MURDERED: Jessica Heeringa

[00:00] Hi, Crime Junkies, it's Britt, and I have big news. One of my favorite seasonal shows, CounterClock, is back with a brand new season, and it is wild. Host Delia D'Ambra is digging into the 2008 Lane Bryant murders. I mean, this isn't just a recap. It is a reinvestigation. She's talking to law enforcement, people from the community, even sources who have never spoken publicly until now. And you know I love a show that asks all the questions. Listen to CounterClock Season 8 now, wherever you get your podcasts. [00:30] Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt. And today, I want to tell you a story about a woman who could have been any of us. She was a young mom in her mid-20s who was trying to provide for her family while also trying to beat that quarter-life crisis and figure out what direction she really wanted to take for her future. She was smart and loving, a hard worker, and then... [00:52] She just vanished without a trace. [00:55] This is the story. [00:57] of Jessica Herringa. [00:59] Thank you. [01:30] you

[01:31] For decades, some cold cases have been reduced to files in a cabinet, but not anymore. I'm Ashley Flowers, and me and my team on the deck have been traveling across the country to report on these forgotten cases. And in some instances, it's resulted in these cases being solved after decades. [01:50] Join me every Wednesday as we revive these stories one card at a time. Listen to the deck now, wherever you get your podcasts. [02:01] Jessica Herringa didn't have any time to go out and party on weekends. She has a three-year-old boy, and her fiancé Dakota recently lost his job. So while Dakota stays at home to watch their son Zevin, Jessica treats Friday night like she usually does by going to work the closing shift at an Exxon gas station on Sternberg Road in her hometown of Norton Shores, Michigan. Now, as anyone who's worked any sort of retail or food service job will tell you, it's not a job for everyone. But Jessica tries to look on the bright side. [02:30] very introspective. I mean, she's literally known for journaling every single day and she loves math. She wants so badly to continue her education. But with a young kid at home and bills to pay, that's just not an option right now. And life for her in Norton Shores is duller now that Jessica's mom, Shelly, and one of her sisters, Samantha, have both moved out of town. So really, she gets a lot of her social interactions from the people who frequent the gas station where she works. Like,

[03:00] before they actually come in. So on the night of April 26, 2013, one of Jessica's regulars, this guy named Craig, swings by the Exxon station to fill up his car. Now, it's dark outside, like 11 p.m. And since Craig doesn't need to buy anything else besides gas, he just goes ahead and pays at the pump. Now, there's one problem. The pump doesn't activate. And now this doesn't worry him because he knows Jessica's getting ready to close up for the night. She's probably like taking [03:30] pump back on, but when he walks into the front door of the store, he's a little surprised when he doesn't see Jessica behind the counter. So he starts looking around, poking his head around the corners to see if maybe she's in the office or something. But, [03:44] Nope, not there. Eventually, Craig starts calling out her name. But when she doesn't answer, he begins to search everywhere. I mean, she's not stocking the shelves. She's not in the back walk-in cooler. The store is totally empty, as if she just like up and left. [04:14] at that moment, Craig knows something is very wrong. And listen, I know we talk about intuition a lot on this show, and we always encourage women to trust theirs. But guys, this 100% goes for you too. Because as Kayla Fortney reported for ABC News 13, Craig actually almost left the gas station just to go fill up somewhere else. Because again, even though it didn't feel right, he also didn't see any signs of a struggle. Nothing seemed out of place. Like he felt kind of silly thinking

