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

[margarita25]

In Jessica Ridgeway's case, LE stressed that no tip is too small. It is often a tip that breaks a case wide open! MOO, if you feel strongly about something, even if its just a hunch, call it in. Trust your thoughts and instincts. I don't think if a tip is called in and its un related or insignificant it is going to completely derail the progress of an investigation. Tips received are usually prioritized, then handed off to investigators. Anything could help. My hope is that LE is reading all of these posts, but just in case they're not, call in your tips! Is there an email tipline set up?

 

[cluciano63]

Going around in circles with the little we know is what goes on in most cases. What else can we talk about, really, except the facts released, and any theories we can imagine? Poor Dylan Redwine has 50+ threads, with almost no known info as to why/how, or even when he disappeared. But someone has to care, and talk about the cases and try at least to keep them going and active. Sometimes it is all we can do.

 

[SteveP]

Before I go any further, let me point out that I am one of "us" and am including myself when I say this, but I think sometimes we underestimate LE and think we are smarter than they are. If we amateur, arm-chair sleuths (and I mean no disrespect to anyone in using this term) have thought of something, if it is plausible, odds are very likely that LE has already thought of it, and acted on it as well. After all, they have more facts and information, and more resources to work with, and they are trained in this field. Many, in addition to law enforcement and investigative training, also have backgrounds in psychology. Does anyone really think that they will tell us everything they know or have? We have some very bright folks in here, and I respect all of y'all and appreciate your thoughts and ideas, but this is something most of us do in our free time. For LE, it is their jobs, and for many, their lives. I speak only for myself, but even if I wanted to do their jobs, I couldn't. JMO

 

[princessk]

I am not convinced that cash drawer was on the counter. If you read that statement closely, and with the shoddy reporting in this case, I think maybe the statement was worded in a way that makes you think it is on the counter, but actually the purse and keys were on the counter, while the drawer was opened. Also, I think it may be possible that the drawer was out to be put away in a safe for the night. I have known other stores that take the whole drawer out when closing and putting up for the night in a safe. So maybe she was getting ready to leave and was coming around the counter to grab drawer, but was taking purse and keys with her in case someone came in the store (so they could not swipe it).

So a couple possible scenarios I see here: She puts the cash drawer on counter along with her purse and keys and walks around the counter to grab it and take it to the safe. A person walks in with a gun/knife while she is coming around counter and tells her to leave all the stuff and follow her outside and she won't get hurt. They head toward the van, she realizes what is happening and makes a break for it. He stops her, and cuts her or hits her to gain control throwing her in the van. I think she kicks the slide door during this struggle, and this is the possible dent we see in the van door on surveillance video. He ties her up, and off he goes. Chilling.

 

[princessk]

So a couple possible scenarios I see here: She puts the cash drawer on counter along with her purse and keys and walks around the counter to grab it and take it to the safe. A person walks in with a gun/knife while she is coming around counter and tells her to leave all the stuff and follow her outside and she won't get hurt. They head toward the van, she realizes what is happening and makes a break for it. He stops her, and cuts her or hits her to gain control throwing her in the van. I think she kicks the slide door during this struggle, and this is the possible dent we see in the van door on surveillance video. He ties her up, and off he goes. Chilling.

Another scenario: The perp walks in as she is preparing to leave. He tells her to set the cash drawer on the counter and follow him and she won't get hurt. He tells her he is going to tie her up or put her somewhere so she can't call for help, then he is going back to grab cash and other valuables. She will be safe. So she follows him out the door and when she realizes she is going in his van, she struggles with him, he gains control, and off she goes......

 

[absentia]

LOL! Who said turkeys are dumb - they know the hunting season has arrived!

That reminds me of one time here on WS peeps were posting about spotting cougars around their properties. I chimed in that I saw a cougar once in my backyard. I was so embarrassed when I realized (per my husband) that I had seen a coyote, not a cougar. Next thing you know, I'll be claiming that mountain lyons are running around my neighborhood. :blushing:

well, we do have coyotes, foxes and mountain lions running around our yards here. poor cats are indoors only.

 

[absentia]

this mother was taken away from her child. and her poor child is missing his mother. how often are missing women abducted by strangers also mothers? It's this that really gets me about this case. The forced broken bond of mother child. did the perp know anything about her? that she had a child? would he have cared and chosen a victim without children if he did know? do they have any compassion at all?

 

[absentia]

i'm hoping and praying that JH is alive and just being held. if she is, my hopes are that the perp will just let her go. BUT - i don't think this will happen until he feels a little bit of heat coming from LE.

just throwing another post out there. i feel like this thread keeps going in circles over and over again and i don't really have anything new to add since we haven't gotten any new news from LE to chew on. hopefully that changes soon though. but i'll keep reading all of the posts until that happens

thinking of you tonight, Jessica. i pray that you're doing OK and hanging in there for that sweet prince of yours. if you're no longer with us, PLEASE work with the angels and help lead LE towards some clues to bring you some justice. you and your baby boy (and your entire family) deserve it.

