countless drawings, VHS tapes and paintings of little boys, either naked or being sexual tortured or both.
In addition to those disturbing items, police found numerous maps of desolated areas and parks. They found newspaper clippings of missing children, they found photos and posters of these missing children.
Vernon Seitz seemed to be obsessed with one missing child in particular, 11 year old Jacob Wetterling from St. Joseph, Minnesota. Police suspiciously found video footage of Jacob among other VHS tapes in Seitz's home, this footage is said to be footage of Jacob before he went missing, it is not clear if it is a video that was released to the media during the investigation that Seitz simply taped, or if this footage is something else entirely. Also found were maps of Jacob's hometown of St. Joseph and many posters and laminated pictures of Jacob.
Jacob's story: Jacob, along with his brother Trevor and a friend, Aaron, went to their local video store at about 9:00pm on October 22, 1989, as the boys rode their bikes back home, a man suddenly emerged from a wooded area with a gun and forced the boys on the ground. First the man told Trevor to run and not look back and then he told Aaron to do the same, but Aaron did look back just in time to see the masked man grab Jacob and drag him into the woods.
Jacob has never been found and his case remains cold.
During the fevered search for Jacob, his mother met a nice man from Milwaukee, named Vernon Seitz, who offered to help search for Jacob, he told Mrs. Wetterling he was a psychic who was also abducted as a child and who offered families of missing children his services. Mrs. Wetterling declined, but records show Vernon remained in Minnesota for at least two weeks after his encounter with Mrs. Wetterling.
The question is, where was Vernon on the day Jacob went missing? Was he at home in Milwaukee? Was he merely a man obsessed with missing children? Would such an obsession compel you to travel almost 500 miles to appease your curiosity?
Authorities in Milwaukee have been quoted as saying they have no evidence that Vernon is connected to the Jacob Wetterling case in any way, they also claim there is no evidence that Vernon is a pedophile nor responsible for any child abductions. They say his story about his own kidnapping in 1959 is most likely a lie.
I say, by the looks of what they found at the home of Vernon Seitz they may want to actually do some investigating and look into this further.
Here is a list of items found:
- Children's shoes, one shoe was a 2 1/2 and one shoe 3 1/2, both contained DNA and were sent for testing.
- Books on cannibalism
- A small round bone, with the marrow sucked out of it, this was also sent for testing.
- Brown patches of human hair
- Blond patches of human hair
- Black patches of human hair
- Rings and Necklaces
- A flesh colored candle with a catheter attached covered with a brown substance (gross)
- Bondage straps and chains hanging from the inner rafters of the home
- Handcuffs
- Box full of negatives (sent to be developed)
- Pictures of unknown children
- A picture of a boy holding a fish dated July 1959
- Illinois road map with two locations circled
- A map of Millstream Park (Location near Jacob's abduction)
- Photos, paintings and drawings of children being sexual tortured
- A novel by Seitz, named "Innocent Rage"
- .38 caliber gun
Also coupled with the above were many, many newspaper articles, posters and laminated photos and notes some on cardboard boxes of the following missing people and children:
- Sandy Bertolas (white shoe also found with notes on her case)
- Cora Jones
- Michael Wayne Dunahee
- Melissa Lee Brannen
Below is a brief summary of each case:
Sandy Bertolas, 20: Sandra went missing in April of 1988 from a bowling alley in West Allas, Wisconsin after telling her friends & family she was going there to confront the man she was dating for cheating on her and giving her a false last name and home address. Her car was later found in the parking lot abandoned, she was never found.
Cora Jones, 12: Twelve year old Cora Jones was kidnapped while riding her bike in 1994 by a serial sex offender David Spanbauer who was out on parole. He later pleaded guilty to rape and murder.
Michael Wayne Dunahee, 5: Michael was abducted from the Blanshard Street Playground, in Victoria British Columbia in March of 1991. Michael was last seen around 12:30 p.m. playing at the school playground as his mother, Crystal Dunahee, was participating in a softball tournament to which his father was a spectator. Michael was abducted meters from his parents, but no witnesses to Michael's disappearance have ever been identified. (taken from Wikipedia). Michael was never found or seen again.
Melissa Lee Branne, 5: Melissa went missing from a party at her apartment complex in Lorton Virginia. A groundskeeper was later charged and convicted with her abduction, but Melissa has never been found.
It is obvious that Vernon Seitz was not responsible for some of these cases, but it is clear by the items found at the home of this often described "gentle" but "weird" 62 year old barber, that something is not right. There were reports that fresh cement was recently poured over some ground at his home, as well as fresh dirt overturned under the heavy snowfall. These facts alone deserved to be looked into.
The hair, bone, jewelry and baby shoes found are a clear indication that at least the Milwaukee police should be saying, maybe just maybe, they will be able to solve some cold cases.
Was Vernon Seitz a monster? Or merely a disturbed non-offender?