[04:44] But his gut instinct told him something bad did happen. Something was very, very wrong and that he needed to call police. And again, intuition does not have a gender crime junkies listen to yours. Yeah, it really is so important. And like you said, this guy was one of her regulars. He knows Jessica and this is not something that she would just walk away from. Exactly. So Craig decides to call 911. And here, I'll play you a clip. I want you to listen and tell me what you think. [05:11] you [05:13] Miss Vegan 911, where's your emergency? I don't know if it's emergency. I just got a work on the Exxon gas station on Sternberg Road. Kind of Sternberg and Old Grand Haven. Okay. And there's nobody here. [05:26] It wouldn't allow me to pump gas, but I just walked inside. There's nobody. There's a car here. There's another car out front. [05:35] but it's just very suspicious why there's nobody here. Yeah, and even in that call, you can kind of hear him second-guessing how serious this is. Like, I don't even know if it's an emergency. Yeah, right. He's not panicking, but you can hear in his voice that he just has this bad feeling. He'd rather be safe than sorry. And sure, it's true, she could have left early, but I mean, we know a little bit about her background, her fiancé's unemployed, the family's struggling financially as it is. [06:05] by closing the store early. Now, like we have seen so many times before, the normal protocol for police in that area would be normally to not get involved until 24 hours after Jessica was first reported missing. But the scene at the gas station was so suspicious that they knew right away something was wrong here.

[06:25] So... [06:26] Other than Jessica just not being there... [06:28] What about the scene made it look out of the ordinary? Well, when the first officers arrive, they find Jessica's jacket in the back room and her car still in the parking lot, which Craig pointed out in that 911 call. Plus, we had talked about the cash register was just a little bit open. All of the money is still in the cash register and there's $400 in cash in Jessica's purse, which makes it incredibly clear to everyone that robbery wasn't the motive here. [06:58] this as a potential crime scene, like a crime probably was committed here. So when they bring in the team to process the gas station, they notice that outside behind the gas station, like out near the back door, there is this small, dark stain smudged into the concrete that looks very much like it could be blood. So they get a small sample. They want to send it off for testing right away. I mean, they're trying to confirm whether this is Jessica's. Is it an assailant? Is it blood [07:28] Like, I mean, it could have happened any time, you know, but doesn't tell you when it was dropped there. So those results are going to take a while. But even without those results, officers are fearing the worst that the target wasn't money, merchandise. It really was Jessica. Jessica. [07:43] So right away, they make two calls, two people that they want to talk to that they think might hold the key to Jessica's location. The first is Jessica's fiance, Dakota. As soon as Dakota gets a ride to the gas station, police immediately want to know his whereabouts. Like, where were you this entire night? Can you account for them? And Dakota's like, listen, I was home the entire night with our son, and I don't know that I can prove it. Like, it was just me, but also we only have one car, which is sitting here in the gas station parking lot.

[08:13] to get here. Now, there's nothing in Dakota's past that really stands out to them as far as they know they have a great relationship. They're going to verify his alibi with cell records, but we know that that's going to take time. But for now, they don't really see any reason to continue to look at him. [08:29] So the second person that police call was Jessica's manager, Sue. Police want to know where she was more to see like, OK, I mean, where were you at the time? But has anything been going on recently? Any weird activity? Any weird customers? Like, is there anything you can tell us that can give us a clue as to where Jessica might be now? Here's the thing. [08:50] In a real stroke of luck, Sue just happened to be driving by the gas station that night, like totally unrelated. And she was driving by at the perfect time because she says that at the time she drove by, she saw a strange minivan parked out back of the gas station. And she tells police this was so suspicious to her that she actually stopped and watched because she thought someone was maybe stealing from the station. [09:20] husband who was in the car with her pulled over to check it out and see what was going on. They didn't see any theft, like nothing crazy that jumped out, but they did see something weird because a man went to the trunk of the vehicle to adjust something quickly. And then he gets back in the car, like in the driver's seat and slams the door. Now, [09:39] Sue didn't get a license plate number, but she could see that it was a silver town and country minivan, which is confirmed later by security footages like from the nearby businesses in the area.