I just have no sense whatsoever about what has befallen her since her abduction. often one can get a sense of the nature of the crime and therefore its likely outcome. this is surely a sexual predator, but how violent? how psychopathic? I cannot get a grip on her likely condition at this point. I feel that it's possible she's surviving by playing along with him. If so, she needs to be found asap.

 

[WideOpen]

I wonder why he chose Jessica to be his victim? There was the perfect opportunity and he took advantage of it-thats all I know.
The employees from the other Exxon/Gas stations reporting a man in a van watching them and then taking off. Was the perp fantasizing and imagining the scenario he pulled off with Jessica?

I dont necessarily think this perp is a RSO or at least hasn't been charged with that. I do think he has a violent or some criminal past. The way he is described as stalking and watching sounds like he is into voyeurism and has been a peeping tom. Also something I haven"t seen mentioned in this thread is he would be someone that shows cruelty to animals maybe.

If this is local and his first abduction; what pushed him over the edge, why now? Did his controlling wife divorce him or did his mother die recently? Why now?

If this isn't a local; What's he doing in town? Event, leisure, visiting family, attending a funeral, what brings him to that location? How did he come across Jessica? Was it at the gas station, was it while she was walking her dog or did they come face to face outside of work at a bar for example?
We have not heard what Jessica was doing in the days leading up to this abduction. We do not know much about this young lady at all. What is her favorite food, what kind of music does she like, was she planning a wedding and honeymoon? Just basic human interest information. Why not?

Why haven't there been any public searches or have LE been doing any private searches? Has the water been searched are the shores being monitored?

I have lots of questions and not many answers. I feel very negatively about this outcome and worried for her family.
Praying for you Jessica.

its late and its jmo

 

[Eileen730]

Keep in mind, the cash drawer was out.
Hypothetical situation: I say she was "prepping" by unlocking the back door, and forgot something inside. There wasn't a struggle in the store because she had a weapon at her face and he's got her by suprise. Then, she plops out the cash drawer because she thinks shes being robbed. But he takes her the same way he got in..through the back door. MOO

What if she didn't open that back door and its a co worker that entered with a KEY! Or the key was given to this person. Personally I think this is an inside job! All JMO I don't believe its a Sex Offender.

 

[Eileen730]

Food for thought!
What if this was a robbery and it was interrupted. Maybe Jessica did not take that cash out of the drawer maybe she was cleaning and heard this person in the cash drawer she goes to investigate and sees the guy. SHE KNOWS THIS PERSON.

He now has to take her cant leave her behind .

this is why I think the person in that guitar store parking lot was the lookout!

 

[Portabella]

What if she didn't open that back door and its a co worker that entered with a KEY! Or the key was given to this person. Personally I think this is an inside job! All JMO I don't believe its a Sex Offender.

I think its someone who knows her, and knows this store. That is why I think its an employee, past employee, family member of past employee, family member of employee, best friend of an employee, best friend of a past employee. There is a connection I believe.

I do not think the person entered with a key, no reason. They can just park in back and walk in the front door in that case, no key needed. Most of the doors to a business such as this need a key to get in, but have a push bar fire exit thingy to get out, so a key is not essential. Also the fact that there is no blood droplets in the store still leads me to believe she opened that door. Whether it be to take out trash, dump mop water or more likely someone knocked and she was complacent and opened the door. If its true that the blood droplets were just outside that back door, I think she took a stunning blow. Snatch, stun, put in van and gone. However, unless they had something to restrain her in the van, this could mean two people. Or else they had a way to immobilize her when placed into the van, or used something like chloroform to knock her out. Drive a bit, then restrain her better, then move on to final destination.

I think the police know lots more than we do, whether its enough is another story. But I am hoping they find the key to solve this and bring her home...IMHO

 

[jenstar]

this mother was taken away from her child. and her poor child is missing his mother. how often are missing women abducted by strangers also mothers? It's this that really gets me about this case. The forced broken bond of mother child. did the perp know anything about her? that she had a child? would he have cared and chosen a victim without children if he did know? do they have any compassion at all?

That's why you can sense the "situation critical" intensity from me. Can you imagine the therapy bills for that poor little boy if they never find his Mommy? Or worse, they find her and she's no longer with us?
This person, whomever he is has absolutely no compassion. That'd be the first thing out of my mouth; "Please, let me go~ I have a baby, he needs me!"
If that really doesn't mean anything to him, then he's some sort of sociopath.

I know this is O/T but DYK that the Kidnapper of those three girls actually comforted the Mother of one of the girls he took?
Hung fliers and pretended to aid in the search?
Just Twisted. IMO

 

[cebee]

I think we tend to be hung up on the RSO angle since Jessica is a very attractive girl. But there could be many other reasons for the abduction. Could she have interrupted something earlier in the evening? Could she be a whistle blower on drugs in the area? ( or could someone THINK she was?) Could she have some shady friends?
What other angles could there be? If she were a young man, what direction would we be pursuing? Too easy to get tunnel vision since she is attractive... people disappear for other reasons...

