Dealing with the devil

It’s something that didn’t come out at any news conference regarding the Jacob Wetterling case last week, but one of the lead prosecutors attributes her success with the case to her small town roots.
Janelle Kendall is the top prosecutor for Stearns County, the area where Jacob was mysteriously snatched 27 years ago. As she’ll tell you in her own words she was making “a deal with the devil” to get to the bottom of the decades old secret. Kendall grew up on a farm outside of Blooming Prairie and graduated from BP in 1983. 
With the whole world watching last week’s developments of Jacob’s discovery, Kendall led the prosecution in dealing with an evil, serious predator. After nearly three decades, the truth finally came out about the creep responsible for stealing the innocence of not only the Wetterling family, but everyone else in this state.
And we can thank Kendall for what she did to foster this gut-wrenching revelation. 
“Coming from a small town, it helps in a case like this to keep you grounded in perspective,” Kendall says. 
Kendall laughs about how she didn’t even know a single lawyer throughout her childhood in neighboring Steele County. 
She considers herself a problem solver. I don’t think anyone is going to deny Kendall knows how to problem solve, especially after such an emotional and heartbreaking case like Jacob. 
Knowing her options were limited at best, Kendall decided to reach out to the feds.  In this case, that meant calling U.S. Attorney Andy Luger.  As simple as this may sound, it’s not. 
For Kendall, calling in the feds meant giving up power and control over what probably will go down as the most horrible crime in Minnesota’s history. 
“Sometimes the only way to get an outcome is to give up power and control,” Kendall said. “Giving up power and control, that’s what has been so painful these past few days,” she admitted. 
But, again Kendall knew she really had no other option. “The difficultly was giving up power and control, but it worked,” she said. 
Kendall said she has heard so many gut wrenching stories over the years as a prosecutor. She says the child sex abuse cases and any death of a child are as bad as it gets. 
As easy as it is to get caught up in the emotion of a case, she is quick to point out decisions can’t be based on emotion. “It’s not what we do (as prosecutors),” Kendall said. 
Kendall is most proud of how well the local, state and federal teams assigned to the case worked together to bring closure to such a horrifying case. “The teams stuck with it. They could have pulled out at different times,” she said. 
Part of Kendall’s role also meant refereeing the egos involved with local, state and federal officials involved. “It became my role to bring people back to the table and keep them focused on what needed to be done,” she said. 
Kendall was never a cheerleader in high school. But, ironically, that’s what she turned into with this case. “The tempers, emotions, rules and policies started to clash every day,” she said. “I had to remind people of what purpose we were there for.”
She hopes the relationship that came out of the 12 harrowing days leading up to the confession will help authorities solve other cases. 
As Danny Heinrich confessed to the killing in a packed courtroom, Kendall reflected, “I’m honored to have been part of it, but it’s not about me.”
This case, Kendall said, demonstrates that no case is too hard to solve, no tip too insignificant to consider and no legal obstacle insurmountable in finding answers and accountability for Jacob and for everyone near and far who knows his name.
As edgy as this case has made most of us, it’s reassuring to know there are bulldog prosecutors like Kendall going in hot pursuit of digging up the truth and nothing but the truth.