Latest / Wicked and Grim: A True Crime Podcast / The Disappearance of Jessica Heeringa

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The Disappearance of Jessica Heeringa · Wicked and Grim: A True Crime Podcast

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: When Jessica hearing Him disappeared from her job at a
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Michigan gas station in twenty thirteen, the scenes she left
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: behind raised more questions and answers. Her belongings were untouched,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: there was no signs of robbery, and a few drops
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: of blood trailed into the darkness. For three years, her
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: case stalled until a terrifying encounter involving a sixteen year
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: old girl cracked it wide open. As it turns out,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: the man responsible wasn't just tied to Jessica's disappearance, but
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: to a brutal murder, an attempted abduction, and a disturbing
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: digital world that exposed the true nature of a monster.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: This is the disappearance of Jessica hearing A.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: My name's Ben, I'm Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: and Grim.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: A true crime podcast.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Listen. So I'm a little disappointed this morning.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Why is that?
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Well, I got some raspberry tea and I was thinking
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: that it would taste like raspberry.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: But it doesn't.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: It doesn't.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: It doesn't taste like well, why it doesn't it's raspberry.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Well, I'm wondering maybe if it's raspberry leaf tea and
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: I got it completely wrong. I don't know. But anyway,
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: I was like excited to try this tea and then
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: I really was like, oh, this isn't very good.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that'd be disappointed.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: So now I have this giant box of this tea.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: But anyway, it is good for women's health. So I'm like,
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: for Frick's sakes, maybe I'll just keep drinking it. But
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: it's not you know how like a warm drink hits
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: really nice in the morning, Yes, when it tastes good, right, yes,
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: So I'm just not getting.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: That euphoric feeling. Yeah, so it's just disappointment instead.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but that's okay, that's okay. Maybe it will make
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: me feel good inside.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Right maybe maybe? Oh okay, that's one way to start
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: the day.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: I know.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Just sheer disappointment.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: Sheer disappointment. I'm also disappointed to you because it's snowing
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: here and super cold, and I feel as those two
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: things should not go together. It should be one or
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: the other.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: It's just getting us ready for Christmas, which I have
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: a couple of cool Christmas cool I have a couple
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: of Christmas cases, I should say that I've been looking
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: at recently. I haven't picked which one yet. I'm gonna
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: go for around Christmas time. But I've got some ideas
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: floating around in my noggin, and yeah, I got some
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: interesting stuff coming down the pipe, to say the least.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: Okay, well, I mean that will be here before we
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: know it.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: That's true because as of right now, it is December
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: twelfth as we're recording this morning. So yeah, it's we're
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: halfway there.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's less than two weeks away.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: No pray, sorry, as soon as I said it, it
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: was in my head, my bad party foul. Anyways, I
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: think I'm ready for this case, are you?
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: I think so?
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Hey, I haven't heard this one, so.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Okay, well let me tell you about it, okay. Jessica
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: hearing that was just like any other young mom trying to,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: you know, keep her small world afloat. She was twenty
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: five years old living in Norton Shores, a quiet lake
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: community where most people worked hard, minded their own business,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: and trusted their neighbors. Jessica fit right in here. She
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: was soft spoken, friendly, and the kind of cashier customers
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: remembered because she always smiled when working, even into the
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: late shifts, that nobody wanted her life wasn't about her job,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: though not all of it. It revolved more around her
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: little boy, a three year old named Zen. Everything she did,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: every extra shift, every long night was for him. Him.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Now money was tight, and even though she dreamed of
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: one day going to college for accounting, while reality kept
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: pushing those plans further and further away. All in all,
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: though she and her boyfriend Dakota well, they were doing
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: their best, and doing their best didn't always come easy.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: They loved each other, but like a lot of young
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: couples under financial strain arguments while it was a regular
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: part of life. Still though they stayed together, they talked
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: about marriage and worked on things to try and build
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: something for their son. Jessica worked at the local ex
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: and gas station, a small corner store that sat near
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Lake Michigan in the US. It wasn't glamorous and it
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: definitely wasn't the safest place to be alone at night,
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: but it was steady work and the owners trusted her.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: She picked up extra hours whenever she could, always taking
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: the late shifts because the pay. While it was a
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: little bit more and it kept the house running a
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: little bit more too. The downside, though, was that this
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: gas station didn't have interior security cameras, and on most
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: nights Jessica was completely alone from sunset till close. Her
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: routine was predictable, at least, go there, go to work,
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: clock in, keep the shelves, stalked, run the register, sweep
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: up count the till she knew her regulars by name
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: and chatted with customers who came through the every evening.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: But everybody who stopped, well, they could see the same thing.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: But she was working alone. On April twenty sixth, twenty thirteen,
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: it started out just like any ordinary Friday for Jessica.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: It was busy and tiring, but well, relatively normal. She
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: woke up, handled her usual morning routine with her son,
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: and headed out early in the afternoon to pick up
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: some groceries. By four thirty five, she arrived at the
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: exit gas station for her shift. She clocked in and
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: was wearing her work shirt. Now for reference, the station
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: wasn't large. It was just one of those kind of
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: small corner store gas stops, you know, where there's like
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: a few drink coolers, some shells with snacks, and a
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: small counter with a worker behind it. Sort of the situation. Okay,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: the evening ran like it always did. There, Customers came
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: and went, The radio hummed in the background, and Jessica
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: stalked shelves in the downtime, wiped down counters, rang up
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: fuel when customers came in, and kept an eye on
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: the door. At around seven forty PM, one of Jessica's
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: friends stopped in and stayed for over an hour long
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: to hang out with her while she worked.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: Okay, well that's one plus I guess to this working
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: situation definitely.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: So they talked, they laughed, they caught up on things,
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: and before long the friend would leave at around eight
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: fifty PM, and Jessica went back to her lonely routine.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: Late night customers trickled in after that, buying snacks or
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: cigarettes and gas just like usual, and the store remained clean, calm,
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: and quiet. The last recorded purchase of that night came
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: in at ten fifty five PM. Someone bought a cigarette lighter,
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: paid and left. Jessica rang at it through just like
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: she had thousands of times before. At around eleven PM,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: the station manager, Sue Follett and her husband than while
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: they were riding their motorcycles and they passed by the exit,
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: but something was going on that night there was something different.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: They passed by quite often on their bikes, but tonight
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: something caught their attention. There was a silver mini van
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: pulled up behind the building, tucked into the shadows near
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: the back door. Its rear hatch was wide open, and
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: a man stood there, seeming like maybe he was loading something.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: Now soon knew the store had no delivery scheduled that late,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: and nobody had a reason to be behind the station
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: at that hour, so the site didn't sit right, and
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: she nudged her husband and the two circled back to
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: take another look. As they came around again driving their motorcycles,
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: the man closed the hatch of his van. He had wavy,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: unkept hair and was wearing what looked like a reddish
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: orange sweatshirt, not quite clean cut, not dressed like a
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: delivery worker or a customer who simply wandered behind the building.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: There was just something off, something that felt wrong. But
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: before they could get a license plate or even pull
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: over their bike while the man climbed into the driver's
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: seat and pulled away, and with that, both the van
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: and them continued on their way. Now at nearly the
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: same time, another witness, a customer from earlier in that
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: night would later tell investigators that she had seen a
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: man inside the store chatting a little too casually with Jessica.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: She described him as being slightly flirtatious and someone who
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: lingered longer than a typical customer would, and she remembered
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: seeing Jessica seeming a little uncomfortable. Now. That man, according
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: to the witness, also drove a silver Mini van, However,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: that information would come a little bit later. As of now,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: it was between eleven o two and eleven o five
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: p m. And surveillance cameras at a nearby business caught
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: a silver Chrysler Town and Country Many van speeding away
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: from the area. Now, the exen as I mentioned had
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: no security cameras, but neighboring buildings did, and the images
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: showed that many van going fast. At approximately eleven to
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: ten PM, a regular customer named Craig Harpster pulled into
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: the X and Gas station to buy some gas on
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: his way home. He stopped here often, and he knew
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: the routine quite well, you know, knew what to expect,
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: knew the people, knew Jessica would be inside there preparing
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: to close. So when he stepped through the door, and
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: the store appeared normal at first glance, but there was
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: no one around. Something was out of place, The counter
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: was empty, the store was just silent, and he walked in,
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: calling out Jessica's name, assuming she might just be restalking,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: you know, finishing a task in a cooler around the corner,
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: maybe in the back, who knows, And after checking every
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: obvious spot, he realized she was nowhere inside. And when
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: he looked behind the counter where she usually stood at
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: the cash register, well that's when he noticed that the
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: registered drawers were open with money still inside, and Jessica's purse, cigarettes,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: and all her belongings, her jacket, well they were still
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: sitting there. Her car was also parked outside. In this instance,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: he realized quickly that something must be wrong. Why would
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: you just leave these things behind? It didn't make sense.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: So Craig went back outside and called nine to one
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: one at eleven fourteen pm, reporting that the clerk had
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: vanished from the store and it appeared abandoned from there.
