MI MI - Jessica Heeringa, 25, Norton Shores, 26 April 2013 #9 (J. Willis GUILTY)

[Roselvr]

Unfortunately, the SOB is playing a game.

He sets the rules and he has the power.

While Jessica's remains will likely never be discovered, but for a stroke of chance, her death was in no way meaningless, since the SOB is now caught and removed from civilized society, and by all appearances, a crooked LE cousin is removed from being a further disservice to the citizens he was sworn to protect.

I feel the teen girl should get some of the reward money because if it wasn't for her getting away, they'd never have Willis. She may need it for counseling.

 

[colette]

I think the neighbor who first called his name to LE should get a little something too. She was right. But the young girl who escaped should get a big reward.

 

[Schipperke]

Actually, I hope that people who get involved in trying to solve these cases are not expecting a monetary reward. IMO that is the difference between a "paid informant" (which includes some innocent and some shady people) and person a who is in for the interest of "good and justice." That being said, I do not have any problem with either of these people being monetarily rewarded for their contributions if they did not try to "sell" their information in the process (and there is no indication that either of them did).

I don't know if it is true in all states, but some have victim assistance programs which would greatly benefit the "teen who escaped with her life," and possibly the family of the victims who did not survive crimes. These programs are very valuable IMO. In these cases, there is never just one victim, and the victims' problems are never solved by simply "throwing money at them." In many ways it is comparable to acts of substituting food for "comfort, love, and compassion" and finding that obesity has been fostered in the life of an individual even though it started with the best of intentions. Life and decisions are never easy.

My heart goes out to the victims and to the people who offer their assistance in helping the victims and in solving the crimes.

 

[Suglo]

I feel the teen girl should get some of the reward money because if it wasn't for her getting away, they'd never have Willis. She may need it for counseling.

I "conversed" with her on FB when Willis was arrested for this murder. She wrote on the Find Jessica FB page. You are so right. She feels stupid and bad that she was talked into getting in the car. She is going to need counseling to make sense of it all and reduce her trauma. I told her she is one brave girl. A hero to me and many others. Some people gave her grief, as people tend to do on social media, so she deleted her comments and the thread.


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[gregjrichards]

I "conversed" with her on FB when Willis was arrested for this murder. She wrote on the Find Jessica FB page. You are so right. She feels stupid and bad that she was talked into getting in the car. She is going to need counseling to make sense of it all and reduce her trauma. I told her she is one brave girl. A hero to me and many others. Some people gave her grief, as people tend to do on social media, so she deleted her comments and the thread.


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Thank you for talking with her I can't begin to imagine what she must be feeling. She likely has survivors guilt and is haunted by what could have been and asking herself why did she survive. I hope somehow she can still live a full life.

 

[Suglo]

Thank you for talking with her I can't begin to imagine what she must be feeling. She likely has survivors guilt and is haunted by what could have been and asking herself why did she survive. I hope somehow she can still live a full life.

I hope so too. She's a fighter so my money is on her!


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[colette]

Also when the girl was first abducted it seemed like people and LE did not believe her. She went through a lot. She is a hero.

 

[gregjrichards]

"The attorney for a man accused of killing Jessica Heeringa has made a motion in court to get the judge disqualified from the case.

Continued

In the motion, Oatmen claims that Judge Raymond Kostrzewa should not preside over the case because Kostrzewa was employed in the Muskegon County Prosecutor’s Office when Heeringa disappeared in 2013. Because of this, Kostrzewa may have a bias in the case.

http://fox17online.com/2016/10/18/defense-for-jeffrey-willis-files-motion-to-disqualify-judge/

 

[TexasT]

"The attorney for a man accused of killing Jessica Heeringa has made a motion in court to get the judge disqualified from the case.

Continued

In the motion, Oatmen claims that Judge Raymond Kostrzewa should not preside over the case because Kostrzewa was employed in the Muskegon County Prosecutor’s Office when Heeringa disappeared in 2013. Because of this, Kostrzewa may have a bias in the case.

http://fox17online.com/2016/10/18/defense-for-jeffrey-willis-files-motion-to-disqualify-judge/

Good luck with all that .


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[ZooSleuth]

Good luck with all that .


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I actually think the judge should recuse himself. Not because i think he might be biased, but so that Willis can't use it as grounds for an appeal down the road. Best to err on the side of caution when it comes to conflicts of interest IMO.

 

[margarita25]

Everytime I see one of those silver T and C vans I think of JH. I saw 2 yesterday. I hope Jessica's remains can be found so she can be brought home to her family and Zevyn will have a grave to visit.

Unthinkable what she must have endured.

 

[TexasT]

I actually think the judge should recuse himself. Not because i think he might be biased, but so that Willis can't use it as grounds for an appeal down the road. Best to err on the side of caution when it comes to conflicts of interest IMO.

Then every single case in the country could make the same argument .. Plenty judged come from prosecutors office never heard of that flying .
Most likely will be a jury trial anyways so Won't have much bearing .

 

[ZooSleuth]

Then every single case in the country could make the same argument .. Plenty judged come from prosecutors office never heard of that flying .
Most likely will be a jury trial anyways so Won't have much bearing .

The circumstances are a little more exclusive than you're making them out to be. Not every single case in front of a prosecutor turned judge is a case they oversaw while they were prosecutor though, so it wouldn't apply across the board. That being said I doubt any files from this case even hit this guy's desk while he was prosecutor. The case was basically cold at that time and Willis wasn't on the radar back then.

 

[Schipperke]

I think you both have good points for the judge to consider in whether or not to recuse himself. Should such an appeal be filed, at least the record will show that the information was taken into consideration before the trial by both sides. I am not sure if the judge has to enter his justification for not recusing himself into the record, but it is clear that the motion was made and acted upon early.

