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For one day, suspect worked at the same place where teen's parents were employed

Posted at 1:56 PM, Jan 11, 2019
and last updated 2019-01-11 16:11:54-05

BARRON, Wis. (AP) — The Latest on a Wisconsin teenager who was found alive three months after disappearing following her parents' deaths (all times local):

1:45 p.m.

The company that employed the slain parents of a Wisconsin teen who was kidnapped says the man accused in the attack worked at the plant for one day nearly three years ago.

Steve Lykken, president of the Jennie-O Turkey Store in Barren, issued a statement Friday saying 21-year-old Jake Patterson was hired one day but quit the next, explaining that he was moving away from the area.

An obituary for James and Denise Closs says they worked at the turkey processing plant for 27 years.

Lykken says the company and the Hormel Foods family are "overjoyed at the news of Jayme's safe return."

Authorities say Jayme escaped from a cabin in the town of Gordon on Thursday and they arrested Patterson on homicide and kidnapping charges.