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: That's pretty quickly really that someone would realize, Yes, I
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: feel like I mean, the situation she was in was
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: not safe whatsoever. The fact that she's working alone, there's
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: no cameras or anything. But a lot of people it
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: seemed like knew her and had a relationship with her,
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: so kind of had her back in a way, you know,
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: but not enough to save her from the situation, I suppose.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Which is unfortunate. But like you say, that is a
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: quick turnaround and calling in. So props to this guy
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: for you know, not just oh, well, maybe she's just
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: busy or who knows, and I'm just gonna, you know,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: leave fashion the counter and walk away or something like that.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, some people probably would have even just taken
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: the money from the register and just laughed or something.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: I mean, there's no security cameras, right, yeah, so some
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: people could have taken it. Maybe he would have. Yeah,
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: I don't know. Maybe even if he's still a good
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: smartan and didn't call in, he could have just, like
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: wrote an, iou if it's a small town thing, put
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: cash in the counter or come back later to pay
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: some things like that. But no, he was not even
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: concerned about the gas. He was concerned about her, and
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: that speaks volumes.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and he was listening to his gut too, which
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: is also good.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: Good point. Now, police arrived about ten minutes later at eleven,
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: twenty five pm. The first officer did a full walk
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: through the building, but found no sign of Jessica and
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: no indication that she'd left on her own. The doors
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: were unlocked to the building and nothing was stolen, which
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: allowed investigators to rule out a robbery pretty quickly. A
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: second officer checked around the exterior of the building. Now
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: near the back of the store is where he found
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: a small amount of blood on the pavement, and it's
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: not a whole lot, It was just a little bit
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: like couple drops sort of thing. And there was also
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: a plastic piece later identified as a battery cover for
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: a Walther Pete twenty two laser sight, which is meant
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: for a twenty two caliber pistol. That discovery sharply changed
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: the tone of the investigation. It hinted that Jessica could
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: very have likely been harmed before disappearing, or could be
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: in harm's way right now, someone could have a gun
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: to her. The store manager was contacted and arrived shortly after,
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: confirming that Jessica had in fact been scheduled to work
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: that day and that in fact was her vehicle in
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: the parking lot, plus her belongings and everything. Those were
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: in fact hers, So with no surveillance system at the station,
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: no sign of forced entry, and no clerk present, officers
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: secured the scene and began to treat the disappearance as
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: an abduction that had occurred in a very short window
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: of time. Officers performed a full sweep of the property,
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: including the immediate wooded areas and nearby buildings, but nothing
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: pointed to where Jessica had gone. In fact, a canine
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: unit even tracked the area, but they didn't detect trail
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: that led anywhere. So with the scene processed and the
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: basic facts laid out, investigators focused on building the earliest
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: possible timeline. The starting point was tight but clear. Jessica's
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: last recorded sale was ten fifty five PM, and the
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: silver mini van seen leaving the area appeared on a
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: surveillance camera between eleven two and eleven o five, and
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: that window became the heart of the investigation. Detectives immediately
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: began interviewing anyone with a connection to Jessica, whether it's coworkers,
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: recent customers, family members, and friends for example, who had
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: visited early in the evening. They asked about her mood
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: that night, whether she mentioned anything unusual and whether anyone
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: had been bothering her recently. No one reported anything alarming,
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: and everyone described the evening as just normal. Officers spoke
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: with a customer who even purchased the lighter at ten
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: fifty five pm. He didn't see or notice anything that
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: was different when he left, the man who ultimately called
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: nine one one. He even walked them through what he
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: observed inside the store when he arrived, and the gas
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: station manager described, I have a suspicious minivan she and
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: her husband saw at around eleven pm, including the man
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: standing near the rear open hatch.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: I'm just sitting here. You know, this is quite bullshit
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: because it wouldn't have taken someone very smart to realize
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: like how just easy it would be to do something
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: or take her or whatever.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: Hey a predator who's looking, Yeah, they'll definitely see it.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: And that's the problem is high risk situations. Right, Sure
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: you have danger, immediate danger, but what's the risk to
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: a danger? So, okay, I'm going to talk about an
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: analogy for a second.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: Well, are you getting putting your safety hat on?
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: I am. So there's risks and there's hazards, So of
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: course you're sitting here anywhere someone can abduct you. That's
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: the hazard, But what's the risk, what's the chances of
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: it happening. So when I was instructing and doing safety
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: coordination for you know, in dock with new employees at
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: my last job, I would actually have a hot coffee
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: in front of me to describe the hazard versus risk.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: So the hot coffee and spilling it, it is an
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: obvious hazard. How close it's sitting to you as I'm
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: talking with my hands? Is it sitting on the very
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: edge of the table. I'm risking spilling it. So in
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: this situation, you have a young, lone female worker working
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: at a gas station with no security, You've increased the
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: risk of her actually being subject to being abducted or
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: you know, a predator of sorts. So you're right, the
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: risks are through the roof.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: And I'm just wondering though, if the owner or like
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: her herself, even realized you know, that this risk, this
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: huge risk is even present.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: It's hard to say.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: You just kind of go on your day to day
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: like and no one ever anticipates anything that ever happening. Really,
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: So of course, well that's.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Turning a blind eye. Yeah, people don't think that, Well,
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: it'll never happen to me. It'll never happen to me.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: Right now, there's slippery ice outside our front door. Are
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: we gonna throw gravel down or just risk it and
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: just walk on it and say, well, I won't fall. Well,
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: of course you're gonna fall.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: It's ice now under tiny bit of snow.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: So yeah, exactly, you fucked. So it's hard to say
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: whether they saw it or not, but it's likely they
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: did see it and they just thought, well, it's not
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: going to happen. Nothing battill happen.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean at the beginning too, you did say
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: this was a smaller town, a kind of people knew
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: each other was safe, So there you go. But I mean, god,
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: I almost think fifty percent of true crime podcasts start
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: that way.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: Too, right, You think you're safe when you're not. I
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: would say it's probably more than fifty percent, yest.
