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Jayme Closs will receive the $35,000 reward money promised for her own safe return.

When 13-year-old Jayme Closs went missing last October from the family home where her parents were found dead, an urgent search began to locate her.

To help that search along, a reward of US$25,000 ($35,000) was promised by the FBI for any information that would lead to the Wisconsin girl’s safe return.

That reward was then doubled, thanks to a pledge of US$25,000 by Hormel Foods, the company that owned Jennie-O Turkey Store, the turkey plant where Jayme’s parents, Jim and Denise, had worked.

Then, this month, Jayme was found. But not by anyone who provided insider information, by a woman walking her dog.

Jayme had escaped from her alleged captor, Jake Patterson, 21, and had, therefore, rescued herself. The woman walking her dog did not want to receive any cash for her part in getting the girl to authorities.

So what to do with the US$50,000 reward money?

Well, this week, Hormel Foods announced that Jayme herself will receive their half of the reward money.

“While we are still mourning the loss of longtime family members Jim and Denise, we are so thankful for Jayme’s brave escape and that she is back in Barron,” Jennie-O Turkey Store president Steve Lykken said in a statement on the company’s website on Wednesday.

“The company has expressed its wishes to donate the $25,000 to Jayme. Our hope is that a trust fund can be used for Jayme’s needs today and in the future.”

It is not known what the FBI will do with the $US25,000 in reward money it set aside, the Washington Post reports.

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Jake Patterson is charged with murder and kidnapping. Image: Barron County Sheriff's Department.

Meanwhile, Patterson has been charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping. It's alleged that he shot and killed Jayme's parents, captured the girl and then took her to live in a cabin in Gordon for 88 days before she made a run for it.

Jayme was found in a wooded area on January 10 and approached by the woman walking her dog, who was concerned about her being out in the cold without a coat.

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Jayme is now recovering under the care of her aunt.

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