Minnesota man admits to abducting, killing 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling

CHICAGO, Sept 6 (Reuters) - A man in Minnesota admitted in court on Tuesday to the 1989 abduction and killing of an 11-year-old boy whose remains were found last week, local media reported.

Danny Heinrich said he kidnapped and shot to death Jacob Wetterling, who was riding his bike on a rural Minnesota road nearly 27 years ago, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

"I panicked. I pulled the revolver out of my pocket ... I loaded it with two rounds. I told Jacob to turn around," Heinrich told the court, the newspaper said.

Click through to see photos of Heinrich and the Wetterlings:

"I told him I had to go to the bathroom," Heinrich said. "I raised the revolver to his head. I turned my head and it clicked once. I pulled the trigger again and it went off. Looked back, he was still standing."

"I raised the revolver again and shot him again."

Authorities last October named Heinrich a person of interest in the disappearance and suspected homicide of Wetterling, whose parents, Patty and Jerry Wetterling, have become advocates for missing children since his disappearance.

Wetterling's 1989 disappearance and murder ultimately ended up having a national impact in 1994, when Congress passed a massive crime bill that included the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act: creating the nation's first mandated sex offender list.(Additional reporting by AOL.com News; Editing by James Dalgleish)