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: Now, Over the following days and weeks, the case grew
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: into a major operation. A task force was assembled involving
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: seventy five investigators from multiple local, state, and federal agencies.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: They began collecting and sorting tips, examining past incidents in
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: the area, and reviewing every report involving suspicious vehicles or
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: behavior near gas stations. Search teams continued to comb the
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: surrounding woods and fields as well, So they were looking
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: around this exit station with drones, helicopters scanning the area
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: from above, with ground searches doing extensive of outward patterns
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: from the area trying to find something. There was even
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: underwater searches that were conducted in local ponds and shoreline
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: areas as well, but none of these efforts turned up
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: anything that connected to Jessica. Detectives also focused heavily on
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: the people that were close to Jessica. And they don't
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: mean just questioning, you know, for the mood and details
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: stuff like that, but I also mean regarding suspects when
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: this of course is standard procedure in missing persons cases.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: And three men quickly moved to the top of that
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: early suspect list. Her fiance Dakota Quail Dryer, a frequent
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: customer named jess Ammerman, and the store manager's brother, Rob Follett,
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: now Dakota as Jessica's partner and father of her young son,
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: was scrutinized. First, investigators asked about the relationship. You know,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: the recent arguments finance is in any possible reason he
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: might have to harmer. They also reviewed his whereabouts that night,
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: and Dakota explained that he was, you know, he was
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: at home with your kid, probably yeah. And not only that,
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: but he and Jessica even shared a car, and that
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: was the same car that was still parked at the
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: gas station, so once she left work, he had no
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: transportation was at home with their kid. Phone records also
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: confirmed that his device remained at home throughout the evening.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: It seemed that even if he had wanted to leave,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: he would need to have a ride, and the time
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: window for an abduction while in this case it was
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: extremely tight, like ten minutes, right, yeah, So for someone
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: without a vehicle to coordinate that almost seems impossible. Nothing
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: about his timeline suggested he could leave the house, abducted Jessica,
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: stage the scene, and return without anyone noticing. So after
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: reviewing the details, investigators ruled him out as a likely perpetrator.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Next was jess Ammerman, a married plumbing contractor who'd spent
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: a lot of time at the gas station and appeared
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: to actually even develop strong feelings for Jessica. Now. He
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: actually even admitted to officers that early on in the
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: evening before she disappeared, he had a conversation with Jessica,
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: and he told her he was willing to leave his
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: marriage to be with her.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: Holy shit, Okay.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: Now, according to him, she had turned him down. And
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: after that conversation, he said, he was parked in a
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: nearby parking lot talking to his wife on the phone
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: for nearly an hour. And I'm sure we can all
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: presume what that conversation was likely about, but I digress.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: Oh my, okay, so she obviously didn't share this similar feelings.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, investigators checked his phone records and found a
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: fifty four minute call at exactly the time he claimed.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: Surveillance footage from other businesses also showed his van parked
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: where he described the timeline. The physical evidence supported his alibi,
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: and he was dismissed as well as a suspect.
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: That's pretty shitty timing for him, though, Hey, yeah, right,
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: and now it's something like that. But I mean, I
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: guess even if he would have divulged that information himself
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: though really oh he did, yeah, so, I mean he
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: was't trying to hide anything, I guess, But it's a
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: terrible night to do something like that, and then she disappears,
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: you know, and you got turned down.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: The timing is a lot.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: Now, finally, detectives spoke to Rob Follett, the store manager's brother.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: He had previously also expressed interest in Jessica, and he
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: offered her a place to stay if she ever left
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: her boyfriend Dakota, you know, since they were having relationship
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: troubles and such right now. Jessica of course, didn't leave
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: her relationship and didn't take him up on it, and
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: Rob claimed that he didn't, you know, move on from
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: the idea or pursue it. He just kind of left
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: it at that and so be it. He told investigators
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: he spent that day in fact, fishing and hadn't been
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: anywhere near the station that night. His alibi, supported by
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: both cell phone data and surveillance images, showed him far
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: from the scene when Jessica went missing, so he too
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: was ruled out.
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: Was he interested in her romantically or was that just
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: being helpful?
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: That's up for discussion. Okay, we don't really know me
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: to interpretation, I guess is a better way to put it.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: He could have been. I mean, she's by all accounts,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: seems like she's a very good looking young girl, but
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: still who knows.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, she's pretty sought after, really.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: She is, I mean twenty five years old. It's not
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: like she's like, you know, some child these guys are chasing.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: I'm assume they're similar age and stuff as well, but yeah,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: it's uh, I can't answer the question for this one.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: Okay, fair enough.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Now, although each of these men had at least some
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: personal connection to Jessica, none of their stories matched the
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: extremely type timeline of the abduction. None of them drove
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: a vehicle matching the description of the silver minivan, and
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: none of them had any physical evidence tying them to
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: the scene. So, with the early suspects ruled out, investigators
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: focused on the most consistent and promising detail that they
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: had the silver minivan seen behind the X and Gas station. Now,
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: because the station had no cameras, detectives relied on exterior
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: footage from several nearby businesses, and that footage showed a
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: silver Chrysler Town and Country speeding away from the area
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: between the times I mentioned earlier, eleven oh two and
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: eleven oh five PM, but no license plate was visible. Now,
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: one of the people who did come up during this
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: time when they were focusing on this silver minivan was
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: a man by the name of Jeffrey Willis, a local
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: factory worker who occasionally stopped in at the gas station.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: He was questioned because he was known to drive a
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: silver minivan, and interviews didn't raise any red flags. His
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: van appeared clean and he was quite cooperative. In fact,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: there was simply no physical evidence tying him to the crime,
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: other than you know, he drove a silver van, so
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: investigators didn't treat him as a priority suspect. And after all,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: I mean, there's dozens of existing Silver minivans in this region,
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: So without a plate or direct visual identification, the trail
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: just stalled. By late twenty thirteen, despite thousands of hours
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: of work, the investigation had reached a painful standstill. Every
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: promising lead had faded out, and the small bits of
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: his evidence, the trace amount of bloods, the gun accessory,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: the timeline, well they weren't enough to point clearly to
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: anyone's suspect. Without Jessica or perhaps her body, without surveillance footage,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: and without a solid witness who saw the abduction itself,
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: detectives were effectively chasing a shadow. Search efforts continued for months,
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: but no matter where the investigation went, it ended with
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: the same disappointing result. There was no trace of Jessica.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: Jessica's family refused to let the community forget what had
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: happened that day. Her mother printed flyers, held vigils, and
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: spoke with media outlets whenever she could, but keeping the
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: case in the public eye could only do so much
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: when the trail of Jessica and where she had gone
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: had gone so cold. Detectives meanwhile, faced a growing sense
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: of frustration. They poured resources into this investigation, eventually mounting
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: to more than twelve thousand man hours, and brought together
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: a task force of rough Leaf seventy five professionals across
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: different multiple agencies. And despite all of that effort, the
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: lack of new leads or physical evidence made progress nearly impossible.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: And when the theory of an opportunistic kidnapper started to
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: come up, well, it felt all too real. And whoever
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: did take Jessica managed to do it quickly and quietly.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Detectives began to suspect that the person responsible, in fact,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: may have planned this, since it happened so fast, or
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: at least to some degree, they planned it, and this
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: theory well, if it's true, would mean that he knew
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: where he was taking her as well, which meant it
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: was likely very well hidden.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this is really scary. And the fact too that
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: he did it right close to closing as well. Right,
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: so there's a lot of things that it just I mean,
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: who knows how long this person was planning this shit,
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: I guess.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, by the middle of twenty fourteen, the investigation
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: had essentially stalled to a standstill. Detectives work the case
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: as information came in, but no major breakthroughs occurred. The
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: name Jessica hearing A remained a headline on missing Persons posters,
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: and then another crime occurred just a short drive north
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: of where Jessica vanished. On the evening of June twenty ninth,
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: twenty fourteen, fourteen months after Jessica disappeared, thirty six year
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: old Rebecca or Becky as she was called Blesh, went
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: out for a routine jog near her home in Dalton Township.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: Now running was a part of her regular schedule, something
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: she did to unwind after work and of course stay healthy,
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: so total prompts to her. She lived only a short
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: distance from where Jessica had vanished, and at around six pm,
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: a couple was driving down the road and noticed what
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: they thought was an animal lying in the grass on
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: the side. As they got closer, they realized it wasn't
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: an animal, but it was a woman. It was Becky.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: She was laying there and she wasn't breathing.
