FILE - In this Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019, file photo, Jake Patterson appears for his preliminary hearing at Barron County Circuit Court in Barron, Wis. Patterson, charged with kidnapping a 13-year-old Wisconsin girl and killing her parents, is expected to enter a formal plea when he appears in court for an arraignment, on Wednesday, March 27, 2019. (T'xer Zhon Kha/The Post-Crescent via AP, Pool, File)
BARRON, Wis. – The Latest on Wednesday's arraignment of the man suspected of kidnapping 13-year-old Jayme Closs, slaying her parents and holding her captive for 88 days (all times local):
5 p.m.
The man who abducted Wisconsin teenager Jayme Closs and killed her parents had a parting remark after pleading guilty, saying "Bye Jayme" as he exited the courtroom.
Jake Patterson faces life in prison for the October attack in which he killed James and Denise Closs and kidnapped 13-year-old Jayme. He held her for 88 days in a northwest Wisconsin cabin before she escaped.
Jayme Closs wasn't in the Barron County courtroom as Patterson entered his guilty pleas Wednesday.
Patterson had written from jail that he intended to plead guilty to spare the Closs family further pain. He was initially stoic at Wednesday's hearing, but choked up and had difficulty speaking later in the proceeding. His remark as he left the courtroom appeared directed at no one in particular.
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4:35 p.m.
A Wisconsin legal expert is praising prosecutors' restraint in handling the case of abducted teenager Jayme Closs.
Thirteen-year-old Jayme was taken in October in an attack at her family's home in northwest Wisconsin that included the slaying of her parents.
Suspect Jake Patterson was charged only in the county where Jayme was abducted, and he pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges that could send him to prison for life.
Prosecutors in the county where Jayme was held for 88 days never filed charges, a move widely seen as aiming to spare Jayme's privacy.
University of Wisconsin law professor Cecelia Klingele praised that decision, saying it would have been unnecessary "piling on." She says people may be interested in salacious details, but there's no public right to know details of a crime victim's suffering.
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1:20 p.m.
Attorneys for a Wisconsin man who admitted to abducting 13-year-old Jayme Closs and killing her parents say he wanted to plead guilty "from the day we met him."
Jake Patterson pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of intentional homicide and one count of kidnapping.
Attorney Richard Jones says Patterson rejected all options that defense attorneys presented him, including trying to suppress his statements to investigators in which he confessed.
Jones told Judge James Babler that Patterson "decided this is what he wants to do."
Patterson said in a letter from jail last month that he planned to plead guilty to spare Jayme and her family the ordeal of a trial.
Jayme Closs was held for 88 days in a cabin about an hour north of her home before she escaped in January.
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1:05 p.m.
A Wisconsin man has pleaded guilty to kidnapping 13-year-old Jayme Closs and killing her parents.
Twenty-one-year-old Jake Patterson pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of intentional homicide and one count of kidnapping. A count of armed burglary was dropped. The intentional homicide counts carry a sentence of life in prison.
Patterson admitted to kidnapping Jayme after killing her parents, James and Denise Closs, at the family's home on Oct. 15. Patterson held her at a remote cabin for 88 days before she escaped in January. A criminal complaint says Patterson told authorities he decided to "take" Jayme after he saw her getting on a school bus near her home.
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11 a.m.
Residents in a small Wisconsin town say they're hoping to see a guilty plea from the man accused in the kidnapping of 13-year-old Jayme Closs and slaying of her parents.
Jake Patterson faces arraignment Wednesday afternoon on charges of homicide and kidnapping. He wrote to a Minneapolis TV station that he intended to plead guilty, but his defense attorneys have not confirmed that.
John Terpstra is a church pastor in Barron. He says he hopes Patterson keeps his word so the Closs family doesn't have to go through a court case.
Retiree Kathy Wirth says she's sorry for what Jayme went through and still has to go through.
Jayme was held for 88 days in a cabin about an hour north of her family's home before she escaped in January.
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12:01 a.m.
A man charged with kidnapping a 13-year-old Wisconsin girl and killing her parents is expected to enter a formal plea when he appears in court for an arraignment.
Twenty-one-year-old Jake Patterson wrote a letter to Minneapolis television station KARE saying he intends to plead guilty. His attorneys and prosecutors have not commented ahead of Wednesday's arraignment.
He's accused of killing James and Denise Closs and kidnapping their daughter, Jayme, on Oct. 15. Jayme was held for 88 days before escaping in January.
Patterson is charged with two counts of intentional homicide and one count each of kidnapping and armed burglary. He faces life in prison if convicted on the homicide counts.
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Check out AP's complete coverage of Jayme Closs' abduction and her parents' deaths.
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