[09:50] Did she see the driver at all? So not a great look at the driver, but good enough that she can describe him as a white male about six feet tall. She said that he was most likely between 30 and 40 years old with this wavy, light brown hair. And, you know, she says, I don't recognize him like I don't recognize him as a regular customer. He's definitely not someone that works there. But she does sit down with a sketch artist who puts together a composite of the man driving the van. And here I'm going to send you the sketch really quick. [10:18] It looks like he kind of has small features, like a thin nose, maybe... [10:22] smaller, close set eyes. The wavy hair is there. I mean, it's pretty much the guy you described. Yeah. And I don't know if we're just getting like a little jaded. I feel like all of these are blending together. We've seen a lot of composite sketches lately. Has anyone actually ever been caught by a sketch? Because I'm feeling like, no. Right. So this isn't like a lot, but here's the thing. It is better than nothing. So they show this composite sketch to the family [10:52] like Jessica's fiance Dakota, doesn't look like anyone she might have known. So police are forced to release the sketch to the public on May 1st in hopes that someone is going to see this, maybe recognize this guy and then come forward. [11:06] So hundreds of people see this sketch and actually hundreds of people actually come forward with tips. And the Norton Shores police are swamped trying to follow up on every single one. But they are coming up empty handed every single time. And they're not able to find any trace of where Jessica might be. OK, but like what about the security footage from that night? Like, I feel like that'd be the first place that you would go to find anything out. So you think. But that's the thing. At the time, there were no security cameras at the Exxon.

[11:36] to kind of pester her about that. But Jessica would always tell her, listen, it's fine. But now it's not fine because there's no way for police to tell what happened in that store or who was there. So without the footage, investigators take the transaction records from the cash register and they use that to start putting together a timeline of what was happening at the station before Jessica went missing. So all of the footage, investigators, [11:58] One of the detectives on the scene that night tells the producers of Disappeared's episode Someone is Watching that Jessica had sold a lighter at 1054 p.m. Then Craig makes that 911 call at 1107 p.m. So there's just a 13 minute window of time that's unaccounted for. Yes, but I mean, really, it's even smaller than that because he got there. [12:21] looked for her and then called. Yeah, I mean, you're right. Like, we're talking seven, eight minutes, maybe? Wow. Well, and it's even crazier because the manager drove by, like, right around the same time, right? Yeah, so she drove by when this guy's... [12:36] fan who we're presuming possibly took Jessica is like behind. So what are the odds? [12:41] Now, [12:42] Even though everything seems like it should be in our favor, we have a super small window. We have somebody who was there during that window of time. But even with that, we're just coming up empty. But then on May 8th, this is 12 days after Jessica went missing, investigators get the news that they've been dreading. They get their DNA test results back. The dark stain found behind the gas station was, in fact, blood. And as Kevin Dolak reported for ABC News, the DNA was a match for Jessica.

[13:12] With real fear for her safety now that the abduction seemed so painfully likely, the search goes into overdrive. But even with multiple searches in and around Norton Shores, all of the tips about the man in the sketch, the silver minivan, again, it's as if Jessica vanished into thin air. [13:29] The days go by, time stretches on, fewer and fewer people start coming forward with tips, and eventually every lead is exhausted and the case goes cold. But the police never forget about it. They can't forget. The lead investigator on the case, Detective Mike Kasher, keeps in touch with Jessica's mom, Shelley, over the passing weeks and months to keep her updated on any new developments and to basically reassure her that they're never going to give up no matter how long this takes. And then... [13:57] About seven months after Jessica vanishes, Detective Mike is talking to Shelley, and Shelley happens to ask him about Jessica's journal, the one that she wrote in every day. She never read it, and so she's asking Detective Mike, like, listen, were there any clues in there? Like, did anything come of it? Like, it had her most inner thoughts. It had everything about her life. Like, I was for sure thinking that something would be in there. Right. And... [14:22] Mike's totally blown away. [14:25] because he's like, [14:26] What journal? I've never heard of a journal. Now, this makes no sense to Shelly, because right when Jessica went missing, Shelly brought up that journal to Dakota and she asked him, listen, make sure that that gets turned over to police right away. This is going to help them find her. I really think so.