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: Dang. Okay.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: Paramedics arrived quickly, but she never made it to the
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: hospital and was declared dead.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: Holy frig Now.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: At first, investigators thought she might have been struck by
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: a vehicle. Her belongings like her cell phone, earbuds, and
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: sunglasses were scattered nearby, which supports this idea, but the
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: truth became all too clear when the medical examiner looked
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: closer and found that Becky had actually been shot three
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: times in the back of the head.
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, Okay, that is just so terrifying. I
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: hate stuff like this when you're literally just going out,
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: you know, and trying to distress and someone just takes
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: you out like that.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: You're going about your day.
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, it can't it can't make you, It can't
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: make you stop. But it's I just don't love this
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: at all.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: Now, two of the wounds showed signs of close range firing.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: The pattern suggested that she may have tried to crawl
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: away after the first shot. And this clearly wasn't an
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: accident or gunfire situation where someone shot and you know,
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: hit someone they didn't realize was there. Showing that she
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: could have been trying to crawl away, Showing that she
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: was shot from close range showed someone did this with
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: very clear intent. Shell casings a total of three were
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: found near the road as well in the grass after
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: this revelation. They were from a twenty two caliber firearm. Now,
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: something also felt off about this scene. There were subtle
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: signs that well, let me just tell you. Her shirt
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: was slightly raised, her running pants were partly lowered. It
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: hinted that the killer may have intended more than just
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: a murder, and investigators quietly consider that they might be
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: looking at a failed abduction attempt.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: Okay, because yeah, it does seem like weird that someone
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: would just drive by and shoot her, right.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: Yes, So detectives followed standard procedure. They started with Becky's husband, Kevin,
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: who had been out of the town that day with
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: their daughter. His reaction, the timeline alibi, All of it
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: checked out. Phone records confirmed, who wasn't anywhere near the
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: crime scene. Friends, family, and co workers were interviewed, but
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: nothing suggested Becky had enemies or was involved in anything risky.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: She was well liked. She was an occupational therapist from
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: a stable family, not someone typically targeted for a violent crime. Now,
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: a day later, a woman came forward reporting a strange
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: encounter from the day before Becky was found. A man
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: had actually approached her as she was preparing for a
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: bike ride. She also said that she decided to leave
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: the area entirely rather than continue riding near this guy. Now,
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: her description produced a sketch, but it didn't tie directly
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: to Becky's murder, but it was definitely interesting to note.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: So detectives were left with a puzzling case. A woman
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: was murdered during a jog, shot with a small caliber
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: gun three times, with no obvious suspect or motive, and
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: a potential link in another situation of an attempt that
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: could well a creepy situation, let's put it at that,
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: And so, like Jessica's disappearance, Becky's case went cold too.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: There was just no real information and time just ticked by.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: It was in the early hours of April sixteenth, twenty sixteen,
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: nearly three years after Jessica vanished and almost two years
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: after Rebecca Blesh was murdered, that a sixteen year old
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: girl named Madison Niguard was walking alone on a rural
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: road in Layton Township. She'd been at a party and well,
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: it was a gathering that ended quite abruptly when police arrived,
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: shutting the gathering down with miners drinking. Her phone wasn't
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: with her, her friends had scattered, and she found herself
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: stranded trying to navigate her way home in the dim
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: morning light. She wasn't drunk, just exhausted and kind of
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: lost trying to find her way in the dark. At
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: one point a cyclists passed by and offered general directions,
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: but they didn't really seem to help too much. Madison
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: kept walking, hoping she'd eventually recognize something, and not long
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: after sunrise, a s minivan pulled up beside her. The
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: driver was a middle aged man. He rolled down his
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: window and asked if she needed any help now. Madison
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: asked if she could use his phone, you know, maybe
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: make a call to her parents or something like that,
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: and instead of handing it to her. He suggested well
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: that she should get in so that they could pull
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: off on the side of the road together.
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: Oh no, that's creepy at shit.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: She hesitated, just like you are right now. But the
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: thing is, there's cars approaching from behind, and you know
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: she's looking for help, She's trying to find her way.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: So she reluctantly agreed and climbed in his vehicle.
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: No now.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: The moment that the door closed on his vehicle, the
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: man locked the doors. Madison immediately felt the change in
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: the atmosphere. She asked again for the phone, but he
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: told her it was dead. She said she wanted to
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: get out, but he ignored her, and within seconds he
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: reached behind the seat and he pulled out a gun.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: Everything happened so fast after that, and Madison panicked, and
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: she kicked into survival mode. She fumbled for the door handle,
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: got it unlocked, and flung herself out of the now
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: moving van while it was traveling roughly forty miles per
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: hour down the road.
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, gracious.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: She hit the pavement hard, tumbling across the asphalt, shredding
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: her skin, but somehow managed to get back to her feet.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: The driver screeched the tires of the van as it
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: skidded to a stop, and she heard a metallic click
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: of him trying to fire the gun, but the weapon
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: jammed instead of firing. He ejected two live rounds onto
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: the road, trying to get this gun to fire, but
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: he yelled at her as she started to go running
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: the other way, and he yelled out it was just
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: a joke. But Madison knew.
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: Better that is not a joke.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and she didn't look back. She sprinted to the
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: nearest house, banging on a door, screaming for help. Don
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: Schmidt opened the front door and pulled the terrified sixteen
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: year old girl inside and locked the door as Madison
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: begged her to call nine to one one. By the
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: time police arrived, Madison was shaken, bleeding and terrified, but
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: fully able to describe what had happened and what the
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: man looked like. She also remembered details of the van,
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: small things like inside there was a black mesh storage
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: net between the seats. She even identified the van as
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: a silver Dodge Caravan, which happens to be nearly identical
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: to a Chrysler Town and Country, the same type of
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: van witnessed you know, describing being around where Jessica had
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: appeared that night three years ago. Meanwhile, officers recovered two
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: live twenty two caliber rounds that had fallen out of
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: the gun and were left sitting in the street. Police
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: obtained surveillance footage from a local blueberry farm along the
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: same road, and from that footage, detectives compiled the list
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: of every registered Silver Mini van in the area. And
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: from this list, it didn't take long before one name
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: stood out.
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: Okay, well, yeah, clearly this person is just roam in
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: the streets, right because it's not like they knew she
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: was gonna Madison was going to be there at that time.
