1. Disappearance
    Timeline  April 25, 2013  April 26, 2013 

2. Charges
    Jeffrey Willis  Jessica Heeringa trial  Rebekah Bletsch murder  Rebekah Bletsch Law  Other charges  Other suspected crime  Kevin Bluhm 

3. Jessica's Law

4. In popular culture

5. See also

6. References

7. External links

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 convicted in relation to her disappearance. In September 2016, a 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.^[4] Willis was found guilty of Heeringa's kidnapping and murder on May 16, 2018.^[5] He received a life sentence a month later.^[6]

Willis' cousin Kevin Bluhm pleaded guilty to lying to police during the Heeringa investigation and during the investigation a 2014 murder (that Willis was eventually convicted of) and was sentenced to time served.^[7][11] On November 27, 2017, Bluhm pleaded no contest to being an accessory after the fact for helping Willis dispose of Heeringa's body and was sentenced on January 9, 2018 to time served, plus five years probation and to wear a GPS tether for at least a year.^[12]

On November 2, 2017, Willis was found guilty of the 2014 murder of Rebekah Sue Bletsch.^[8] Six weeks later, he received the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.^[9][10]

Willis is also charged with 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][11] He is also a suspect in the unsolved murder of a 15-year-old girl that occurred in 1996.^[18]

Disappearance

Timeline

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

April 25, 2013

• A frequent female 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.^[13]

April 26, 2013

• 10:55 pm: The last transaction was recorded on Heeringa's register, a cigarette lighter.^[14]
• 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.^[15]
• 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.^[15]
• 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.^[15]
• 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.^[14] 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.^[15]

Charges

Jeffrey Willis

On September 20, 2016, Jeffrey Thomas Willis, a former 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][16] Police executed a search warrant for Willis' home and found pictures of her in a folder labelled "VICS" on his computer.^[17] Police searched for her body near his home after a tip was called in on June 17, 2016, but found nothing.^[18] 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.^[19]

Jessica Heeringa trial

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.^{[4][33][20][21]}

The trial for Heeringa's murder took place in May 2018. After 1.5 hours of deliberations, the jury found Willis guilty of Heeringa's kidnapping and murder on May 16, 2018.^[5] He received a life sentence without parole a month later.^[6]

Rebekah Bletsch murder

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 women bound and gagged, handcuffs, chains, ropes, and syringes including one with a liquid later identified as a powerful sedative.^[22] Another sub-folder found inside the "vics" folder on Willis' computer had pictures of Bletsch.^[20] Judge Kostrzewa denied bond for Willis and ordered him to remain in the Muskegon County Jail.^[23] Jury selection for the Bletsch murder trial began on October 17, 2017.^[24][25][26] On November 2, 2017, Jeffrey Willis was found guilty of first degree murder in the death of Bletsch and of the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. He was sentenced to life without parole six weeks later.^[9]

Rebekah Bletsch Law

On March 9, 2018, the Michigan House of Representatives passed a bill that will require convicted defendants to listen to victims' impact statements at sentencing, which was inspired by Willis' refusal to do so after the Bletsch trial.^[27] It was passed by the Michigan Senate on May 10, 2018.^[28] Michigan Governor Rick Snyder signed it into law on May 24, 2018.^[29] It is unofficially known as the "Rebecca Bletsch Law".^[27]

Other charges

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.^[22][30][31]

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.^[32]

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.^[33]

Kevin Bluhm

On June 21, 2016, Willis' cousin Kevin Lavern Bluhm, a former 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.^[34]

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.^[14] 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.^[35][36][14] Bluhm has been suspended without pay from his job as a sergeant at the West Shoreline Correctional Facility, a state prison in Muskegon Heights.^[35][37] On November 27, 2017, Bluhm pleaded no contest to being an accessory after the fact for helping Willis dispose of Heeringa's body and was sentenced on January 9, 2018 to time served, plus five years probation and to wear a GPS tether for at least a year.^[38]

Jessica's Law

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).^[62] It was requested by Heeringa's parents, introduced by Representative Collene Lamonte and sponsored by Marcia Hovey-Wright and several other Michigan legislature members.^[62][64][39] 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.^[40][41]

As of January 5, 2017, the bill has not been passed by the Michigan legislature.^[42] Small business owners are concerned about the cost associated with installing surveillance cameras or the hiring of additional staff.^[43] 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.^[44] 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.^[40]

In popular culture

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.^[45][46][47]

The case was featured on the season seven premiere of the Investigation Discovery series Disappeared, titled "Somebody's Watching", originally aired on April 11, 2016.^[48][49][50] 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.^[22]

Jessica's story was subject of a three-part episode of The Vanished Podcast in April - September 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.^[51][52][53]

The case was also profiled on an episode of Crime Watch Daily, originally aired on January 10, 2017.^[54][55]

See also

• Crime in Michigan
• List of murder convictions without a body
• List of people who disappeared
• List of solved missing persons cases

References

External links

• Jeffrey Thomas Willis' Profile - Michigan Department of Corrections
• Jeffrey Willis articles from Grand Haven Tribune
• Jeffrey Willis investigation from WOOD-TV

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