Missing Jessica Heeringa, Norton Shores, Mich

[HairOfTheDog]

JVM also interviewed Dakota Quail-Dyer.

He's the father of Jessica's child and referred to as her fiancee, though he told JVM that they had no firm plans to marry.

Snip:
JVM: So please tell us, did she, your fiance, Jessica, have anybody who was bothering her, stalking her, a customer who kept hanging around? Did she ever say anything?

QUAIL-DYER: Not to the aspect of someone so much bothering her. There was people that hung out, out there that were friends of hers. I`m not quite sure who everybody was. It was a work environment. So I`m not quite clear. But she never stressed anything about a specific person or nothing.

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I think the Exxon station was a party hang out at night and/or there were transactions other than gas pump sales going down there regularly during night shifts. That's why police, after 6 weeks, haven't moved beyond the point of disappearance and locals during their investigation. JMO. I hope they're right keeping the focus so narrow.


Here's the JVM June 14, 2013 transcript:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1...vm.01.html

[NightOwl]

JVM also interviewed Dakota Quail-Dyer.

He's the father of Jessica's child and referred to as her fiancee, though he told JVM that they had no firm plans to marry.

Snip:
JVM: So please tell us, did she, your fiance, Jessica, have anybody who was bothering her, stalking her, a customer who kept hanging around? Did she ever say anything?

QUAIL-DYER: Not to the aspect of someone so much bothering her. There was people that hung out, out there that were friends of hers. I`m not quite sure who everybody was. It was a work environment. So I`m not quite clear. But she never stressed anything about a specific person or nothing.

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I think the Exxon station was a party hang out at night and/or there were transactions other than gas pump sales going down there regularly during night shifts. That's why police, after 6 weeks, haven't moved beyond the point of disappearance and locals during their investigation. JMO. I hope they're right keeping the focus so narrow.


Here's the JVM June 14, 2013 transcript:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1...vm.01.html

HairOfTheDog, great job on witness accounts Post #40, always good to have their details to refer back to. Very good news HLN reported the story!
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Post #41
Quail Dyer doesn't impress me very much, if he loved and adored Jessica he would never have allowed her to work at the gas station, real men protect their women IMO I am not happy with this fellow period.

It's not a good sign people hanging out with her at Exxon, so I agree here could be a party hang out at night and more, could this explain the high heeled boots?

[Duchess]

could this explain the high heeled boots?

If that's the case, her wearing those boots makes more sense to me. I know people do it all the the time but it's not easy being on your feet for hour after hour in heels particularly at a gas station where she could have worn anything for comfort.

[HairOfTheDog]

I am not happy with this fellow period.

Me neither. I think Jessica was the sole breadwinner in the family, right? He didn't work.

He's always present at the fund-raisers though and I know he watched their son. IDK, he just strikes me as lackadaisical. Maybe I'm wrong. But, he doesn't make a strong impression on me either based on the little that I've seen.

It's one of the reasons that I haven't entirely given up on the possibility that Jessica just said, "I'm outta here", took off and things snowballed from there. That's really more wishful thinking than anything else though, since I really don't believe she would have left her son.

It's not a good sign people hanging out with her at Exxon, so I agree here could be a party hang out at night and more, could this explain the high heeled boots?

I agree with you and Duchess. IF the Exxon was a hot spot of some sort at night, the high heels make more sense. Also, if the gas station owner was involved in whatever night time goings-on were taking place, it explains why he wouldn't have made the piddly $5k investment in security cams and why he seems so defensive.

Just speculation.

[HairOfTheDog]

Insight from Private Investigator

Local station WZZM hired a private investigator to investigate Jessica's disappearance a month ago.

Here's an overview of what she's researched, including interviews with witnesses and nearby business employees:
http://www.wzzm13.com/news/article/25913...ringa-case

Local law enforcement seems to be taking some heat these days. I think a lot of folks in Jessica's neck of the woods and others following the case are wondering if LE's scope and assumptions have remained too narrow; LE is still apparently riding on the belief that the silver mini-van is the key and the driver is a local known to Jessica in some way.

LE is no closer to knowing what happened to Jessica than they were 54 days ago seems to be a recurring sentiment.

In response, Police Chief Dan Shaw says his department is still going through leads and they do have people of interest they are continuing to focus on. He is confident they will solve the case.

[NightOwl]

Insight from Private Investigator

Local station WZZM hired a private investigator to investigate Jessica's disappearance a month ago.

Here's an overview of what she's researched, including interviews with witnesses and nearby business employees:
http://www.wzzm13.com/news/article/25913...ringa-case

Local law enforcement seems to be taking some heat these days. I think a lot of folks in Jessica's neck of the woods and others following the case are wondering if LE's scope and assumptions have remained too narrow; LE is still apparently riding on the belief that the silver mini-van is the key and the driver is a local known to Jessica in some way.