[14:56] unless he has something to hide. [15:01] For decades, some cold cases have been reduced to files in a cabinet, but not anymore. I'm Ashley Flowers, and me and my team on the deck have been traveling across the country to report on these forgotten cases, and in some instances, it's resulted in these cases being solved after decades. [15:21] Join me every Wednesday as we revive these stories one card at a time. Listen to the deck now, wherever you get your podcasts. [15:31] As it turns out, Jessica's fiance has been hiding more than just her journal. Detective Mike sits down to read it as soon as Dakota hands it over. And almost from the moment he opens the book and turns the very first page, it becomes very clear that Dakota is not the loving and sensitive partner Jessica's mom and sisters believed him to be. [16:01] very controlling and how unhappy she was with him. Like it is all there tucked away between the pages where Jessica kept the secrets of her life and her relationship. In between caring for her son and working full time, she'd stolen the precious few moments she had to herself each day, usually late at night after she traded her contacts for her glasses to journal. And that is where she poured her whole heart out about how trapped she felt, how she worried about her future slipping

[16:31] had started to sour into something really ugly. And listen, Jessica's family is horrified. Like they've known Dakota for years and they've spent so much time with him. And through all of that, they had no idea that any of this was going on, that he was being controlling, that sometimes he could be physically abusive. Like they thought that he and Jessica just shared the car and a cell phone to save money. But they actually learned that it was a way for Dakota to track where Jessica was going [17:01] Yeah, and we know that monitoring communication is a major red flag. [17:07] when it comes to like domestic violence and a relationship not being in a good place. Oh, yeah. I mean, it's practically textbook. Plus, Dakota was restricting her friendships. Like he doesn't like Jessica being on Facebook. Isolation. He's in control of all their money, even though Jessica's the one actually going out and making the money. So all of this is really like troubling signs of a controlling partner. Now, most worrying of all, though, is an incident [17:37] And their little son Zeben like toddled into the room right when all of this is going on. So even Zeben wasn't. [17:43] like immune from all of this, like he got exposed to it as well. [17:47] So by this time, and we're seven months out, police have gotten his cell phone records. They've confirmed that he was at home where he said he was the entire time with the only cell phone they owned. It was the only car they had. He wouldn't have had any way to get there. So though he has a good alibi now that they have this, I mean, this paints him in a totally new light. So armed with this knowledge and, you know, the whole idea that he lied about this and lied about their relationship. Police actually name him a person of interest for the first time.

[18:17] police dakota admits okay yes like i had jealousy issues yes our relationship was super rocky even though we put on a happy face for friends and family but i swear i never got physical with her i had nothing to do with her disappearance [18:32] And as shady as he looks, as bad of a guy as he might have been, Dakota's alibi still holds firm. [18:40] The Norton Shores chief of police spoke to MLive several months after the journal gets put in police's hands. And he says, listen, while no one's been officially cleared since Jessica's gone missing, Dakota has fully cooperated with the investigation. And even though no one really likes him and even though her family is super upset about how they feel like he betrayed them, like even they can't argue with the evidence. Like, we've got to move on from Dakota. The answers don't lie with him. [19:10] we still don't know where they lie. And again, her case kind of goes cold. Without Dakota ever being indicted with anything, without any charges being filed against him, there's just nothing. Lead after lead like this tapers off until investigators are at a standstill. [19:28] While Jessica's absence leaves a gaping hole in their lives, her family tries their best to carry on and to keep hope alive, if nothing else than for her son. But months and months pass with no new updates, no new leads and no sign of Jessica. Until February of 2014, about 10 months after Jessica vanished, when investigators finally get a break.

[19:52] Detective Mike told Disappears producers back in 2016 that an investigator in Kalamazoo, Michigan, which is just over 80 miles south of where Jessica went missing, calls him with a familiar story. A story about a young blonde woman in her early 20s who was abducted, dragged into a car and then sexually assaulted. Now, this woman survived the ordeal and she was able to eventually identify her attacker, someone that they had in custody named Brad Allen Mason. [20:22] Now, when they looked at him, he was a convicted sex offender and a serial rapist with a penchant for kidnapping and indecent exposure. [20:29] Okay, I mean, that's kind of familiar, but Jessica was never found. [20:33] this girl got away, and without having Jessica, we have no idea if she was sexually assaulted. I get that they're looking for [20:41] any connection at this point, but this doesn't feel very close. No, I agree. I mean, I think, again, we're 10 months out. I think they're grasping for straws a little bit here. It's at least a little similar with her. We know this guy had a van. This other girl gets put into a vehicle. But I think what caught their attention was him in relation to the sketch that they put out here. I'm going to send you Brad's picture, and you can tell me what you think. [21:10] I mean, I guess I can kind of see it like the eyes are maybe similar, but I mean, it's definitely not a dead ringer. No, no. And I mean, it looks like it's a kind of similar. I get why they need to look into it. I mean, especially, again, 10 months out. Right. Probably don't have much to go on. You might as well look into this. So when they look into this Brad guy, he had a pretty long criminal record, which I read about on Fox 17's website.

