MI MI - Jessica Heeringa, 25, Norton Shores, 26 April 2013 #5

[aszhsh]

I thought they pulled over because something was amiss, but they were sure about the make and model of the van because it was like her parents'.

I just spent over an hour going through old links and googling and I cannot find the video that I KNOW I saw either April 27 (Saturday) or April 28 (Sunday).

I think the media has been updating their stories instead of posting whole new ones in some cases, because there are other things that are worded differently than they were in the beginning. I've noticed this just in reading the news in general. Sometimes you can save a link, but you go back and it has been altered. It's frustrating.

My memory is like yours. A co worker was driving by (I believe with her husband) she spotted a suspicious van out back and also noted the light out back was not on. I believe she saw the van turn its lights off. She pulled into the guitar store parking lot and watched. I thought it stated she saw the van drive off close enought to her to see the face of the driver.

I am confused because I also recall one witness (or possible JH mom said witness told her) they saw JH and the suspect walking towards the van and everything seemed ok and then there was a struggle at or in the van. I believe there are 3 witnesses. The co worker, the guitar store guys who saw the van but not the suspect...only heard his voice and one other that LE has not really told us about. No way they can be so sure of the sketch without a better view. This would also make sense that the co worker just pulled in to check and the van left almost right away and she thought all was ok. Personally, I would of driven over and looked inside just to make sure maybe not got out of my car alone and called 911 if I did not see JH. But that is just me.

I will check old thread, lots of news reports were posted early on. :banghead:

 

[mr_slash]

I read earlier in the news that they are searching for all minivans registered in michigan. There are a very large amount. I think the number was 40,000 in western Michigan alone. In Michigan minivans are classified at station wagons. So are most SUV's. They also do not record the color. Needless to say it is a total needle in a haystack.

 

[Woe.be.gone]

Every hunter I know wears camouflage. Maybe a little orange if they know there are many hunters in the area. Hunters want to blend in with the landscape not stand out.

I live out in the country and my husband and his family and friends all hunt....and NONE of them wear orange. They carry flares if they get lost. We do live in serious country and you do not hunt on public land, so there should not be anyone else on your land...maybe that is why they don't...not sure. I will ask him. Maybe it is different depending on where you are hunting..

I am from Texas and very few, if any, hunters wear that orange unless it is required. I see your point now-thanks.

To wear a brightly colored top says to me he is reckless and arrogant.

This may have already been addressed but I googled 'hunting attire'. Dick's Sporting Goods came up so, out of curiosity, I took a look. Most of the clothing featured is camo type - khaki, brown, black. When you scroll down the page of shirts and hoodies, there's a smattering of orange and red shirts. Some of the subdued shirts have writing in orange. So, orange is a common accent color. It's possible when/if he took off a camo jacket he had an orange sweatshirt or t-shirt underneath. The color orange does seem affiliated with hunting to some degree. I don't see any purple!

http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=4414696
&pg=1&ppp=87
(click on 'view all' at the bottom of the page to see all 87 items to see what I mean)

Also, a bright orange vest popped up from Acedemy Sports (didn't click) that's called 'game winner men's game vest'.

 

[Woe.be.gone]

I've got news for you: every gas station in America has suspicious creepy men in it.

Did even one of the women bother to write down a license plate number or call LE though? :banghead:

File under 'lessons to be learned'.

 

[Vabrownid1]

:facepalm:

They don't record the color of the vehicles in the registration information and they don't let people take a lunch break??? What in the world?

 

[cards18]

At this point it's somewhat likely LE has interviewed or researched the kidnapper, and for whatever reason didn't have enough on them- jmo

 

[Woe.be.gone]

She claimed to be driving by the station, noticed something not right (I believe had to do with the back lights being out) so she turned around and pulled into the guitar store parking lot to watch. I say she, but it was really the coworker and her husband. I think his name is Eric.

Come to think of it, now we have two independent witnesses originating from the guitar store. That's a bit strange.

 

[reedus23]

At this point it's somewhat likely LE has interviewed or researched the kidnapper, and for whatever reason didn't have enough on them- jmo

Wouldn't surprise me one bit if you're right about this. I have not been able to keep up with the speed these threads had been traveling previously. I'm going to assume the answer is "no" but has LE ever indicated if anyone, particularly any RSO's, has been ruled out or cleared? TIA

 

[Vabrownid1]

Sounds to me like there may be something going on in the parking lot of the music store after hours...

 

[LittleMissContrary]

I can't quite figure out how the witness heard the suspect's voice from across the street at the guitar store location. Did I miss something or misread the information?

 

[grateful1]

I thought they pulled over because something was amiss, but they were sure about the make and model of the van because it was like her parents'.

I just spent over an hour going through old links and googling and I cannot find the video that I KNOW I saw either April 27 (Saturday) or April 28 (Sunday).

I think the media has been updating their stories instead of posting whole new ones in some cases, because there are other things that are worded differently than they were in the beginning. I've noticed this just in reading the news in general. Sometimes you can save a link, but you go back and it has been altered. It's frustrating.

