NORTON SHORES, Mich. — Some ten years after the disappearance of a Norton Shores gas station attendant garnered national attention, questions linger.
Jessica Heeringa vanished overnight during a work shift April 26, 2013, leaving behind personal belongings, her vehicle and a droplet of blood, which was later identified as Heeringa’s. Investigators immediately knew something was amiss.
Though her killer was captured and stood trial several years later, to date, investigators have yet to locate Heeringa’s body.
“It's that anchor around your neck, every day you wake up,” Michael Kasher, the former lead investigator on the case related.
“As I got promoted from detective sergeant to lieutenant… that was the only case that I took with me.”
As confident as Kasher said he was in the investigation’s early days, he admitted that as days turned into months, the doubts began to creep in.
“It just kind of melted away,” he said.
Three years would go by, bringing with them hundreds of tips and potential avenues of exploration until there came, at last, a fateful break in the case.
Jeff Willis, an early suspect later written-off, was arrested after investigators said a woman claimed she’d been abducted, yet managed to escape, identifying Willis as her captor.
“If she didn't do what she did, I would have to say that she she'd end up dead somewhere,” Kasher related. “To me, there's no doubt in my mind about that.”
The courts convicted Willis of the crime in 2018—receiving a life sentence—and earlier, in the murder of jogger Rebbekah Bletsch.
Had he not been identified, Kasher questioned the likelihood he would have killed again.
“They don't stop,” he said of Willis. “They continue on and I think we would have had more victims. Absolutely.”
Her killer behind bars, yet thoughts of whether Jessica might still be alive out there somewhere linger on.
“Is there any conceivable way in your mind that she is alive and out there somewhere,” we questioned.
“That's a tough question to answer because, honestly, no,” Kasher replied. “I give no credence to it. There's been no evidence since 2013, when she was last seen.”
Even in retirement, the former detective said he kept track of potential new developments or leads in the case. He sympathizes with Heeringa’s loved ones, with several of whom he’s maintained relationships over the years.
Kasher also questions, outside of a confession from Willis or stroke of luck, whether the young mother and gas station attendant who vanished into the night will ever receive the justice she and her family deserve.
“When you have a disappearance like this, I can’t imagine all the people that have a family member or friend or spouse missing, and having no answers,” he related. “[We have] the responsibility… to close it for them. It's heartache, and it's just the void that you can't stop.”
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