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: So it is surprising to me that they haven't got
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: caught when they are just you know, obviously on the
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: prow like this.
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: But well it's not to say that that's what they're
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: always doing on the prow. That could be a progression
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: in nature. He planned before, Now he's looking for opportunities.
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: That's a growing sense of a confidence, in my opinion.
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: Before I need to sit back and need to plan
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: every little detail. Well, now I'm getting away with this,
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: I can just kind of wander around and see what
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: presents itself. I don't really need to plan it out.
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'm dismostly meaning it's too bad that that
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: police didn't stumble across this, you know, silver mini van
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: just cruising around like this.
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: But they can't just hole over and investigate every single minivan, right, yeah,
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: which is unfortunate.
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: Well now they can, well pretty kind of.
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: They're looking into it for sure. So from this list
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: they got the name of Jeffrey Willis, a forty six
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: year old who lived in Muskegon County and was, in
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: fact someone they already interviewed about owning a silver minivan.
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: When deputies drove by his home, they saw that van
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: sitting in his driveway, and through the window. When they
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: looked inside that van, they spotted black netting between the seats,
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: just like Madison had described. Then came the final confirmation.
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: Madison was shown a photo lineup, and without hesitation, she
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: singled out Jeffrey Willis Immediately. This moment became the turning
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: point in the investigation. They quickly placed a GPS tracker
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: on Jeffrey's silver minivan and monitored his every movements for
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: several days. During that time, they noticed behavior that concerned them,
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: including a long period where he sat in a drug
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: store parking lot seemingly watching people come and go. He
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: didn't approach anyone as police were watching, but the activity
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: he looked suspicious enough to justify moving forward in a search.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: So on May seventeenth, twenty sixteen, police served a search
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: warrant for his home, his van, and his electronic devices.
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: They also brought him in for questioning. He wasn't under arrest.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: Detectives simply wanted to hear his account of where he'd
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: been on the morning that Madison escaped. Now. From the start,
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: Jeffrey struggled to keep his story consistent. He first claimed
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: that he stayed at home all day, but when detectives
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: mentioned that they knew he'd gone and gotten an oil
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: change that morning, well, he agreed he'd done that, And
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: then he added, well, he went to a pet smart
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: and later said he probably went to tractor supply as well.
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: And each version of his story contradicted the previous one,
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: and none of them explained why his van had been
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: caught on camera in the area where Madison escaped. Now.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: During the search of his van, detectives found several items
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: that immediately raised concern. They found a Walther P twenty
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: two pistol with the serial number filed off, pair of
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: black gloves, handcuffs, set of syringes, one later confirmed to
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: contain a sedative, a large hunting knife, a metal box
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: under one seat, and a second metal box under another
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: which contained restraints and sexual objects.
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, this guy is just a complete creep. Yeah,
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: and these disturbing as shit.
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: These metal boxes or metal lock boxes would in this
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: situation and many other situations be commonly referred to as
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: what perpetrators have as a rape kit.
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: Uh okay, oh man, I hate this now.
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: Further examination of the P twenty two pistol revealed something
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: even more significant. Forensic specialists restored the filed off serial number.
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: They managed to get it, and they traced the gun
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: back to one of Jeffrey's coworkers, who reported that weapon
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: had gone missing from her home. When the bullets recovered
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: from Rebecca's murder were compared to the test firing of
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: this guy, they were a match. It was the same gun,
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: which meant it connected him directly to the twenty fourteen homicide.
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: At this point, detectives confronted Willis with the evidence. He
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: became agitated, and repeatedly asked if he was under arrest,
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: and when he tried to walk out of the interview,
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: officers informed him that yeah, he was in fact under
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: arrest now. When investigators began examining Jeffrey's digital devices, the
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: search revealed material that significantly expanded the scope of the
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: investigation and connected him to multiple crimes in a way
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: physical evidence alone could not. The first major discovery came
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: from his primary computer. Detectives located a folder titled vis VICS,
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: presumably meaning.
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: Victims Seriously Yes.
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: Inside were several sub folders, each labeled with sets of initials.
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: Two of these folders were labeled j l H RSB,
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: matching the initials of Jessica Lynn Hearinga and Rebecca Sue Blesh.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: In the j l H folder, there are multiple images
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: of Jessica taken from news coverages, including screenshots of missing
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: persons segments broadcasted on TV, and detectives also found her
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: missing person's flyer, online, articles about the case, and images
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: sourced from every public release by law enforcement. The RSB
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: folder contained similar material about Rebecca, news stories about her death,
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: images related to the crime scene, and information about the investigation.
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: Beyond these folders. Investigators located a large collection of pornography
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: as well, Much of it involved themes of kidnapping, force restraints,
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: and violent sexual scenarios. Now, the content was consistent with
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: the items found in his van too, things like handcuffs,
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: restraint syringe's, masks, all this, although, to be clear, possessing
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: this material was not a legal by any means. I
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: mean maybe a gun with a filed off serial number, yeah,
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: but handcuffs or those sort of things, it's not illegal.
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: It's the context and pattern of the behavior that was
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: simply concerning.
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: Super concerned. Have all that shit just ready in your
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: van and stuff?
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: What's this guy's name again?
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Willis?
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: Okay, Jeffrey, Jeffrey. I haven't said this for a while,
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: but Jeffrey your nastiest shit.
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: You're nasty, bringing back the og term. I like it.
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Like this guy has just giving me the heavy
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: GBS the ick. Yeah, that's super ick.
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: Now. The search of his home also uncovered hidden storage devices.
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: Some were concealed in air vents, while others were placed
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: in locations that just blended in with normal household items.
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: On these drives, investigators found additional pornographic content saved articles
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: on missing women, and this set of videos that established
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: a clear history of predatory activity. One of the most
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: alarming discoveries on this was a series of voyeuristic recordings
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: made in twenty eleven. Jeffrey had secretly filmed two girls,
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: both around fourteen years old, while they were using the bathroom.
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: Oh man, they weren't even strangers either at the time.
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: They had lived next door to him.
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: Oh gosh, that's disturbing.
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: They also found another metal lock box that contained additional restraints,
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: sexual devices and such. There's lubricants, masks, ropes. Yeah, I'm
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: sure you can get the idea. It's all made to
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: immobilize and control a victim. Or hey again, I'm not
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: judging those contents could be a partner too. Consent is
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: the big thing, right, clearly he's not looking for consent.
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: Now. This is just giving me flashbacks almost to like
• 40:47
  Speaker 2: the what was that one toy box killer or oh toy.
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: Box killer was one, Yeah, where he like restrained them
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: and like did the mind control thing.
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but he also had just like I don't, I can't.
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: I think it's that one. But he just had like
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: all these things tools and stuff.
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: Was just with that one, I believe. Yeah, he had
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: like a shipping container. Yeah, when it was like his
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: like dungeon.
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: Basically really disturbing.
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, investigators then reviewed his browser history. They found
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: repeated searches for updates on Jessica's disappearance, for news on investigation,
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: articles about her family, and public statements in information on
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: body disposal, searching involved kidnapp scenarios, missing women's investigations, all
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: these sort of things, and these searches were spread out
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: over months and years, showing that his interest in Jessica
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: wasn't going away. It was. In fact, it was not
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: limited to a simple timeframe, it was ongoing. Digital forensic
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: teams also found evidence that he routinely deleted browser history,
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: clearly trying to conceal activity. However, much of the data
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: remained recoverable through forensic tools.