[21:40] in October of 2012. So according to Disappeared, when he was paroled, and I think this is the interesting thing, he was actually released to a halfway house, not in Kalamazoo, where that crime took place, but in Norton Shores. So his halfway house was literally right down the road from the Exxon gas station where Jessica worked. [22:00] And not only that, but many of his victims matched a very similar profile. They were petite, young white women in their mid 20s with blonde hair and glasses, which was exactly Jessica's like profile. So I think it was that the idea that she matched his victim profile so much. And he was right down the street when this happened that really had police looking at him. [22:23] Now, listen, police like us, they're not convinced, but this is the best tip that they've had in a long time. And considering Brad's record, it wouldn't be a shock to anyone if he had reoffended. So with that in mind, they want to find Brad Mason right now so they can follow up on what could be the lead that they've been waiting for. And like maybe just maybe they're going to get to bring Jessica home. [22:44] But the problem is [22:47] He's deceased. [22:49] Brad actually died by officer assisted suicide after he drew this very realistic fake gun on police when they came to arrest him for like his most recent rape charge. So he had like modified this gun to make it look super realistic. He took off. They always have that orange tip when they're fake. He took that off. He refused to drop it numerous times when officers asked him to. And even in death, Brad is still considered a person of interest in Jessica's disappearance. Like during this time, he's not there to talk to. They can't rule him out.

[23:19] they can't talk to him and they can't rule him out. Eventually, like the heat kind of dies. Everything cools off and they can't find anything like that was left behind to actually link him to her or prove that they'd ever even met. [23:31] And it was extra hard to try and connect him because Brad didn't keep any kind of credit cards. He kind of kept off of the grid. So there was no way to use his credit history or any kind of electronics to tie him to the area or the place. Literally, he just seemed like it could work. [23:49] But that was all they had, just this feeling that maybe it could be him. [23:52] So once again, investigators are forced to watch as a promising lead turns cold. Time keeps passing. And in Jessica's absence, the entire hearing of family is kind of in flux at this point. John Hogan reports for ABC 13 that Dakota gets arrested in 2014 and charged with several counts of selling marijuana. Jessica's sister, Samantha, who by this time has moved back to Norton Shores, files for custody of their son, Zevin. And I mean, she has this nasty custody battle with Dakota and Dakota's parents. [24:22] eventually she wins and the family you know it's a win but they're still trying to like struggle to adjust to their new normal without Jessica right [24:31] Amen. [24:33] In 2016, just two weeks before the third anniversary of Jessica's disappearance, something happened. [24:39] terrible happens. And the aftermath of this changes everything for the Herringa family and the investigation.

[24:49] For decades, some cold cases have been reduced to files in a cabinet, but not anymore. I'm Ashley Flowers, and me and my team on the deck have been traveling across the country to report on these forgotten cases, and in some instances, it's resulted in these cases being solved after decades. [25:09] Join me every Wednesday as we revive these stories one card at a time. Listen to The Deck now, wherever you get your podcasts. [25:20] Early on the morning of Saturday, April 16th, this is 2016 now, a 16-year-old girl in Muskegon County, Michigan is abducted. So this girl, who's never been named publicly because she's a minor, is lost after leaving a party. And so she's walking along the side of the road to find her way back towards her house. When according to ABC 13, this guy pulls over and asks if she wants to use his cell phone. And she's like, yeah, sure. Like, I'm lost, but that's great. [25:50] of giving it to her, this guy says, no, if you want to use it, you have to come in my car first and use it in here. So, [25:58] I mean, again, she's lost. She feels a little bit desperate. She's eager to call a friend or her parents, like anyone familiar, anyone who can come help her. So she gets into his 2013 Silver Chrysler Town & Country minivan. [26:12] That's the same van that the manager saw parked behind the gas station, right? Exactly. As soon as she gets in, she is flooded with fear when the man locks the doors and pulls a gun on her before driving off. The terrified girl manages to jump out of her attacker's moving car and she runs, screaming to a nearby house for help with the man calling after her. Now, thanks to a good Samaritan who lets her in their house, she survives this awful encounter with only some minor scrapes and bruising.

