Sat, Aug 8
Reception – 4:00PM
Film – 5:00PM

We hope you can be there for the Stearns County premiere of ECHOES IN THE NIGHT: THE SEARCH FOR JACOB WETTERLING! On August 8, 2026, you can join special guests Patty & Jerry Wetterling, Jared Scheierl, Joy Baker, and the film’s director Chris Newberry at the historic Paramount Center for the Arts in St. Cloud, as we launch a month of showings of the film in and around central Minnesota and the Twin Cities. Our August 8 event will feature a pre-screening reception, an onstage discussion with the special guests, and opportunities to connect with community resources. Best of all, the evening will serve as a fundraiser for non-profits making a difference in our community. 

In October 1989, on a quiet road in St. Joseph, Minnesota, Jacob Wetterling was abducted by a masked gunman while riding his bike home from the store. For 27 years, the question of what happened to Jacob hung over the community like a dark cloud. Haunting as it was, Jacob served as an inspiration for tremendous good, with his family leading a movement to reform laws and advocating for prevention of crimes against children.

In 2015, our team of Minneapolis-based filmmakers embarked on a documentary project that would lead us on a truly unexpected journey. After meeting several times with Jacob’s parents, we started filming on what turned out to be the very week the perpetrator was finally arrested.

In the years since, we have followed the breaking news in the case, and focused on the ceaseless search for Jacob, the wide-reaching impacts of Jacob’s story, and the reverberating effects the crime has had on several people at the very center of it. In the end, we feel we have succeeded in producing a film that honors Jacob’s memory by telling a truthful, haunting, but ultimately hopeful tale, of how an unthinkable crime touched so many lives.

Closed Captions and ASL Interpreters will be available for the live portion of the event