Disappearance of Jessica Heeringa

Jessica Heeringa
Born	Jessica Lynn Heeringa (1987-07-16)July 16, 1987
Disappeared	April 26, 2013 (aged 25) Norton Shores, Michigan
Status	Endangered Missing Person (presumed dead)
Citizenship	American
Occupation	Gas station clerk
Employer	Exxon Mobil (franchise)
Height	5 ft 1 in (155 cm)
Weight	110 lb (50 kg)
Spouse(s)	None, engaged
Children	1
Website	FindJessicaHeeringa (Facebook)

Jessica Lynn Heeringa was an engaged mother of a young son who disappeared from her job at an ExxonMobil station in Norton Shores, Michigan, on April 26, 2013 and has not been seen or heard from since. She left behind her purse, jacket, cigarettes, money and car. Investigators also found a few drops of blood outside the gas station.^[1][2][3] Through a DNA analysis the blood was matched to Heeringa.^[4] They also found accessory parts to a gun near the blood.^[5]

For the next three and a half years, a 75-member task force of 14 specialized divisions (including aviation, behavioral sciences, technical services, and intelligence analysis) from 15 local, state and federal law enforcement agencies spent 12,000 man hours and conducted a massive investigation that included around 1,400 tips, 33 executed search warrants, 20 consensual residential searches, 12 ground searches, and two underwater searches.^[6]

Although Heeringa's remains have not been found, a pair of male cousins have been charged in her disappearance. In September 2016, a 46-year-old Muskegon Township resident named Jeffrey Willis was charged with her kidnapping and murder, due to forensic evidence and eyewitness statements implicating him in her disappearance.^[7] He is also charged with the murder of a 36-year-old woman that occurred in 2014, an attempted kidnapping of a 16-year-old girl in 2016, and child pornography crimes involving his unsuspecting female next door neighbors dating back to 2011, who were 14 at the time.^[3][8] He is also a suspect in the unsolved murder of a 15-year-old girl that occurred in 1996.^[9] Willis' cousin Kevin Bluhm pleaded guilty to lying to police during the Heeringa investigation and during the 2014 murder investigation.^[10] Bluhm is awaiting trial for a charge of accessory after the fact for helping Willis dispose of Heeringa's body.^[11][12]

Disappearance

Timeline

Composite sketch of the suspect.^[13]

The following is based on eyewitness and police testimony made in court hearings.

April 25, 2013

• A frequent customer saw Heeringa working late at the station. The customer commented to Heeringa that she shouldn't be alone that late at night and that her boyfriend should be there with her. She said a man overheard the women's conversation and said, "She's got her customers looking out for her too." She said that Heeringa "sort of shook her head and started shivering ... like a chill went up her spine or something." She then said Heeringa "wasn't her usual happy self" and she felt that "something was wrong", so she parked outside the station until it closed. She saw the man leave that night.^[14]

April 26, 2013

• 10:55 pm: The last transaction was recorded on Heeringa's register, a cigarette lighter.^[5]
• 11:00 p.m.: An Exxon manager and her husband rode by the station and saw a man outside of a silver minivan acting suspiciously, repeatedly opening and closing its rear hatch. They then saw him drive away. They later described the man and his vehicle to police.^[6]
• 11:02-11:05 pm: Surveillance cameras from three different businesses recorded a silver Chrysler Town & Country matching the couple's description speeding away from the station.^[6]
• 11:10 pm: A man pulled up to the station and unsuccessfully attempted to buy gas with a credit card. After he was unable to find Heeringa in the store, he called 911.^[6]
• 11:25 pm: Police arrived at the station. In addition to Heeringa's belongings, they found accessory parts to a gun near a puddle of blood outside the station.^[5] They soon ruled out robbery after they found over $400 in cash in Heeringa's wallet, and discovered that no money in the register was missing. An hour later, a police K-9 searched the area but found nothing.^[6]