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: Still there.
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, As investigators worked through all this evidence found
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: in Jeffrey's home and van, they began looking into other
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: properties connected to him as well. One location in particular
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: drew some attention, which was an old house at three
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: zero three to eight Bailey, which Jeffrey had inherited from
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: his grandfather. The house was run down and unoccupied at
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: the time, but it was still in his name and
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: only about twelve to thirteen minutes away from the exit
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: station where Jessica disappeared. Because it was isolated rather than
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: you know, being right out in the open, and it
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: was rarely visited by anyone, well, this property was clearly
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: a point of interest. Once detectives obtained a search warrant
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: for this home, they found that the interior looked as
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: though it had been used very irregularly. Some rooms were
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: cluttered while others were nearly empty. But what stood out
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: the most in the search was that there's some areas
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: of the home that appeared recently cleaned. Investigator even noted
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: the presence of bleach disinfectants and other cleaning supplies, including
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: bottles that had been partially used. As they pieced together
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: the timeline, investigators also learned that Jeffrey had actually been
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: near this property on the night Jessica had vanished. His
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: cell phone records showed a ping in the Bailey area
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: at eleven twenty three pm on April twenty six, twenty thirteen,
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: roughly twenty minutes after the silver minivan was seen leaving
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: the exit station. So it all fit the timestamp aligned
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: with the exact estimated window, giving investigators the first solid
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: indication where he may have actually taken her. Immediately afterwards,
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: neighbors in the area also provided information. Once Jeffrey's name
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: became public. One resident reported seeing him at the Bailey
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: property shortly after Jessica disappeared, describing him as walking out
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: of the woods with a shovel. Allly Now, At the time,
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: the site didn't seem unusual. I mean people often knew
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: yardwork or clear rural properties, right.
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: But when you look back at that.
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: Exactly after learning about the case and his potential connection,
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: the neighbor realized that timing was very significant and contacted authorities.
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: When investigators returned to the scene after this information, they
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: conducted a more detailed search of the grounds. They brought
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: in cadaver dogs, used metal detectors and ground penetrating radar.
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: They performed soil analysis, but no remains were recovered from
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: the property. Now, as investigators continued to build the case
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: against Jeffrey Willis, one person unexpectedly became central to understanding
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: what may have happened to Jessica, and that is his cousin,
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: Kevin Lavern Bloom Now Kevin came into the picture because
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: investigators were questioning those closest to Jeffrey. He had been
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: a corrections officer with the Michigan Department of Corrections before
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: speaking with investigators, and he had no criminal record, but
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: he began giving investigator statements that contained details the public
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: no things that were not released. He shared specifics about
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: Jessica's injuries and the condition she was in, yet he
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: claimed he learned them from news coverages or community discussions,
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: and when investigators confronted him with the fact that these
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: details were not public knowledge, he changed his account multiple
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: times before eventually recanting them. Because of this, police charged
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: him with lying to investigators during a violent crime investigation,
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: which is a felony offense, and it allowed them to
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: arrest them and hold him. The following second round of questioning,
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: combined with the mounting evidence against Jeffrey, pressured Kevin to
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: tell more a more complete version of events of what
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: had happened, and eventually he admitted that he was involved,
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: not in Jessica's disappearance itself, but in what happened after.
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: In this second round of questioning, Kevin said that Jeffrey
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: contacted him on the day after Jessica vanished and told
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: him that he quote had a woman and there was
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: a quote party. Now, according to Kevin, this phrasing wasn't
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: exactly unusual with their relationship. He said that he believed
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: it referred to some kind of sexual encounter, and that's
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: quite ambiguous that statement. I believe potentially hiring sex workers
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: might be the normal for them. That's my assumption, but
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: I'm not exactly certain. Regardless. When he arrived at Jeffrey's,
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: Kevin said he saw Jessica inside. She had a visible
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: head injury. She was lying face down, her hands were bound,
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: she was naked and not moving. In fact, she was dead.
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: He continued and told detectives how he knew Jeffrey had
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: been watching Jessica and that he had developed an interest
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: in her. In fact, Jeffrey reportedly admitted to striking her
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: to render her unconscious and using restraints and sexual devices
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: while she was incapacitated and before Kevin had arrived. Now,
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: Kevin did not claim to witness the assault itself. He
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: described the aftermath in detail. Though. Kevin stated that Jeffrey
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: had planned how to dispose of her body and had
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: already chosen a location so the two men wrapped Jessica
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: up in a sheet, carried her to Jeffrey's vehicle, and
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: drove to an area near Sheridan Road and Laketon Road,
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: a rural spot Jeffrey was familiar with. There, Kevin said
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: he had already dug a hole in advance, and shovels
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: were left on site. Together, they placed Jessica's body in
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: the ground, buried her, and left this.
• 47:42
  Speaker 2: Kevin guy is also a complete piece of shit. Yeah,
• 47:45
  Speaker 2: because he could have stopped this from even happening.
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: I think allegedly, according to his version of events, he
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: showed up and she was already dead.
• 47:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but he knew that Jeffrey was having a fascination
• 47:57
  Speaker 2: with this chick.
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: True. Now, I know people who have an interest in
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: other people. I know people who are pursuing other people.
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: Doesn't mean they're going to murder them and kidnap.
• 48:07
  Speaker 2: Them, I know. But still I don't like Kevin.
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: I agree. But maybe let's play Devil's advocate here. Maybe
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: Kevin wasn't aware to what extent he was going to
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: take towards Jessica. Maybe he assumed he was just romantically
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: pursuing her and that was that. Like every normal relationship
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: typically begins.
• 48:24
  Speaker 2: Okay, but also he could have saved the family's pain
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: for three years. Yeah, of not knowing where the.
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: Hell she is the second he arrived on scene and
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: didn't call authorities, he's part of the problem for sure. Now,
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: if he was aware of how his friend cousin whatever
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: was going to pursue Jessica and didn't stop it, yeah,
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: then you're right, he could have saved her life. But
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: we don't know for sure. If that's the case, I
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: don't know.
• 48:50
  Speaker 2: I think something isn't right with him, Like, I don't know.
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: I'm not buying the full story that he's telling us.
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: Fair enough, Now, despite multiple searches over the years, Jessica
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: has never been recovered from any location. Really. Investigators believe
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: that either conditions changed over time, the exact site was
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: imprecisely remembered, or the burial location was altered. Now, with
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: all this, investigators were building the case involving thirty six
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: year old Rebecca Blesh, who was found shot dead on
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: June twenty ninth. In twenty fourteen, we already mentioned the
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: Walther P twenty two pistol found in Jeffrey's possession. It
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: matched to the bullets recovered from this case, which was
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: incriminating enough, but further evidence came from a DNA analysis.
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: Rebecca's DNA was actually found inside Jeffrey's van, including on
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: gloves and on items stored alongside the gun in some
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: lock boxes with the sexual items, which means he likely
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: tried to get her in the van. Potentially she could
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: have been in the van, we don't know, but there
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: was certainly a form of contact to get her DNA
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: in there on these items. Detectives believe that he intended
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: to at least enforce her in the vehicle, if he
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: didn't actually get her in there, potentially to take her
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: to the Bailey property or another secluded location, but that
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: she resisted strongly enough and that he resorted to using
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: his gun to kill her.
• 50:15
  Speaker 2: Oh, the poor thing.
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: So these findings helped slidify the fact that she had
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: been in close proximity with him before or after being murdered.