 

[gregjrichards]

"MUSKEGON, MI – "No body" or missing-body homicide cases are widely considered some of the most difficult to prosecute.

First off, the prosecutor needs to convince the judge and the jury that a death has actually occurred and that a criminal act led to the death.

If he or she can't make those parts of his or her case clear with the other evidence, then the judge or jury could acquit.

Two high-profile "no body" murder cases in West Michigan are currently in the midst of the court process.

Jeffrey Willis, an accused serial killer, is charged with murder in the "no body" investigation of Jessica Heeringa, a mother who was allegedly abducted from a Norton Shores gas station on April 26, 2013. Muskegon County Prosecutor DJ Hilson recently filed murder charges against Willis in the Heeringa case, and a motion by the defense to close the preliminary examination to the public is expected to be heard soon. The motion hearing initially was scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 19, but it has since been postponed."

http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2016/10/jessica_heeringa_and_baby_kate.html

 

[Essex]

I agree they need to look in other areas, specifically other Magic tournaments out of the area. I'm curious just how far he went to play.

As for his cousin; I think he walked down and saw Jessica, had a few things to say to Willis, Willis told him that he's now on tape and if he wants to keep his job at the prison that he'd better do as he said cause if he goes down; so will the cousin. Who knows Willis could have had the gun on him too. I think the cousin kept on Willis about what he did, Willis moved her remains just in case.

Why does everyone think the cousin also has evil tendencies?

Shedding some light...
- Bluhm is his cousin and close friend since childhood. They are noted to have played poker together regularly as well.
- The Bailey house was owned by Willis deceased mother and lived in by his grandfather until he died in 2012. For some reason, Willis of his four siblings was the house caretaker. Bluhm had no business being there.
- somehow Bluhm had a story he later called a lie with some very specific details relating to the 2013 abduction, details such as plastic sheet, a stolen and damaged .22, head injuries to Heeringa and blogs at the scene. This statement took place in 2016.
- in 2013, someone called a tip on Willis. Unfortunately there were no red flags in the encounter, but they now have his phone and verified his alibi at the time was a lie. If Bluhms number isn't in it, the question of how he ended up at the Bailey place is meaningful.

 

[otto]

I don't believe that the cousin is any less culpable than Willis. The only way that someone in law enforcement would remain quiet about the abduction and murder of a young woman is if that law enforcement person is somehow complicit. Fear of being framed would not prevent an innocent law enforcement person from reporting the criminal activities. Anyone in law enforcement would know that abduction and murder of young women either is, or will likely become, a serial murder, so there would not be a "deal" where the law enforcement cousin reasonably remained quiet to protect the "potential serial murderer".

I think what happened is the cousin thought police had information about Willis murdering Hearinga, and he was trying to cover his butt by claiming that he knew about the murder, but it's not against the law to remain silent (is that true in MI?). When he spilled the beans, he was probably hoping that all he loses is his job ... the usual "it wasn't me, it was him" story. When he realized that Willis didn't spill the beans, he recanted this confession and blaming of Willis?

 

[Essex]

I don't believe that the cousin is any less culpable than Willis. The only way that someone in law enforcement would remain quiet about the abduction and murder of a young woman is if that law enforcement person is somehow complicit. Fear of being framed would not prevent an innocent law enforcement person from reporting the criminal activities. Anyone in law enforcement would know that abduction and murder of young women either is, or will likely become, a serial murder, so there would not be a "deal" where the law enforcement cousin reasonably remained quiet to protect the "potential serial murderer".

I think what happened is the cousin thought police had information about Willis murdering Hearinga, and he was trying to cover his butt by claiming that he knew about the murder, but it's not against the law to remain silent (is that true in MI?). When he spilled the beans, he was probably hoping that all he loses is his job ... the usual "it wasn't me, it was him" story. When he realized that Willis didn't spill the beans, he recanted this confession and blaming of Willis?

I'm not sure I'd agree. Because of renting, he got charged counts of lying to the cops in the course of inestigation of a violent crime, which carries up to four years, and I believe he got 96 days for it. They're also now going for accessory after the fact.

 

[Essex]

I am posting the following for anyone else who is interested. It is a timeline I have been working on prior to the public cases in court, in order to make sense of the details. Good sources relating to this case are local: woodtv, mlive and wzzm

Presumed Victims: Jessica Heeringa, Rebekah Bletsch, 16 y/o Attempted Kidnap Victim
http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/...f_willis_probe.html#incart_river_index_topics

February 2013 – Purchases 2006 Dodge Caravan
February 2013 – Steals gun belonging to co-worker.
2012 – Begins making semi regular purchases at Heeringa’s gas station.
2012 – Fined for letting his dog run loose, presumably the same time as a court case with a neighbor who accused him of smearing dog feces on their house over it.
June 20, 2011 – Willis’s grandfather, resident of the Bailey St house, passes away.
2008 – Willis’s daughter, now 26, presumably moves out as an adult.
(somewhere between 1992 and 2008 Willis installs bathroom camera)
2006 – Cops called for incident where Willis was filming without consent in another vehicle.
2003 – Works at Hermann Miller
(work gap, spent either as machinist or butcher?)
2002 – Begins stalking Wendy Silvey and others, keeping highly detailed information on them. This pre-dates many quality online utilities and would have required legwork.
2000 – Willis marries current wife.
1995-1998 – Fired from school janitor job for viewing *advertiser censored* at the school.
1996: Cold Case – Angela Thornberg
1992 – 2000 (?) – First wife dies in a car accident.
1992 – Paternity suit with first wife.
1988-1992 (?) – Attends Muskegon Community College as History major.
Cold Case: Pere Marquette

 

[colette]

Nice job on the timeline. If you haven't already, it would be nice to put on the Willis thread too.