Charges

Jeffrey Willis

Jeffrey Willis mugshot

On September 20, 2016, Jeffrey Thomas Willis, a 46-year-old factory worker already incarcerated in the Muskegon County Jail for several other crimes including murder, was charged by the Muskegon County Prosecutor's Office with the kidnapping and murder of Heeringa. Willis was a frequent customer at her place of employment, he matched a police artist's sketch of a man seen "being real flirty" with her on the night of her disappearance, and his minivan matched the description of one seen at the crime scene and recorded on security camera footage speeding away from the location of her workplace after she went missing. His co-workers told police he was scheduled to work that night but never arrived, nor did he show up for work in the days afterwards.^[1][15] Police executed a search warrant on his minivan and found Heeringa's blood on the floor.^[7] They also obtained a search warrant for Willis' home and found pictures of her in a folder labelled "VICS" on his computer.^[16] Police searched for her body near his home after a tip was called in on June 17, 2016, but found nothing.^[17] Police had previously searched for her body in and around a cabin in Mancelona owned by a friend of Willis on May 20, 2016, but also came up empty. Soon after Heeringa's disappearance, a local resident saw Willis at the Mancelona property walking out of the woods with a shovel.^[18]

Pre-trial hearings

Willis' preliminary hearing (Dec. 2016), judge orders for trial to occur

On December 13, 2016, a Muskegon County judge ruled that Willis will stand trial for murder and kidnapping charges in Heeringa's case. The judge decided there was enough evidence to call for a trial after four days of testimony during the preliminary hearing. Judge Raymond Kostrzewa noted evidence such as the folder on Willis' computer titled "vics" (possibly short for victims) which prosecutors say included a sub-folder titled with her initials, photos of Heeringa, and the date of her disappearance. They also found necrophilia and murder porn videos downloaded from the internet — some of which were simulated and some of which were real.^{[7][19][20][21]}

Another sub-folder on Willis' computer, inside the "vics" folder, had similar items regarding Rebekah Bletsch, a woman found murdered near her home in Dalton Township in 2014.^[20] Judge Kostrzewa denied bond for Willis and ordered him to remain in the Muskegon County Jail.^[19]

Other charges

On May 25, 2016, Willis was charged with the murder of Rebekah Sue Bletsch, a 36-year-old jogger whose body was found with three gunshots to the head near her home in Dalton Township on June 29, 2014. Shell casings found near her body matched a gun found in Willis' minivan, where police also found disturbing photos of females bound and gagged, handcuffs, chains, ropes, and syringes including one with a liquid later identified as a powerful sedative.^[3] The Bletsch murder trial is set to begin on September 12, 2017.^[22]

Willis is also charged with the attempted kidnapping of an unnamed 16-year-old girl in Laketon Township on April 16, 2016, when she was lost and he let her use his phone and gave her a ride. After he pulled away, he locked the doors and reached for what appeared to be a gun, but she managed to escape with minor injuries after she said she couldn't breathe and convinced him to open her window.^[3][23][24]

Willis was charged with production and possession of child pornography after police found videos of two nude girls who were 14 at the time on his computer. He lived next door to the girls in March 2011 in Fruitland Township and recorded them without their knowledge while they used his bathroom.^[25]

Willis has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is being represented by the Muskegon County Public Defender's Office, who has assigned nine attorneys to his case. The case has already cost taxpayers $250,000, and the office has requested an increase to their $1.4 million annual budget to continue his defense.^[8]

Other suspected crime

Willis is a suspect in the unsolved murder of 15-year-old Fruitport High School student Angela Marie Thornburg, whose partially-clothed body was found by a hunter on October 17, 1996 in the woods near I-96 in Fruitport. She went missing a month earlier and was initially considered a runaway, with sightings of her reported soon after. Reports from the time said she ran out a back door at her boyfriend's house when her mother came to pick her up. Willis graduated from the same school in 1988 and worked as a janitor for the school district from 1998–1999 before being fired for looking at pornography on a computer meant for students in an elementary school.^[9]

Kevin Bluhm

Kevin Bluhm mugshot

On June 21, 2016, Willis' cousin Kevin Lavern Bluhm, a 47-year-old Michigan Department of Corrections prison guard, was charged with lying to a police officer during a violent crime investigation after he told police information about Heeringa's disappearance that was not made public but which he later recanted. He was charged with the same crime in connection with the Bletsch case. Bluhm pleaded guilty to both counts on August 26, 2016 and was later sentenced to time served.^[10]