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: So to put it plainly, it was essentially a slam
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: dunk case. Now you have the actual smoking gun and
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: the DNA.
• 50:32
  Speaker 2: Well back to the cousin he because now he's letting
• 50:36
  Speaker 2: this guy just go rogue. Yeah, and so this is
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: another person that's died. Correct, correct, So, oh my goodness.
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: He never spoke up, never said anything, He let this continue.
• 50:47
  Speaker 2: So again Devil's advocacy. The point he saw Jessica's body
• 50:52
  Speaker 2: is at the very least the point he became aware
• 50:55
  Speaker 2: of the situation. Yes, and he could have done more
• 50:57
  Speaker 2: to protect other victims, and yeah, this is one of
• 51:00
  Speaker 2: those victims he could have protected totally. Jeffrey went on
• 51:04
  Speaker 2: trial on October seventeenth and twenty seventeen in Muskegon County
• 51:07
  Speaker 2: Court for the murder of Rebecca Blesh, but the prosecutors
• 51:11
  Speaker 2: presented the evidence as part of a broadern pattern, not
• 51:15
  Speaker 2: just this case. They argued that he targeted vulnerable women,
• 51:19
  Speaker 2: typically when they were alone and isolated. The courtroom was
• 51:22
  Speaker 2: shown images of the items found in his possession, the restraints, masks, chains, lubricants, ammunition,
• 51:28
  Speaker 2: and other material investigators described as a functioning rape kit.
• 51:33
  Speaker 2: The prosecution also introduced the digital material recovered from his home.
• 51:37
  Speaker 2: This included the folders labeled with initials matching victims, as
• 51:41
  Speaker 2: well as graphic videos and violent pornography consistent with fantasies
• 51:46
  Speaker 2: of control and coercion. Now, again, these files do not
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: prove the crime, but they helped durors understand the psychological
• 51:54
  Speaker 2: backdrop the prosecutors believed motivated this guy's attacks. They would
• 52:00
  Speaker 2: go on to discuss the DNA found in his van,
• 52:02
  Speaker 2: as well as the matching firearm fountain in his possession,
• 52:05
  Speaker 2: the one used to actually commit the murder. But throughout
• 52:09
  Speaker 2: the trial, Jeffrey showed very little visible reaction. Observers frequently
• 52:14
  Speaker 2: commented on his lack of emotion, especially during the presentation
• 52:17
  Speaker 2: of graphic evidence. The jury began their deliberations on November two,
• 52:22
  Speaker 2: twenty seventeen, and they returned with a verdict the same
• 52:25
  Speaker 2: day for charges of first degree murder and felony fire use.
• 52:30
  Speaker 2: Jeffrey Willis was found guilty on all charges. Now because
• 52:35
  Speaker 2: the charges carried a mandatory life sentence without parole, the
• 52:39
  Speaker 2: outcome meant that Jeffrey would remain in prison for the
• 52:42
  Speaker 2: rest of his life. In that sentencing, he refused to
• 52:46
  Speaker 2: listen to victim impact statements from Rebecca's family, an action
• 52:50
  Speaker 2: that later led to Michigan lawmakers to pass the Rebecca
• 52:55
  Speaker 2: Blesh Law, requiring convicted offenders to remain in the courtroom
• 52:59
  Speaker 2: during the statements, forcing.
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: Them to listen.
• 53:02
  Speaker 2: Oh like he just left.
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he wasn't in the courtroom.
• 53:06
  Speaker 2: Oh wow, I mean that doesn't surprise me. Constring what
• 53:11
  Speaker 2: kind of person he is.
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: Right, jeez? Now. Jeffrey Willis would go on trial for
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: the kidnapping and murder of Jessica. Hearinga in early May
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: of twenty eighteen, prosecutors laid out the events of that
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: fateful day when she disappeared on April twenty six, twenty thirteen,
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: starting with Jessica's routine work day and ending with the
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: eleven to fourteen PM call that first alerted police something
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: was wrong. They presented the evidence found at the gas station,
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: you know, Jessica's belonging still inside her car untouched, and
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: the droplets of blood found the rear of the building.
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: They also highlighted the discovery of the battery cover that
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: belonged to the Walther P twenty two laser site, matching
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: the model recovered from Jeffrey's possession. When it came to
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: reconstructing the night, witnesses and their testimonies would play a
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: very significant role as well. Example, the manager of Jessica's workplace,
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: the exit station, described seeing a silver minivan behind that
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: station at eleven PM, with a man moving around the
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: back of it and opening the rear hatch. Their description
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: of the driver, a man in a red or orange
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: sweatshirt with wavy crazy hair, aligned with other accounts. Surveillance
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: footage from nearby businesses supported their statements, showing a silver
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: Chrysler Town and Country leaving the area at the exact
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: time Jessica disappeared after witnesses. Prosecutors then shifted towards the
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: evidence connecting Jeffrey to the van and the timeline his
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: coworkers had noticed his vehicle was unusually clean after Jessica
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: had disappeared. Phone records placed him near the Bailey property
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: shortly after the van was last seen leaving the station too.
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: But the most significant portion of the prosecution's case involved
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: the digital evidence found years later. They introduced the Vick's
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: folder and the subfolder labeled with Jessica's initials, and the
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: images and news articles that he had saved about her.
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: When they showed the jury messages, search histories, and downloaded
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: files that suggested a long standing interest in abduction and
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: sexual assault, it put a big exclamation on the case now.
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: Of course, Finally, prosecutors also presented testimony from Jeffrey's cousin Kevin,
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: who described seeing Jessica after she was abducted and helping
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: dispose of her remains. Although the defense challenged his credibility,
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: the prosecution argued that his provided details were consistent with
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: evidence already gathered, consistent with evidence that was not known
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: to public. The defense attempted to cast doubt by pointing
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: a lack of physical remains, lack of a body, the
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: absence of direct eyewitnesses in the possibility that someone else
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: had driven a similar van, but it didn't help. After
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: approximately ninety minutes of deliberation, the jury reached a unanimous verdict.
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: On May sixteenth, twenty eighteen, Jeffrey Willis was found guilty
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: of kidnapping and murdering Jessica. Hearing one month later, he
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: received a sentence, once again, of life in prison without
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: the possibility of parole. Following his conviction, the relief for
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: Jessica's family came with a painful reality Jessica was still
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: missing and the one person who knew where she was
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: wasn't revealing anything. For her parents, Shelley and Jim, the
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: verdict closed only one part of a long exhausting chapter,
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: but the other the hope of bringing their daughter home,
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: remained unresolved. In the days after the trial, investigators again
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: reviewed areas where the two men had apparently allegedly buried Jessica.
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: Kevin had taken the police into the wooded area near
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: Sheraton Road and Laketon Road. However, despite hours searching, Kevin
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: struggled to pinpoint the up exact location. He admitted that
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: years had passed, the landscape had changed, and that the
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: burial happened at night under stressful circumstances, and as a result,
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: without more precise information, they simply could not locate remains. Now.
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: Kevin eventually accepted a plea agreement for his involvement. He
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: had already pled guilty to lying during earlier stages of
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: the investigation, and in twenty seventeen he pled no contest
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: to being an accessory after the fact in Jessica's disappearance
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: in exchange for cooperation, and because he had already spent
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: time in jail awaiting resolution. His final sentence amounted to
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: times served, followed by five years of probation and a
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: requirement to wear a GPS teather for at least one.
