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Talking Points: The Civil Lawsuit Against Danny Heinrich

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The person of interest in the Jacob Wetterling abduction is scheduled to go on trial this July on child pornography charges.

But now Danny Heinrich is facing another legal challenge.

This past week, Heinrich was sued by another victim who was abducted and sexually assaulted back in 1989.

That civil lawsuit could result in answers in the Wetterling case, as well as other unsolved cases.

Ten months before Wetterling was taken in October 1989, a 12-year-old named Jared Scheierl was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and then released.

Scheierl's abduction happened in a town less than 15 miles from where Wetterling was taken, and investigators have long thought the cases were related.

Last summer, DNA testing revealed that Heinrich's DNA was a match in Scheierl's case.

But despite the match, Heinrich can't be prosecuted for that crime, because the statute of limitations has expired.

So last week, Scheierl filed a civil lawsuit against Heinrich, accusing him of sexual battery and false imprisonment.

With his civil lawsuit, Scheierl can call witnesses that would have to give depositions under oath.

This could lead to details in the Wetterling case and a series of unsolved sexual assaults on boys in Payensville in the 1980s.

Scheierl says he is especially driven to help the Wetterling family.

"The fact that I am a parent now and that I could not fathom having to go through that or fathom their sense of loss...it leaves a void, and that spirit is what drives a lot of us," he said on WCCO Sunday Morning.

While the lawsuit seeks $50,000 from Heinrich, Scheierl says he doesn't expect to collect a penny.

Heinrich is now in the Sherburne County Jail. If convicted on all 25 counts in the child porn case, he could spend most of the rest of his life in prison.

Scheierl and his attorney say they will ask a judge to postpone their civil case until after Heinrich's pornography trial this summer.

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