[26:42] So once police are called, she's able to describe both the car and her would-be kidnapper. [26:49] According to a reporter for the Detroit Free Press, this girl was also able to pick out a face in a lineup right away with zero hesitation, which gives police an actual name. [27:00] Jeffrey Willis. He's 46 years old, a married man who works an overnight shift at the local Herman Miller factory in Muskegon County. Now, while Jeffrey doesn't have a criminal record or any convictions, he's shown up on law enforcement's radar sort of intermittently for years for like little stuff like speeding tickets or whatever. And he also had the cops called on him back in 2007 for filming a woman in a Sam's Club parking lot without her consent. That's a little bit [27:30] different than the speeding ticket. Yeah. And once he got fired from a job as a janitor at an elementary school for looking at porn on the school's computer, which if you ask me warrants more than a firing, like it feels like a red flag of some sort. Yeah. What do I know? So even without a record, something about Jeffrey sets off alarms in investigators' minds because his name sounds [28:00] there is the connection waiting for them in one of their most baffling cold cases. It literally sends shivers down their spines because not only was Jeffrey Willis questioned back in 2013 in connection with Jessica Herring's disappearance, but police had also made note in the case file that at the time he had recently cleaned out his van.

[28:22] In Britain, [28:23] I think he looks even more like the sketch than Brad did. And here, I'm going to send you a side by side. You guys can all see these pictures as well. They're on our blog if you want to check them out, CrimeJookiePodcast.com. But, Brett, what do you think? Oh, my gosh. Yes. Way more than Brad. Like those small features that I mentioned earlier, the narrow nose, the close set eyes, they're all there. And his hair color even matches better than Brad. [28:47] Yeah, this is way more of a fit to me. I mean, before I couldn't see what they were looking for between Brad and the sketch. I 100% see the similarities between Jeffrey and the sketch. Definitely. So police get a search warrant looking for anything to connect Jeffrey to the attempted kidnapping of this 16-year-old girl. Police like turn his house and his van inside out. And what they find is honestly horrific. Because what looks like a typical family car on the outside is actually a nightmare on wheels. [29:17] the Detroit Free Press, police turn up rope, handcuffs, a long metal bar with wrist restraints attached to them, chains, a ball gag, pornographic material of women tied up, Viagra, video cameras, sex toys, lubricant, rubber gloves, batting gloves, a 22 caliber semi-automatic pistol with ammunition and the serial number filed off. He had insulin, five syringes and one including like it was full [29:47] that they suspect was a sedative. [29:50] Now Jeffrey's house in Muskegon is just as creepy. I saw pictures of it while I was researching for this case and it is so much worse because I feel like of how normal it looks. Like from the outside it's this bright yellow door, a welcome mat, like nothing that would make me side eye if I were driving by. But again the inside is just as disturbing and it's Jeffrey's computer that

[30:20] off the computer, along with hundreds of videos of women being raped, tortured, and even murdered. So according to Crime Watch Daily, some of the videos are acted out like clearly fictional, but some are not. Oh, so he's like into snuff films. Oh, yeah. I mean, Jeffrey is the worst of the absolute worst. And you have to think that the girl who got away, I mean, she really got away with her life. I mean, it seems to me like Jeffrey's dark and messed up fantasies were [30:50] into his daily life and he was basically trying to turn his fantasies into the worst kind of reality. [30:56] On May 17th, this is about a month after that girl escaped her abductor's clutches, Jeffrey is arrested and charged with attempted kidnapping. [31:04] During this time, he's also officially named as a person of interest in Jessica's disappearance. But as the investigation continues, police find evidence that he's connected to multiple cold cases in the area, all involving missing or murdered young women, including the unsolved shooting death of a woman named Rebecca Bletch. Now, Rebecca was shot in the head back in 2014 in broad daylight. [31:34] from. And according to the Detroit Free Press, shell casings were found near where she was killed and they were matched to the .22 caliber pistol that was found in Jeffrey's van. [31:44] Now, in addition to that, police also find her DNA on the batting gloves in Jeffrey's van as well. And that alone is enough for a murder charge. And Jeffrey is ordered to stand trial for Rebecca's murder. Now, meanwhile, back in Norton Shores, Jessica's family is waiting anxiously. Obviously, they've heard about this guy. They've heard about the possible connections. And after three agonizing years with no trace of Jessica, honestly, at this point, it's almost like too much for them to hope that this connection is going to bring them answers.