• 57:44
  Speaker 2: Year, that is not enough for him.
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're not alone in that thought. Many people in
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: the community thought the same thing, that that penalty was
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: way too minimal, especially compared to you know, Jeffreys serving
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: life sentences.
• 57:58
  Speaker 2: Now, well, I'm realizing commit the murder, but his shadiest shit,
• 58:04
  Speaker 2: and he could have prevented another murder from happening. So
• 58:06
  Speaker 2: it's like, no, I don't think that that's not enough
• 58:09
  Speaker 2: at all in my opinion.
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: I agree, but legally, without a full confession that could support,
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: you know, be supported with evidence, prosecutors had very limited
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: options and did what they could. Apparently now, over the years,
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: dozens of locations were combed through fields, wooded lots, marshalands,
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: rural properties looking for Jessica's remains, but each search ended
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: the same way, with nothing being found. In the months
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: after Jessica's disappearance, one question resurfaced repeatedly within the Norton
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: Shore community. How could something like this happen in a
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: public space under bright lights with cars passing by? While
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: the answer, many felt came down to a lack of
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: basic safety measures. Jessica had been working alone late at night,
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: a situation that left or exposed and the gas station
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: had no security cameras. Because parents Shelley and Jim became
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: the driving force behind a push to prevent another family
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: from going through what theirs had to endure. They worked
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: with lawmakers to draft what became known as Jessica's Law,
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: a proposal requiring gas stations and convenience stores that operate
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: between eleven PM and five AM to either install and
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: maintain working security cameras, or at least ensure two employees
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: were on duty during night shifts. The proposed law was
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: introduced to the Michigan House of Representatives in late twenty thirteen,
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: only months after Jessica went missing, but despite the emotional
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: weight behind the bill, it stalled. Small business owners, especially
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: those with standalone over overnight stores, expressed concerns about the
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: cost of installing security systems or paying the additional staff.
• 59:50
  Speaker 2: Oh, my goodness, that would be minimal the security cameras
• 59:53
  Speaker 2: being installed.
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: Yep. Jessica's Law sat installed in a pending state for
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: a while, revisited peers periodically, but as far as I
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: could find, it was never passed into law. Alongside this
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: effort was another law, Rebecca Bleshed Law. As I already
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: talked about It was passed in twenty eighteen requiring convicted
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: defendants to remain present to hear those victim impact statements
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: in court when sentencing. In the decades since, this story
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: is primarily told as Jessica's story, but it's well, it's
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: so much more than that. It's about Jessica, Rebecca Madison,
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: It's about safety, monsters, and so much more. But perhaps
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: it's Jessica's story because one piece of that story remains
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: painfully unresolved, and that's because Jessica has never been found.
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: Her parents have lived for years without the ability to
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: give her a burial or even confirmed what had happened
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: to her in final hours. That absence is the lasting
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: ache at the center of this tale, even with a
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: conviction of life sentence that was handed down. And that's
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: the story of Jessica hearing it, and Rebecca Madison and
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: every woman whose life was impacted by Jeffrey Wilson's actions.
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 2: What would it be to him to just freaking say
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 2: where the body is he? But maybe he doesn't even
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 2: remember either, But that is so terrible to me that
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 2: the family has no closure with that.
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: Well, he's he's maintaining his innocence.
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, this Sky is out to lunch.
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: No, he says he's innocent.
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 2: He's so disturbing. I got goosebumps numerous times during this
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 2: episode because he is just so nasty.
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: Nasty, af completely nasty. I like how you brought that
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: back for this episode.
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 2: You're nasty. He's a nasty motherfucker.
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: You're right, he really is, honestly.
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 2: And then I also just have to touch on Madison
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 2: because I feel like she is a the badass of
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 2: the day because if it wasn't for her, this shit
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 2: could just be continuing, could it not.
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: You're right, yeah, No, She's definitely the badass of the
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 1: day for sure.
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 2: Like she jumped out of a moving van save herself
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 2: that miles an hour freaking incredible. Yeah, Like yeah, and
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 2: she was only sixteen, so it's like, wow, yeah.
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: Awesome, props to her for that. That is huge. You're right.
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: She provided what everyone needed, essentially, uh to bring this down.
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 2: So yeah, and you know, when you were presenting this case,
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 2: I was almost in my head like I don't know,
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 2: I'm I was hoping she would have gone through complete hell,
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 2: but I was hoping that Jessica was like still alive
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 2: in that house. For some reason, I just felt like
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 2: maybe that was a possibility, even though like it really wasn't.
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: But I went through the same when I was researching
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: and learning about the story. When I got to that house,
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: I was like, Oh, hopefully she's in there, Hopefully she's alive,
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: and you know, it's a survival case, and that unfortunately
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: wasn't the situation. Yeah, we just don't know what had
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: happened to her. The only account we have, and what
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: happened to her came from someone who helped bury her,
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: which is even still a second hand account who came
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: in allegedly after she was already dead.
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 2: Huh, well, well, good job is always presenting this. It's
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 2: just unbelievable that there's people like this in the world. Hey,
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 2: it's kind of just messed up.
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: Like I said, he's a monster.
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think this one. I feel like we present
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 2: a lot of disturbing cases, obviously, but there are certain
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 2: ones that really stick with you, and this is definitely
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 2: one of being like really disturbing to me.
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: So well, it's always hard to hear. I mean, there's
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: so many things to hear that are hard to hear.
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: When it comes to true crime. But when there's that
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: aspect of it could have happened to anyone, Yeah, it
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 1: hits differently. And that's where things like safety come in.
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 1: And I am a big advocate for safety. I've got
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: a few friends in the safety industry as well, and
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: it's unfortunate to see how people turn such a blind
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: eye to it. They see the risk, they know the
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: risk is there, but they don't care because they have
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: that mentality of well, it won't happen to me, uh huh,
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: it won't happen to me, So they just keep going
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: on and then eventually it happens. And I'm not saying
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: that in terms of Jessica did it. I'm saying in
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: terms of people not putting up security cameras, people not
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: doing better for their employees, people not trying to reduce risks.
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, the going for a run thing is pretty
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 2: scary too. Like I used to run, and lots of
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 2: times I think about starting to run again. I don't
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 2: know if I'm too old, maybe not, But like out here,
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 2: we live slightly rule and I don't know. I mean,
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 2: your lots of times probably listening to headphones and shit, right,
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 2: So how do you prevent something like that from even happening.
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: Well, that's kind of the sad aspect that we live
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: in a world that we question going for a run
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: in the first place.
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, like, I don't know that's so scary because running
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 2: on quiet roads is so nice. But then yes, she
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 2: had to worry about someone was sneaking up behind her.
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 2: I don't know how quickly she realized she was in
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 2: danger and frick.
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So anyways, hopefully enjoyed today's tale and maybe it'll
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: put a little bit of perspective on Hey, it can
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: happen to anyone. Try and keep yourself safe. Minimize those
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: risks where you can put up a security camera. Honestly,
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: you can get them on Amazon now, put an SD
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: card in there and you're good to go, like upload
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: to the cloud. They're cheap.
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they're not expensive.
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, tell someone if you're going to go out for
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 1: a run, Tell someone when you're going to get back.
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: Little things can be the big difference. And if Madison
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: has taught us anything, put up a fight, put up
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: a fucking fight, be the badass of the day. Thank
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: you guys for being here. I'm going to just leave
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: it at that. Nothing about the description today you're awesome,
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 1: and until next
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 2: Time, stay wicked.