Bluhm was also charged with being an accessory after the fact when he admitted to investigators he saw Willis with Heeringa's body and helped him bury her after she was sexually assaulted. Bluhm said Willis called him the day after Heeringa's disappearance and said he had a woman and there was a party. Bluhm told police he saw Heeringa with an obvious head wound, face down, hands out, and tied. She was naked and wasn't moving. He also told police he knew that "Jeff had been following or watching Ms. Heeringa, and that he hit her … which made her go unconscious to get her in the van," and that Willis had sex and used sexual toys and torture.^[5] He told investigators he and Willis wrapped Heeringa up in a sheet and drove her to an area on Sheridan Rd near Laketon Rd, where Willis had already placed shovels, and buried her in a hole that was already dug.^[12][11][5] Bluhm has been suspended without pay from his job as a sergeant at the West Shoreline Correctional Facility, a state prison in Muskegon Heights. The judge set Bluhm's bond at $100,000 and ordered that he wear a tether if he posts bond and is released.^[12][26]

Pre-trial

On February 27, 2017, a Muskegon County judge said he has found enough evidence to send Kevin Bluhm to trial on a charge related to allegations he was involved in Jessica Heeringa's death. Bluhm is facing a felony charge of accessory after the fact in connection to Heeringa's kidnapping and murder.^[27]

Jessica's Law

Jessica Heeringa's workplace lacked cameras at the time of her disappearance, but has since had them installed.

On December 9, 2013, a Michigan House of Representatives Bill was announced titled the Jessica Heeringa act, or alternately Jessica's Law (officially known as House Bill 4123).^[28] It was requested by Heeringa's parents, introduced by Representative Collene Lamonte and sponsored by Marcia Hovey-Wright and several other Michigan legislature members.^[28][29][30] The bill requires gas stations and convenience stores that are open between the hours of 11pm and 5am to install and maintain a security camera system or to have at least two employees on shift during these hours. The bill would establish a civil fine of not more than $200 for each violation. Businesses excluded from Jessica's Law include hotels, taverns, restaurants, pharmacies, grocery stores, supermarkets or businesses that have more than 10,000 square feet of retail space.^[29][31]

As of January 5, 2017, the bill has not been passed by the Michigan legislature.^[28] Small business owners are concerned about the cost associated with installing surveillance cameras or the hiring of additional staff.^[32] In November 2014, Shelley Heeringa, Jessica's mother traveled to the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing to speak with state lawmakers concerning Jessica's law. "If you have a daughter, a sister, thank God that they're still with you," Shelly Heeringa said.^[33] The owner of the gas station Jessica Heeringa worked at, which did not have a surveillance camera system at the time of her disappearance, has since had one installed.^[29]

In popular culture

Jessica's story was subject of a three-part episode of The Vanished Podcast in April - September of 2016. The first episode misspelled her name as "Herringa." The episodes review the disappearance, investigation, evidence and eventual charges against the suspects in her disappearance. Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3

The television series Unsolved Mysteries released their Jessica Heeringa story on the two year anniversary of her disappearance in April 2015. The story was released via a "webisode" titled "The abduction of Jessica Heeringa", which was narrated by her mother who also mentioned there was a $26,000 reward for information about her disappearance.^[34][35][36]

The case was featured on the season six premiere of the Investigation Discovery series Disappeared, titled "Somebody's Watching", originally aired on April 11, 2016.^[37][38][39] Coincidentally, Willis' arrest for the attempted kidnapping of the minor female less than a week later on April 16, and the additional investigation afterwards, eventually led to the other charges against him and Bluhm.^[3]

The case was also profiled on an episode of Crime Watch Daily, originally aired on January 10, 2017.^[40][41]

See also

• List of people who disappeared mysteriously

References

External links

• Jessica Heeringa Disappearance Page at The Charley Project (last updated July 24, 2016)
• Jeffrey Willis investigation from WOOD-TV
• Jeffrey Willis articles from Grand Haven Tribune
• The Disappearance Of Jessica Heeringa on YouTube - a preview of the Disappeared episode that chronicles the case
• Video: Five witnesses testify about the disappearance of Jessica Heeringa from MLive's Official YouTube Channel, December 6, 2016