[32:14] this killer's off the streets. Like, I think they're looking at this with like a little bit of skepticism. Like we don't want to get our hopes up again, but. [32:21] They're about to learn that police found something on Jeffrey's computer that could lead them to the answers that they have waited so long for. [32:33] For decades, some cold cases have been reduced to files in a cabinet, but not anymore. I'm Ashley Flowers, and me and my team on the deck have been traveling across the country to report on these forgotten cases. And in some instances, it's resulted in these cases being solved after decades. [32:53] Join me every Wednesday as we revive these stories one card at a time. Listen to the deck now. [33:00] wherever you get your podcasts. [33:04] In addition to the horror show of snuff films and child pornography on his laptop, right there on his hard drive is a folder that [33:13] labeled V-I-C-S. [33:16] VIX, which police believe is short for victims, and there in the folder [33:22] is a subfolder labeled JLH. Jessica Herringa, JH, right? [33:29] Jessica Lynn Herringham, J-L-H. Inside that folder are more child porn and pictures of Jessica herself. Now, the file name ends with D-Z-1-3, like clearly a code, but...

[33:47] not like a genius code. It's pretty easy to decipher because basically each letter corresponds with a number [33:53] And Lynn Moore reported for MLive that, you know, they basically matched everything up. They decipher the code. Again, not a super hard code to decipher. But when they look at that code, DZ13, and they attach numbers to that, like A is 1, B is 2, DZ13 is 4.0. [34:12] 26. [34:13] 13. [34:15] That's the day that Jessica disappeared. Now, the folder with Jessica's name isn't the only one. There's another folder labeled RSB for Rebecca Sue Bletch, with copies of articles about her death, a wanted poster for her killer, and according to MLive, a picture of a woman in a bikini laying on a bed who looks a lot like Rebecca. Now, this file has got the same type of code at the end as well. In this case, it was FZB. [34:45] plus C14, which using the same formula is 6-29-14, which unsurprisingly is the day that Rebecca was murdered. [34:55] Now, we've talked before about how serial killers keep trophies of their victims. So with only two victims, Jeffrey doesn't appear to be a serial killer quite yet. But clearly, I mean, we can see him leaning towards sadism and the documentation on his computer seemed to point to someone well on their way. And beyond the van and the photos of Jessica on his hard drive, witnesses come forward during the investigation who actually placed Jeffrey at the gas station where Jessica worked.

[35:25] the past. So there was this reporter, Heather Walker, who talked to some of Jeffrey's co-workers for WOODT-TV. And they recall going with him to that exact Exxon station where Jessica worked, since it was just about five minutes away from the factory that he worked at, and right on the way between where Jeffrey lived and the factory where he worked. So it was like a natural spot on his commute. Exactly. And we know now that for sure he went there, he would have had some interaction with her. [35:54] Now, another one of Jessica's regulars, a woman named Brenda, puts Jeffrey inside the Exxon store the night before she disappeared. This is according to court records. This Brenda woman says that she was talking to Jessica and she was actually sharing the same fears that Jessica's mom, Shelly, had just about her working at the store so late at night that, you know, your boyfriend should be looking out for you. Like, aren't you scared? [36:24] customers were looking out for her too and she said that when she saw jessica like hear this that she could tell jessica seemed totally put off by his response like literally started shivering she was so put off by it and brenda said that she got such a bad feeling from jeffrey and jessica's reaction that she waited in her car outside the gas station just to make sure that he left that night [36:48] And the very next day, Jessica disappeared. In September 2016, this is three months after he's charged for Rebecca's murder, Jeffrey is officially charged with Jessica's murder as well. Okay, I mean, that's great news, but we still don't have Jessica. No, and that is still the big hurdle to overcome. We all know that no body cases are so much harder to take to trial. And often they don't ever get taken to trial for that reason. I mean, just look at the case of Alyssa Turney.