This is all I could find Flutterby80, from Thread 1, post 225:
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=9323124&postcount=225

 

[imamaze]

This is all I could find Flutterby80, from Thread 1, post 225:
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=9323124&postcount=225

So... am I to understand this is something from FB?

 

[Annie1004]

WOW! ok. in cali, we get in trouble if we dont take our lunch breaks!!! i can't imagine working all day and not getting one!

Federal law (FLSA) requires a 30-minute meal break for every 5 hours of work, so Jessica was entitled to a meal break. This covers all industries except a few, such as agriculture and the like. I'm HR in California; this is a nationwide law.

 

[imamaze]

and according to this article this is the witness that helped with the sketch, it doesn't say husband and wife though. The first witness if I'm understanding everything is the guy that only heard part of a conversation between a man in a silver van but didn't see his face a couple hours earlier.

http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local...inga-abduction
A second witness spotted the minivan going through the parking lot of the strip mall next door, Norton Shores Police Chief Dan Shaw said. Shaw said police believe Heeringa was already in the minivan at that time.
"The van left and drove down this alleyway or roadway (in the strip mall)," Shaw said. "And as the van went by, she was able to see the driver's face."

That witness aided in the creation of the sketch of the possible suspect that was released Tuesday.

 

[missgulfsouth]

Is someone suggesting she may have taken a break and that's when she was abducted?
Because again, you have the money to contend with. More than likely she was counting down her drawer for the night, getting ready to close. Although to do so during store hours, rather than AFTER closing, is not a good idea. She wouldn't have left the money sitting in plain sight while she went off to do a myriad of other tasks. If she had been known to do that she wouldn't have had a job for very long. And you don't leave off counting money in the middle of it, losing track of your place is frustrating and you hate interruptions while you are counting money. Another reason to do it AFTER closing.

She had to have been in the process of closing the store when something called her attention away. If it were a knock on the back door, I still don't believe she would leave the front of the store unattended with the money out. At least I wouldn't have left it for a second. In my experience working at a gas station, there were always 2 employees, so the front of the store was never left unattended. I don't understand why just the one employee when there are so many variables and things that need attention outside of the store. Seems very lax in policies and in security.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

I was out for much of the day and haven't caught up on this thread. Have there been any new developments other than finding Jessica's blood?

 

[missgulfsouth]

Then again, maybe she let someone in the back door and they became threatening at which point she took the money drawer out and offered it for them to take, thinking they were there for robbery. Then she was taken out the back door and injured there somehow.
Any manager trains employees to never open the back door for anyone they are not expecting, and there are no deliveries being made at 11:00 at night. If she did indeed open that back door, it had to have been for someone she knew. Why wouldn't she direct them to the front of the store without opening the door? What is behind the store (locals?) where the blood was found? Dumpster, air for tires, parking.....enough room to pull up a van and abduct someone?

As an aside....I read here that someone questioned the boss in all of this. I can tell you for certain, if he was responsible, he would have put that cash drawer back FIRST!!!!

 

[Tangie]

Have I missed any threads analyzing the suspect's hairdo? In what years was this cut popular? I wonder if he sported the same 'do in high school and has never changed it because those were his glory days...he's not old enough to have worn his hair like that in the 70's, but wasn't that look popular again in the later 90's? I wonder if sleuthing yearbooks from the area from then would be helpful.

My feeling is that if he's local, he's from a west Michigan coast town - Muskegon, Grand Haven, Holland. The sketch looks like a man of Dutch ancestry. (I know that sounds horribly racist, but I'm Dutch too) Brown/blonde hair and very close-set eyes - his face looks like a thousand people around here. I think if he were inland, that hair would be more noticeable, more out of place.

This is totally just my opinion and a wild guess.

 

[Flutterby80]

So... am I to understand this is something from FB?

This sounds like it was clipped from the interview I saw her give within a day or 2 of the kidnapping. She said her husband was with her, I think his name was Eric. That interview seems to have vaporized. I never saw her on FB, although she may have been on there at some point.
It has been my understanding that there are 3 contributing witnesses. The coworker and husband who saw the van and the poi from the guitar store parking lot, and the guitar store employee who saw the van but only heard the poi while he was in the exxon parking lot. It is making me crazy that there seems to be no evidence of this now. But this is the reason I drove over and took pics...I couldn't imagine being able to id the poi from that far away. I realized he could have driven past them on the way out to Grand Haven Rd tho, and they could have gotten a look at his face under the parking lot lights.

 

[missgulfsouth]

Have I missed any threads analyzing the suspect's hairdo? In what years was this cut popular? I wonder if he sported the same 'do in high school and has never changed it because those were his glory days...he's not old enough to have worn his hair like that in the 70's, but wasn't that look popular again in the later 90's? I wonder if sleuthing yearbooks from the area from then would be helpful.

My feeling is that if he's local, he's from a west Michigan coast town - Muskegon, Grand Haven, Holland. The sketch looks like a man of Dutch ancestry. (I know that sounds horribly racist, but I'm Dutch too) Brown/blonde hair and very close-set eyes - his face looks like a thousand people around here. I think if he were inland, that hair would be more noticeable, more out of place.

This is totally just my opinion and a wild guess.

If we are to believe the sketch at all.