Pain in Paynesville; Minnesota Author Relives Scary Childhood

In the mid to late 1980s boys living near downtown Paynesville were aware of a sexual predator near them.  One of those boys was Kris Bertelsen.  Dr. Kris Bertelsen joined me on WJON to talk about his book, "Pain in Paynesville".  Kris and I were classmates at Paynesville High School after I moved to the community with my family in 1989.  While living near downtown Paynesville in 1986 Bertelsen explained he and his friends, like most kids of the 1980s, had freedom to do whatever they wanted until it became dark or they needed to go home for dinner.  He says for he and his friends safety and security changed for them.

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Bertelsen recalls a sexual predator grabbing a friend of his at knife point, groped him, and cut a lock of hair from his head, before letting him go.  He recalls a different friend going home to his apartment when he found a man waiting for him in a stairwell.  That man groped him and stole his wallet.  Bertelsen explains about 6 months after that incident he and his friend, who already had been groped, were confronted by the same sexual predator near his apartment.   He recalls his friend was grabbed again but this time let him go because the predator explained he already "got him".  Bertelsen believed the predator was after him that time.  He says there were 12 to 14 incidents that occurred during this 2 to 3 year period in Paynesville.  Bertelsen says he was never sexual assaulted by this person because he was able to escape on 2 separate occasions.

Jacob Wetterling was abducted on October 22 in 1989 at the age of 11 in St. Joseph.  Danny Heinrich later admitted to the abduction and killing of Jacob along with the abduction of then 12-year-old Jared Scheierl of Cold Spring.  Bertelsen believes Heinrich was the person committing these sexual assaults in Paynesville in the mid to late 1980s.  He outlines the details of his experiences in his book "Pain in Paynesville".  If you'd like to listen to my conversation with Kris, it is available below.