LE is no closer to knowing what happened to Jessica than they were 54 days ago seems to be a recurring sentiment.

In response, Police Chief Dan Shaw says his department is still going through leads and they do have people of interest they are continuing to focus on. He is confident they will solve the case.

HairOfTheDog, my gosh it's really great that WZZM hired a private investigator, I really think this is a good idea!

Here is a segment of the tape & details I never heard before, "One example; The back of the Exxon station was totally dark. Two large security lights on the back wall normally on, were off. The back door which was normally closed, was open. Why would an employee need to know how to shut security lights on and off? This is where police say Jessica was taken and where a small amount of Jessica's blood was found."

Who would know where the switch is to turn off security lights? or was Jessica forced to turn them off? so Jessica was not abducted out front of the Station her blood is found out back.

She must have talked to the same van person at the gas pumps near closing, now the private investigator finds a witness and his statement is:-
"However we've now learned that before Jessica's disappearance, a silver van was spotted by a worker across the street. He told our investigator that around 10:30 p.m. on Friday, April 26, the night Jessica Hearing disappeared, he saw a silver van driving slowly and suspiciously around the building where he worked."

Q: So just to get it correct, the silver van circled around and went down the street and then turned around, faced the Exxon station down the street?

A: That's correct, the witness said he saw the van go down the street and face the Exxon for at least 10 or 15 minutes.

____________________________________________________________

Thanks! HairOfTheDog the Video was great! I liked the woman investigator!

[HairOfTheDog]

2 Months Later...

“They talked to a counselor and decided they needed to tell him something,” Homrich (correction: Jessica's grandmother) said of Zevyn (Jessica's son). “They told him his mommy is lost. That is something he can understand.”

Massive police efforts have gone into the investigation and search for Heeringa, including a multi-agency task force. Norton Shores Police Chief Dan Shaw said that task force has since been downsized, but he still has four full-time officers working exclusively on the case.

Shaw said the department receives 10-15 Silent Observer tips each day, but only a handful of those receive priority treatment. Many of the calls are about rumors, he said, and some are about people they’ve already investigated for the case.

The Silent Observer reward is at more than $16,000, the chief said.

Police are still looking for a silver Chrysler Town and Country van that was seen in the area on the night of April 26 when Heeringa was abducted. A drawing of the man believed to be driving the van has been widely circulated, but the suspect has yet to be identified, Shaw said.

“We have lots of names, but we still don’t know who he is,” the chief said.

Shaw also believes Heeringa is still in the area, and the missing woman's grandmother still hopes she will be found alive.

“I still think she’s in the area someplace," Diane Homrich said. "Maybe that’s what keeps me going back out there (to the command center in the strip mall next to the gas station)."

The command center was set up in the parking lot at The Pointes shopping center for several weeks after Heeringa disappeared. It’s now manned only on Fridays.

Homrich said she and her husband, Roman, are planning to man the command center for a few more Fridays.

“After that, I’m not sure,” she said. “Every week, there’s less and less people. ... The rest of the family had to go back to work."

http://www.grandhaventribune.com/article/548241
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Jessica's family continues hosting regular fundraisers for the family.

Photo of Jessica's sister's family and Jessica's grandparents at a recent fundraiser:

[NightOwl]

Hard to believe it's been 2 months already.

I was scouting around and found this video on WZZM 13 abc the same station that hired the private investigator. The fellow interviewed thought the van driver was kind of strange!


http://www.wzzm13.com/news/article/25501...as-station

[HairOfTheDog]

Today is Jessica Heeringa's 26^th birthday.

LE reports that tips are no longer coming in steadily, they haven't gotten any new promising leads, the investigation is still active, no searches because there's no known starting point...

I don't know what to make of this case and what LE really suspects (if anything).

[HairOfTheDog]

Hard to believe it's been 2 months already.
http://www.wzzm13.com/news/article/25501...as-station

It was 100 days on August 4^th; really hard to believe it's been so long.

Jessica's fiancee. Dakotah Quail-Dyer, got a job as a cook to replace the income Jessica's gas station gig brought to the family and says he's struggling to keep the rental home and Jessica's phone in tact for when she comes home. He relies on the generosity of friends.



Quail-Dyer says that their son knows what happened and he never wants him to forget his mom.

According to Quail-Dyer, his family watches the little boy while he's at work and he doesn't hear from Jessica's family or police at all anymore.

No new leads in the case and no formal suspects.

Ref:
http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index...on_th.html

I wonder if the fiancee is completely cleared in LE's book.

[sharit]

Quail-Dyer says that their son knows what happened and he never wants him to forget his mom.

