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

[missgulfsouth]

If I were a witness at 11:00 pm seeing a fleeing van with a shadowy man for a split second, I would absolutely not be able to produce a sketch! I would never want to give false information or lead investigators astray with inaccuracies. Nor would I ever be so bold as to call it a "10".

 

[Woe.be.gone]

Drove by the Exxon today around 5:50 pm. Didn't see Jessica's family, but the woodtv van is still set up in the parking lot, complete with a tall light on the truck.

I drove around the station and there is still no dumpster. I am thinking that they must share one with the carwash next door. If someone was going to take the trash out, it would make sense they would walk it out the back door because the dumpster behind the carwash would be slightly behind and to the east of the gas station. I guess it's possible that Jessica could have been opening the back door to take out the garbage when she was abducted. I believe it was stated the trash was bagged and ready to go out, but I never read where it was located (i.e. near back door or in the main part of the station). It still doesn't make sense that Jessica would leave the cash drawer open or unlocked, leave the front door to the station unlocked, and be walking the garbage out the back door. Even if it only took her under a minute to run the trash next door, that seems like a risky thing to do.

In an early video, I recall seeing a large green dumpster to the left of the gas station if viewing it with your back toward the street looking toward the front door/ pumps. The video was shot from an angle as if the person with the camera was standing out from that same side where the dumpster was, but not so much so they couldn't capture the front facade of the gas station too. So, if you took the garbage out the front door, you'd turn right out the door and then right again to access the dumpster which was on the side of the station but not up against the building. iirc you'd be able to drive a car between the dumpster and the buiding the way they were positioned.

Aren't the other stores and the carwash to the left if you walk out the front door of the gas station, making them to the right if you're facing the station?

If the dumpster was positioned the way I think I saw it, then it would be about the same distance to reach the dumpster whether you went out the front or back door. Also I read that the 911 caller said that the garbage looked as if it was ready to be taken out. I take this to mean it was removed from the indoor containers and bagged so, when she left, all she'd have to do is grab the bag and drop it into the dumpster.

 

[Woe.be.gone]

LE needs to consider that the van was not involved at all.

Chief Shaw made a statement that the van is the van. I get where you're coming from, but I can't believe the Chief would make a concrete statement like that if he wasn't sure. The reason he's so sure hasn't been shared with the public. Since they haven't released more info about the van, I'm not even sure if they still need the public's help identifying the van.

Thoughts?

 

[Tonto]

Chief Shaw made a statement that the van is the van. I get where you're coming from, but I can't believe the Chief would make a concrete statement like that if he wasn't sure. The reason he's so sure hasn't been shared with the public. Since they haven't released more info about the van, I'm not even sure if they still need the public's help identifying the van.

Thoughts?

Agreed. It's utterly pointless, IMO, to speculate that the van is not involved. Too many reasons why it is involved - like, not being able to locate it, no one coming forth to dispute it, eyewitnesses seeing it, and it fits the timeline to a T (with video). They probably also have even greater assurances that we don't yet know about, so questioning a bona fide and rare LE fact in this case is not constructive at all. MOO.

 

[Treelights]

Someone in the live chat comments section made a comment and Chief Shaw did respond to that person's statement. That person was questioning what if it isn't a Town and Country and LE was looking for the wrong vehicle, and that a witness can be wrong or even intentionally misleading.The person in live chat making that statement says that Chief Shaw seems to just be taking their word for it.
Chief Shaw responds.....

"Until we have information to the contrary, we have to follow the evidence, or in this case the witness description. Obviously, if we get a better video image (which we're working on) that contradicts our witness description, we will change direction at that time."


http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2013/05/live_chat_jessica_heeringa_abd.html


So, it is possible, that in the future, LE can change their direction, depending on if it Does contradict the witness's description...............

 

[Treelights]

When Shaw made the statement that "we have to follow the evidence, or in this case the witness description.", so that to me means that it is the witnesses description that they are going by. Also when he states that if they get a better video that contradicts our witness description that they will change direction at that time.
Is it possible then, that they cannot discern any more information from the video, so basically, they are going with this video and eye witness account, even though they don't have any more info that could contradict this now?

 

[Woe.be.gone]

Thanks Treelights. None of my 'buttons' are working. When I press 'thanks', it says post quick reply. Not sure what's going on - is there a ghost? (Oh, now my name shows up in the post above - figures!)

Hope there's a break in the case soon. Don't give up hope.

 

[JoCoKSEyes]

Thinking back, local law enforcement should be commended for trying to work with the station owner when they suggested he put cameras up. LE went as far as they could go while allowing the station owner to make his own decision. Too bad the station owner had no regard for the safety of his employees. Dakotah and son should have no problem winning a lawsuit.

 

[Treelights]

http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/loca...nce-video-of-minivan-in-jessica-heeringa-case

"We really don't know if that van was involved or not. We just know it was last seen at the Exxon Mobil station," said Shaw.

"Regardless, police would like to speak to the driver of the minivan, described as a heavy-set, white man between 30 and 40 years old, and having broad shoulders, and light brown, wavy hair parted in the middle and longer on top. He may have also been wearing a bright red or orange sweatshirt."

So after viewing the van in the videos, the article stated that Shaw said that they don't know if the van was involved or not, but it was last seen at the Exxon station.

 

[Kaliste]

Still nothing new? This is just so frustrating. I really feel for her son. I have a daughter his age and she would be heartbroken if DH or I just disappeared one day.

Have there been any ground searches yet? River searches? There seems to be a lot of water nearby.

 

[cards18]

Doesn't seem like it should be this easy to get away with crimes of this magnitude....