 

[missgulfsouth]

Food for thought!
What if this was a robbery and it was interrupted. Maybe Jessica did not take that cash out of the drawer maybe she was cleaning and heard this person in the cash drawer she goes to investigate and sees the guy. SHE KNOWS THIS PERSON.

He now has to take her cant leave her behind .

this is why I think the person in that guitar store parking lot was the lookout!

They would have killed her right then and there and taken all the money from the drawer and her purse. If that was why they came they would have finished the job.

 

[jenstar]

I think we tend to be hung up on the RSO angle since Jessica is a very attractive girl. But there could be many other reasons for the abduction. Could she have interrupted something earlier in the evening? Could she be a whistle blower on drugs in the area? ( or could someone THINK she was?) Could she have some shady friends?
What other angles could there be? If she were a young man, what direction would we be pursuing? Too easy to get tunnel vision since she is attractive... people disappear for other reasons...

It's hard to say because she's right in the face of the public, (usually on dayshift) all the time. Pulling 60 hrs a week. She has to make decisions everyday.
Whom to sell cigarettes to because of ID
And the seemingly unimportant things like, "How to handle a busy shift with one person on duty."
I guess that could be a way to trigger a person,
if she took a person's cash, and forgot to turn the pump on right away and made a person late for something.

But as far as LE knows she was pretty upstanding and helpful. To look at it as she was anything but "good at what she does" goes against the grain for me. An employer (with good business sense)doesn't hire an unfriendly person for dayshift. So it would make sense that he would approve her for extra hours.
As far as her personal life, (besides the financial strain) the family said that everything was going pretty normal. I know money can be a big stress-er in a family but we all get over it, right? Those times pass. And all those people were cleared as POIs.

For me; that only leaves a "recreational/social" life that we don't know about. But if you think about it, if you're working 60+ hours a week you really don't have time for that. IMO My "days off" are focused on my family and nothing else. What little time I have to spend with them are precious.

All this is my personal opinion. analyzation. Please forgive me.

 

[TxLady2]

Before I go any further, let me point out that I am one of "us" and am including myself when I say this, but I think sometimes we underestimate LE and think we are smarter than they are. If we amateur, arm-chair sleuths (and I mean no disrespect to anyone in using this term) have thought of something, if it is plausible, odds are very likely that LE has already thought of it, and acted on it as well. After all, they have more facts and information, and more resources to work with, and they are trained in this field. Many, in addition to law enforcement and investigative training, also have backgrounds in psychology. Does anyone really think that they will tell us everything they know or have? We have some very bright folks in here, and I respect all of y'all and appreciate your thoughts and ideas, but this is something most of us do in our free time. For LE, it is their jobs, and for many, their lives. I speak only for myself, but even if I wanted to do their jobs, I couldn't. JMO

Well said, and I fully agree! I doubt that there is any theory out there that they have not already thought of and checked out. If a theory is based on facts, that's fine, but so many times people call them with dreams, visions, and even explicit details of what happened, or who they think the perp is.

LE always keeps some details to themselves, that's SOP and it is for the purpose of weeding out the nutcases who call them "confessing" to a crime. Or when they are questioning someone, and that person happens to mention a detail that has not been made public, they know they might have a suspect, or at the least an accomplice. But even if a LE agency doesn't have much experience in these cases, they still have had the training in the basics, so that puts them a few steps ahead of the ordinary citizen. And they can always call on other agencies, like the FBI to help them.

Usually in these cases, the tip line gets thousands of calls in the first few days and weeks, before they finally slow down. LE is obligated to check out every one of them, even if they don't sound very plausible. I would not waste their time with calling in theories, because if it's that obvious to me, it most certainly would be to a trained investigator.

JMO as always.

 

[cebee]

Well... could she have interrupted a drug deal in the parking lot or the back of the store? Could someone who 'usually' works that shift have something in their past, and if Jessica was not the 'usual' person on that shift, was she mistaken for them?

 

[Treelights]

I wonder why some people involved indirectly (or directly depending on semantics) with this case have their names in media, but yet another witness does not? Why have some people spoken out on film but yet another one is silent? I would think if I saw any details, I would be talking about what I saw and praying that Jessica is ok and comes home soon.
I know that Dan Shaw said on the live chat that for now they are going on the sketch and the van because that's what they have, but that could change if something makes it change, so really, what do we have to go on right now, but looking for this sketch of a guy and a van. If indeed the info is incorrect, then 2 weeks have passed since her abduction and is there a starting over again with facts, or unknowns? I am hoping that LE does know more than what they are saying. 2 weeks is a long time and nobody has come forward saying Hey it was me in the van that we know of and nobody has come forward that we know of that says I look like the sketch. I know they did interview a guy in a van, but he could very well have nothing to do with Jessica.

 

[Treelights]

JMO: The sketch etiher is not accurate or has not gotten to the right person(s) yet. I personally believe the perp lives a couple of hours away from North Shores. That is why no one has put 2 + 2 together. JMO

Exactly! I wonder if the sketch is not accurate at all!