According to Quail-Dyer, his family watches the little boy while he's at work and he doesn't hear from Jessica's family or police at all anymore.

No new leads in the case and no formal suspects.

Ref:
http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index...on_th.html

I wonder if the fiancee is completely cleared in LE's book.
[/quote]
Her family is not in her sons life? What the fuck!

[NightOwl]

Hard to believe it's been 2 months already.
http://www.wzzm13.com/news/article/25501...as-station

It was 100 days on August 4^th; really hard to believe it's been so long.

Jessica's fiancee. Dakotah Quail-Dyer, got a job as a cook to replace the income Jessica's gas station gig brought to the family and says he's struggling to keep the rental home and Jessica's phone in tact for when she comes home. He relies on the generosity of friends.



Quail-Dyer says that their son knows what happened and he never wants him to forget his mom.

According to Quail-Dyer, his family watches the little boy while he's at work and he doesn't hear from Jessica's family or police at all anymore.

No new leads in the case and no formal suspects.

Ref:
http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index...on_th.html

I wonder if the fiancee is completely cleared in LE's book.

Thanks for the above article HairOfTheDog. Quail-Dyer is whinning too much about Quail. Quail sounds like he was terribly dependant on Jessica, sounds to me she was the main breadwinner, this is the signal this fellow is giving me. I am annoyed with that fact because he should be a real man here and be able to provide for his family, then Jessica wouldn't need to be in a dangerous job. Jessica didn't stand a chance that night all alone.

Old fashioned as it sounds a man needs to be able to provide for a wife & family first and no children out of wedlock.

I was really upset that if he was pressed about what happened to Jessica he states," But if pressed, he said he believes she could have been taken out of the area for sex trafficking." What a horrible thought!

It struck me very strange that he didn't hear from Jessica's family anymore or the police he says. I wonder if Jessica's side of the family is upset with Quail or what here?

[HairOfTheDog]

It's been almost a year since Jessica Heeringa went missing from the gas station at which she worked and finally a new article in the media.

LATEST:
http://woodtv.com/2014/04/02/target-8-a-...-revealed/

For months on end, LE kept saying they were investigating and the big lead was the silver minivan that a couple of witnesses saw in the area, plus the sketch of the man driving the van given to them by a female witness. This witness happened to think the van looked suspicious at the gas station, checked it out, but didn't think too much more about it til she found out Jessica was missing the next day.

This is the sketch of the driver, from NightOwl's OP:


So, now we find out that one of Jessica's boyfriends (not the reported fiance and father of her child) was a POI from the start. And, the female witness was on a night time motorcycle cruise with her husband when they both claim to have seen an incident at the gas station, followed the van, didn't get a license plate number, but then she gave police the sketch of the van's driver after hearing Jessica was abducted.

AND, this female witness is the sister of the POI boyfriend -- who had gotten an apartment for himself and Jessica before her disappearance, but she reportedly dumped him instead. Jessica's fiance says he knew about the boyfriend.

The boyfriend's parents say their son was fishing and they were at a casino in the family's silver minivan at the time of Jessica's abduction/disappearance. They say police have verified that the boyfriend was fishing by cell phone records and verified that their van was at the casino via surveillance video.

Police aren't commenting other than to say that neither the boyfriend or the fiance are the "focus of the investigation", but that no one is cleared -- including the fiance, the boyfriend, nor the gas station owner...

(Some of the comments in the linked article are interesting, though not verified.)

[HairOfTheDog]

3 Years -- Still Missing

I often wonder what happened to @NightOwl and hope she's well.

Hard to believe it's been nearly three years since she opened this thread dedicated to Jessica Heeringa's abuction/disappearance.

Police say they've been working the case actively, searched and seized communications from several individuals, polygraphed some persons of interest (they won't say who or reveal the results), etc...

Investigation Discovery channel's "Disappeared" just aired its season premiere which covers Jessica's case. The episode includes interviews with LE and family members. LE hopes the show's national broadcast will prompt new leads; me too.

[HairOfTheDog]

I just watched the 'Disappeared' episode on Thursday night OnDemand. It cleared up a lot of rumors and contained some information that was new to me.

After watching the program and listening to the investigatory updates from the lead detective, Norton Shores Police Lt. Michael Kasher, I don't suspect Jessica's boyfriend, nor Jessica's co-worker who reported seeing a minivan leaving the back of the gas station shortly before Jessica was discovered missing by a customer, nor the co-worker's brother with whom Jessica had a close relationship.

Police have not cleared Jess Ammerman, a man who visited the gas station frequently and with whom Jessica had a romantic relationship. His (now ex) wife has not been ruled out either.

