A silver Town & Country minivan may hold the key to solving the mystery: Who abducted Jessica Heeringa?
It has been one month since the young mother vanished from a Norton Shores gas station – stolen away, police say they believe, in a minivan. One month since a witness saw the minivan pulling into the gas station near closing time. One month since surveillance captured grainy footage of the minivan barreling north through the night.
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Days turned into weeks and then into a month.
With little evidence and no surveillance video from the Exxon, police are piecing the case together one thread at a time.
They’re in search of a major clue: That minivan.
As her loved ones pass out missing persons posters and rally through social media, investigators have analyzed cell phone data, investigated persons of interest, fielded about 2,000 tips – including some from other countries, and whittled down the pool of possible vans.
“You name it,” Norton Shores Police Chief Daniel Shaw said, “we’re doing it.”
Detective Sgt. Michael Kasher, the lead detective on the case, said 1,700 Town & Country minivans – a few hundred within Muskegon County and surrounding counties – fit the criteria, which includes 2003 to 2006 models.
The search for the van has been vast: Between 50 and 60 minivan owners have been interviewed, police have looked into stolen vans and those being sold, and a silver minivan with a Michigan license plate was pulled over in Arkansas, officials said.
The time line is pretty short for a van to be there at the exact time that Heeringa, 25, was abducted, Kasher said.
“That’s something we have to look at hard – and we have been,” he said.
Time line of case
Heeringa vanished the night of April 26 near closing time. She was working alone.
Somehow she was drawn out to the back of the building, where a small spot of her blood was found, Kasher said.
The garbage hadn’t been taken out, the cash drawer was left on the counter, her purse was left behind and nothing in the station had been disturbed, police said.
A fellow Exxon Mobil employee was driving past when she saw a minivan drive behind the station, Kasher said. The woman turned around, drove past the station again and saw a man – who has been described as being about 30 to 40 years old – getting into the van, Kasher said.
Police have said Heeringa’s last sale was made at 10:50 p.m. Less than a half hour later, a customer called 911 to say the station was open, but no one was there, police have said.
Police say they believe Heeringa knows her abductor. Investigators are looking into the possibility that more than one person is involved in her disappearance, Kasher said.
He said the names of three men, who have been considered persons of interest, continue to surface through the course of the investigation. Kasher said the men are customers and acquaintances of Heeringa and some of the information they provided to police didn’t add up.
The blood outside of the station indicates she was injured, but maybe not severely, police said.
Police said they are still operating under the belief that Heeringa is alive.
“We’re still focused on the No. 1 goal that we had from day one,” Shaw said, “and that is to find Jessica.”
Loved ones have hope
The long wait for answers has extended the anguish for Heeringa’s loved ones.
“Every time you wake up in the morning, you think, ‘Oh, no, another day,’ ” her grandmother Diane Homrich said. “We never thought it would go on this long.”
She said her granddaughter’s disappearance has affected her concentration and made everyday tasks, such as vacuuming, difficult.
“The next thing I know, I’ve stopped and I’m thinking about her,” Homrich said. “A lot of times tears come and I just pray, ‘Jessica give us a sign. Give us something.’ ”
She said loved ones believe Heeringa is alive and somewhere in the area, but Homrich thought she would be found within a couple of days of her disappearance.
“And we’d live happily ever after,” Homrich said. “Maybe, eventually, that will happen.”