 

[Tonto]

Doesn't seem like it should be this easy to get away with crimes of this magnitude....

And this brazen. And this quickly responded to. And with solid video leads. And with an eyewitness or eyewitnesses.

It's mindnumbing.

 

[Treelights]

And this brazen. And this quickly responded to. And with solid video leads. And with an eyewitness or eyewitnesses.

It's mindnumbing.

With the 911 call being called not too long after the abduction, you are right that this was quickly responded to. It is mindnumbing for sure.

 

[missgulfsouth]

http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/loca...nce-video-of-minivan-in-jessica-heeringa-case

"We really don't know if that van was involved or not. We just know it was last seen at the Exxon Mobil station," said Shaw.

"Regardless, police would like to speak to the driver of the minivan, described as a heavy-set, white man between 30 and 40 years old, and having broad shoulders, and light brown, wavy hair parted in the middle and longer on top. He may have also been wearing a bright red or orange sweatshirt."

So after viewing the van in the videos, the article stated that Shaw said that they don't know if the van was involved or not, but it was last seen at the Exxon station.

If the driver was not involved he would (I HOPE!!!) surely have come forward and said "Hey, I'm they guy in the silver van, I was there at such and such a time buying snacks, etc. but I had nothing to do with her disappearance, give me a lie detector test, run forensics on my van - anything. I DID NOT DO THIS." But Mr. Silver van is MIA. Police can't find him. No one recognizes the sketch, or at least if they do, they aren't talking. I am QUITE skeptical about the sketch myself. But the van.....can't they run information on all of those vans in Michigan? Why can't this guy be located???

 

[Phoenixrising]

Has anything come back from the car experts they were talking to to say definitively what make,model, and year the van was?
It's like the news has gone quiet.
With the sketch so accurate apparently, I have to lean towards thinking that they have already talked to the suspect and either didn't have anything to hold him or verified an alibi and let him go and don't realize it.
Not sure why I think this, but it makes sense to me when nothing else in this case does...
Praying hard they find her soon.

 

[ClearSight00]

After going through the particulars of this case, this is what I gather (hunches/ theories):

This was an organized crime, planned far in advance, by multiple individuals, two or three.
The gas station owner was directly involved in the abduction. He facilitated the victim's vulnerability, by giving her a shift that would be favorable (not a busy time, dark out). No security cameras at the front of the store was not an accident or negligence, it was intentional.
Whoever got Jessica to leave her post and walk outside was someone she knew or had positive interactions with in the past at her job. A regular customer. Possibly, her employer.

I don't think the abductor(s) are locals. If I were LE I would be spreading the sketch drawing to near by states, and to Ontario.

I hate to say this, but, I think the end game to the abduction involves Jessica ending up as a slave to some rotten *advertiser censored*, possibly trafficked elsewhere. I think she is alive, but her chances of making it back to the world are slim. This crap is infuriating.

Human trafficking cases will become common, I believe. As economic conditions worsen and society degrades, people will prey on the vulnerable for money.

 

[cluciano63]

The gas station owner, I believe, is not considered to even be a POI if not cleared entirely.
He is not someone we can discuss as a possible suspect here, unless police say so.

 

[Woe.be.gone]

http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/loca...nce-video-of-minivan-in-jessica-heeringa-case

"We really don't know if that van was involved or not. We just know it was last seen at the Exxon Mobil station," said Shaw.

"Regardless, police would like to speak to the driver of the minivan, described as a heavy-set, white man between 30 and 40 years old, and having broad shoulders, and light brown, wavy hair parted in the middle and longer on top. He may have also been wearing a bright red or orange sweatshirt."

So after viewing the van in the videos, the article stated that Shaw said that they don't know if the van was involved or not, but it was last seen at the Exxon station.

The article referenced is dated April 29/30. Chief Shaw's comments became more certain about the van in particular as time went on. That may indicate that LE has additional information they haven't shared with the public. For whatever reason, he believes that van is the vehicle involved.

There is a more recent post from a few days ago that sums up the most recent comments Chief Shaw shared with the public. That's the last we've heard. Nothing has changed that I'm aware of. LE may have additional evidence that we don't know about.

 

[Woe.be.gone]

After going through the particulars of this case, this is what I gather (hunches/ theories):

This was an organized crime, planned far in advance, by multiple individuals, two or three.
The gas station owner was directly involved in the abduction. He facilitated the victim's vulnerability, by giving her a shift that would be favorable (not a busy time, dark out). No security cameras at the front of the store was not an accident or negligence, it was intentional.
Whoever got Jessica to leave her post and walk outside was someone she knew or had positive interactions with in the past at her job. A regular customer. Possibly, her employer.

I don't think the abductor(s) are locals. If I were LE I would be spreading the sketch drawing to near by states, and to Ontario.

I hate to say this, but, I think the end game to the abduction involves Jessica ending up as a slave to some rotten *advertiser censored*, possibly trafficked elsewhere. I think she is alive, but her chances of making it back to the world are slim. This crap is infuriating.

Human trafficking cases will become common, I believe. As economic conditions worsen and society degrades, people will prey on the vulnerable for money.

Welcome ClearSight00. A few newbie mentions. They run a tight ship around here in that we can't accuse anybody before LE mentions they're a poi or suspect. So, discussing the gas station guy, even though we all agree could have used better judgment and has his priorities wrong, is not permitted.

Also, no swears - you can use stars though.

Thanks for cheering me up. :scared:

 

[Woe.be.gone]

I checked back in tonight because I'm anxious to hear if any new leads came from the tips CS said they received on Sunday. A few days have gone by, so I keep hoping they'll lead to a poi or some additional evidence. No such luck yet anyway.