Another POI who hasn't been cleared is Brad Mason of Kalamazoo. Mason is suspected of abducting and sexually assaulting two other women. When police went to Mason's home to question him about Jessica's disappearance, Mason pointed a gun at them and wouldn't drop it. He was shot dead (the gun turned out to be a toy). Mason's victims looked like Heeringa and he had connections to Norton Shores, the show points out. Police were able to determine he had visited the gas station where Heeringa worked more than once, though there is no solid connection between Mason and Jessica.

[HairOfTheDog]

Is this the guy?

This morning I read that police have arrested a local man who lured a 16-year-old girl into his silver minivan and then held her at gun point. Fortunately, the girl escaped.

Jeffrey Willis, 46, of Muskegon Township, Michigan, has been charged with kidnapping. Police searched his home and vehicle and seized the items according to a probable cause statement released Friday.

Willis, a married factory worker, is also being investigated in the 2013 disappearance of then-25-year-old Jessica Heeringa and the 2014 death of 36-year-old Rebekah Bletsch.

His van contained a bar with wrist restraints, a mask, a pistol, ammunition and syringes filled with liquid along with the ball gag and chains, the document said. Investigators found child pornography and videos of bound women in his home.


^ Suspect sketch vs. Willis photo

Willis looks more like the sketch of the man seen driving away from the gas station than the other POIs, to me. If he's the guy, I hope he's compelled to confess so Jessica's family and Rebekah's family can finally have answers.

Ref: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...pping.html

[Duchess]

His van contained a bar with wrist restraints, a mask, a pistol, ammunition and syringes filled with liquid along with the ball gag and chains, the document said. Investigators found child pornography and videos of bound women in his home.

Freak. I'm glad he's off the streets.

[HairOfTheDog]

His van contained a bar with wrist restraints, a mask, a pistol, ammunition and syringes filled with liquid along with the ball gag and chains, the document said. Investigators found child pornography and videos of bound women in his home.

Freak. I'm glad he's off the streets.

Me too. He's a serial predator. I think he most likely abducted and killed Jessica; his M.O., his closeness in proximity, and the fact that he drove a silver minivan is too much of a coincidence, in my opinion.

Yesterday it was announced that Jeffrey Willis was charged with open murder and using a firearm in a felony in the death of Rebekah Bletsch.

Ballistics matched a handgun seized from Willis' minivan with bullets found in Bletsch's body and shell casings found at the scene of her death, according to investigators. As far as authorities know, Willis and Bletsch didn't know each other before she was killed after going out for a jog. Bletsch was killed a year after Jessica went missing.

Willis had been under investigation in Rebekah's death since he was charged in April with kidnapping and other crimes in an incident involving a 16-year-old girl in Muskegon County's Fruitland Township.

The teen told police she got lost walking home, when a man pulled over, offered her his cell phone and ultimately forced her inside his van. She reportedly jumped from the moving van, and ran bloody and barefoot in search of help.

"She probably doesn't realize how much of a hero she is," prosecutor D.J. Hilson said at a news conference.

Ref: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rebekah-blet...n-another/

[an0n]

MUSKEGON, Mich. (AP) - A man was charged with murder Tuesday in the 2013 disappearance of a gas station clerk in western Michigan, a case that had stymied investigators until the suspect was arrested last spring in the attempted abduction of a teenage girl.

Jessica Heeringa disappeared from the gas station where she worked in Norton Shores, near Muskegon, as she was about to close up for the night. The body of the 25-year-old woman still hasn't been found. Investigators weren't able to break the mystery until Jeffrey Willis was arrested in May in a different case.

Willis was charged with kidnapping and murder. He's already awaiting trial in two more cases in Muskegon County: the fatal shooting of a 36-year-old female jogger in 2014 and the attempted abduction of a teenage girl in April.

His lawyer declined to comment on the new charges.

"This individual, Mr. Willis, is a monster," county prosecutor D.J. Hilson told reporters.

Police said they found rope, handcuffs and syringes in Willis' van when they arrested him in the spring.


The Norton Shores police chief, Jon Gale, said the charges are "one step towards justice," but he added that he won't be satisfied until Heeringa's body is found and returned to her family.

Hilson said Willis' cousin, Kevin Bluhm, was charged with being an accessory. He's already pleaded guilty to lying to investigators.

Via 13ABC Toledo

[HairOfTheDog]

Thanks for the update an0n.

I'm happy to see that investigators gathered enough evidence to charge Willis with Jessica's abduction and murder and his cousin with accessory.

It's harder to get a conviction without a body to prove a murder was committed, and Willis is a predatory piece of shit. So, I don't think he'll confess and/or give up the location of Jessica's remains unless he gets something major in return. I'm hoping Bluhm knows where she's located and will tell all for a reduced sentence on the accessory charges so Jessica's family can memorialize her as they see fit.