Jayme Closs, missing since Oct. 15, found alive in Town of Gordon in Douglas County

BARRON COUNTY -- Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald reported in a Facebook post on Thursday evening, Jan. 10 that Jayme Closs was located and is alive. The sheriff said she was expected to be reunited with her family Thursday night. Jayme Closs' grandfather, Robert Naiberg, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that Jayme was being treated at a hospital.

The Douglas County Sheriff's Office confirmed Closs was located in the Town of Gordon in Douglas County around 4:45 p.m. Officials said a citizen phoned in information that led to Closs being found. They also said a suspect was taken into custody in regards to this case minutes later.

KMSP is reporting a dog walker may have led to Jayme's recovery:

The Town of Gordon is roughly 65 miles due north of Barron -- it is about an hour drive.

 

Jayme Closs had been missing since her parents, James and Denise Closs, were found shot to death Oct. 15 in the family's home near Barron. Investigators said Jayme was quickly ruled out as a suspect.

Detectives pursued thousands of tips, watched dozens of surveillance videos and conducted numerous searches in the effort to find Jayme. Some tips led officials to recruit 2,000 volunteers for a massive ground search on Oct. 23 but it yielded no clues.

Fitzgerald said in November that he kept similar cases in the back of his mind as he worked to find Jayme, including the abduction of Elizabeth Smart, who was taken from her Salt Lake City home in 2002, when she was 14 years old. She was rescued nine months later with the help of two witnesses who recognized her abductors from an "America's Most Wanted" episode.

"I have a gut feeling she's (Jayme's) still alive. I've always been a glass half-full kind of guy," Fitzgerald said at the time.

Sue Allard, Jayme's aunt, told the Star Tribune that she could barely express her joy after learning the news Thursday night.

"Praise the Lord," Allard said between sobs. "It's the news we've been waiting on for three months. I can't wait to get my arms around her. I just can't wait."

The text in the above Facebook post reads:

Barron Mayor Ron Fladten said Thursday night he hadn't heard any details about Jayme's discovery yet but was overjoyed at learning she is alive.

"There was a lot of discouragement because this took quite a while to play out," Fladten said. "A lot of people have been praying daily, as I have. It's just a great result we got tonight. It's unbelievable. It's like taking a big black cloud in the sky and getting rid of it and the sun comes out again."

He acknowledged that Jayme may not be the same person she was before she disappeared.

"I hope that she's in good shape," the mayor said. "She's no doubt been through just a terrible ordeal. I think everybody wishes her a good recovery and a happy life going into the future."

As noted in the Facebook post, there will be a news conference about this case at 10 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 11 -- in Barron. FOX6 News plans to stream that event. 

The notification that Jayme had been found came just four hours after Fitzgerald had taken to Twitter to debunk a report that she had been found alive near Walworth County. Douglas County, where Jayme was found, is hundreds of miles northwest of Walworth County.

A $50,000 reward had been offered for information on Jayme Closs’ whereabouts. Just this week, a tractor trailer began traveling roads across the country — and getting the message out about the missing teenager.

Thursday night, the nationwide Amber Alert was canceled for Closs.