The absence of the trail was clearly frustrating. A little more than a year after the crime, Grafft retired – in part because of his inability to solve it.

Those who inherited the case from Grafft have felt the same frustration. A lead looks promising, and then it vanishes. Another tantalizing lead arrives and falls apart. Hope surges and then it is extinguished.

Police have posted at least five different sketches of suspects. None of the renderings have worked.

Early on, it did not look like it would be too hard to find the criminal. Days after Jacob’s disappearance, police began looking for a red Chevette. Ten people said that they saw the car at the Tom Thumb moments before the kidnapping. In a town where everyone pretty much knew the vehicle of choice of everyone else, the Chevette was unfamiliar.

Jacob in his hockey gear. He was a star goalie and also played soccer, baseball and football.

It turned out that the mystery car probably belonged to an art student. He called police told them that he had been in the area looking for things to sketch. His story was verified, and police moved on.

Then a 19-year-old motorist came forward. The driver said that he had seen a man grab a boy and force him into a car at gunpoint. This car was spotted in southern Minn., a logical distance from St. Joseph. What happened next, according to the witness, added to the suspicion. The white car with the abducted boy ran a stop sign and sped off.

It was a plausible story. Even the police were excited. They consulted with designers at General Motors to better determine the make and model of the white car. They even hypnotized the tipster to coax out more details.

But doubts surfaced about the tipster's account and the lead fell apart.

A few days later authorities thought they had another break. Witnesses claimed they saw an unusual man in his 50s in two St. Joseph convenience stores the day Jacob went missing, including at the Tom Thumb. The man, described as 6 feet tall with a large build and receding white hair, had silently glared at customers and did not buy anything. An alert was issued, as was a sketch. No results.

The Wetterling family (L to R) Trevor, Jerry, Jacob (seated), Patty (holding Carmen) and Amy. Shortly after Jacob's abduction, Jerry and Patty started the missing kids foundation bearing his name.

Another suspect surfaced two months later. He was the “prime suspect”, police said. The M.O. certainly fit. Earlier in the year, a 12-year-old boy had been pulled into a car and molested. The boy had just finished ice skating with friends and was walking home alone. When the man dumped the boy out of the car, he was told to run. If he didn’t, he would be shot. Not only did the methodology fit, but so did the geography. This crime happened about 10 miles from where Jacob had disappeared.

The inevitable sketch was issued. Like all the others, it led nowhere.

Saddest of all are the lengths to which the Wetterlings have gone to find their missing son. In 1990 they dispatched a private investigator to Amsterdam. There was a report that a man and a boy resembling Jacob had been spotted at the airport. The investigator came back empty-handed.