Jacob Wetterling Missing for 20 Years

ST. JOSEPH, Minn. - Thursday marks a major anniversary that forever changed Minnesota -- 20 years ago, somebody kidnapped Jacob Wetterling and he's never been found.

Jacob Wetterling's family and those who work for the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center will spend Thursday doing what they've done for the past two decades -- search for him and try to protect all children.

11-year-old Jacob, his brother and a friend were riding their bikes home from a convenience store in St. Joseph, Minn. when a man wearing a mask and carrying a gun took Jacob and drove off, never to be found again.

Local, state and federal agencies, along with thousands of volunteers, searched exhaustively for Jacob and have looked into more than 50,000 leads of the past 20 years.

Jacob's parents, Jerry and Patty Wetterling, have worked tirelessly not just to try to find Jacob, but to find other missing and exploited children and build safer communities.

FOX 9 News talked to Patty Wetterling just a few days ago before a concert to celebrate children near the family's St. Joseph home.

"There's times when it'll just hit you, it's very sad," Patty Wetterling told FOX 9 News, just a few days ago at a concert for children near the family's home. "Then, there are times when I go to bed at night I need to know I did everything I can today to try and find him. I have these little dialogues with Jacob, it's like, 'Hold on-- we're still trying.'"