By Bob Shaw

St. Paul Pioneer Press

The Woodbury man who demolished the house of Jacob Wetterling’s killer is giving the vacant lot to the city of Annandale, Minnesota.

Tim Thone, a developer, said Tuesday that the city has agreed not to develop the quarter-acre lot for at least 10 years.

“I have a sense of satisfaction now, having that memory erased,” said Thone. “I think it put a smile on a lot of faces.”

Thone recalled watching television in December and seeing Danny Heinrich’s home in Annandale.

“It hit me like a lightning strike — that house had to go,” said Thone. “I honestly didn’t think about it for more than five seconds.”

Thone bought the house Dec. 16 for $58,000, including back taxes. “I didn’t even ask the price when I bought it,” said Thone.

He demolished the house on Dec. 23, with about $16,000 in donated help from local contractors.

Thone hopes the donation of the land will help the Wetterling family — and the entire state — deal with the crime.

“We are all trying to grab at straws to find a couple of good things that could come out of this,” said Thone.

Jacob Wetterling was 11 in 1989 when he was kidnapped at gunpoint in St. Joseph, Minn. The crime went unsolved until Heinrich’s confession in September of last year.

Heinrich is serving a 17-year sentence in federal prison on an unrelated charge of possession of child pornography.

Thone stipulated that any eventual proceeds from the sale of the property would be donated to the Annandale Police Department.