MUSKEGON, Mich. -A new billboard on US-31 near Muskegon has just three words: "YOUR SILENCE KILLED."
Relatives and friends of Rebekah Bletsch bought the space to pressure and shame Kevin Bluhm.
Bluhm's cousin, Jeffrey Willis, murdered Bletsch in 2014. A year earlier Willis killed convenience store clerk Jessica Herringa and prosecutors say Bluhm help hide the body. But because Bluhm stayed silent about his involvement, Willis was free and able to kill Bletsch 428 days later.
►Related: Jeffrey Willis' sentencing for murder of Jessica Heeringa rescheduled
►Related: A timeline of the Jeffrey Willis case
“Had he said something Becky would still be here,” says Rebekah’s sister, Jessica Josephson. “Had he spoken up about what he saw his cousin do, what he helped his cousin do, Becky would still be here. The slogan 'YOUR SILENCE KILLED' has been with us from the beginning.”
Bluhm entered a “no contest plea” to being an accessory after the Herringa murder and spent 475 days in jail. Willis is serving a life sentence for killing Rebekah Bletsch and will be sentenced next week for the murder of Heeringa. There is more information on the "YOUR SILENCE KILLED" campaign on their Facebook page.
The billboard is on Northbound U-S 31 on the left just past Sherman Boulevard.
“I drive by here every day,” says Josephson. “I see the billboard every day. It is hard to look at. It is an everyday reminder that I will never have peace with what happened to my sister. Becky should still be here. She could still be here had it not been for Kevin Bluhm.”
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