[37:18] in the face. She believes it is so clear what happened to her sister, which just a little aside, I don't know if you all know this, but Sarah has started her own podcast called Voices for Justice, where, I mean, she's going into so many details about her sister's case. It's insane. You have to listen. But in that case, there's still no body. So police and prosecutors are hesitant to take that to trial. And I mean, it's got to be a concern in Jessica's case as well for the DA. I mean, it's, you know, you're trying to prove motive. You're trying to prove where she is. [37:48] that she's been murdered. Yeah, how can you send this guy to jail if you can't even prove that she's for sure dead? Maybe she walked away. [37:54] So, [37:55] Well... [37:56] You know, it's great that we have this guy. We're pretty sure we know what happened. I think we still need to find Jessica so that it can be a shoo-in to take to trial. But more than anything, Shelley, Angel, Samantha, they want to know where Jessica's body is so they can finally bring her home and lay her to rest. But nobody knows where it is. Well, no. [38:18] Maybe I should say it's never been recovered because there actually might be someone who does know. According to court records, Jeffrey's first cousin and good friend, a guy named Kevin Bloom, got a phone call on April 27th telling him to come over because they were going to have a party at Jeffrey's place at this place that he owned and maybe have a foursome. So, you know, like usual party. So Kevin says that he went over there.

[38:48] Jeffrey called, quote, gas station girl. And he said that this woman was laying face down on a sheet with her hands tied. And once he got a good look at the woman's face, Kevin says that it was for sure Jessica. She had some kind of like liquid coming from a wound on her head, presumably. I mean, I would think blood. And he says that she wasn't moving. And from what he could tell, she was already deceased. And Jeffrey admitted to him, at least he says that, yes, I sexually assaulted her. [39:14] Now, he also saw that there was a video camera set up as if Jeffrey had been making like some horrific videos of his own. I mean, we talked about the stuff on his computer. I mean, again, I think he was clearly taking it from a point of being an observer to now a participant acting this out. Yeah. And making his own stuff that. [39:31] Who knows where he was planning on distributing this if he didn't already? Right. [39:35] In the end, Kevin says he actually helped Jeffrey bury Jessica's body. Okay, so he knows. So I think he knows. But eventually, later on, Kevin claims that he made all of this up, which to me feels super shady. Because normally, I mean, we've talked about this in so many cases. Like, there's usually this, like, order to how confessions come about. And usually it's like, I had nothing to do with it. I had nothing. I kind of know someone. Okay, I kind of did it. And he's almost, like, in the reverse. [40:05] comes out being like, I did everything. I helped her bury her body. And now he's saying like, JK made it all up. [40:11] So I have a hard time believing that maybe... [40:13] he didn't like get cold feet about like his confession or being honest.

[40:18] but honest the first time around or not, according to MLive, there's no body in the burial spot that Kevin takes investigators to. I mean, so he did lead them somewhere. And I don't know the order of how this happened. Maybe he led them there. They didn't find her. And then he's like, JK made it up. I mean, but they had cadaver dogs, which indicated that like a body had never been there at all. And in addition to that, the location doesn't match like cell phone tower ping. So obviously they're trying to like match up his story with some kind of evidence. And none of it is adding up. [40:46] Plus, in another shady move, Kevin wipes all of the data off of his phone and removes the hard drive from his computer before he hands them over to police, which just makes me think that he's lying even more like. [40:58] if you're being honest, if you had nothing to do with it, [41:01] What are you afraid of them finding? I mean, in my mind, I almost think he was involved in the same kind of stuff that Jeffrey was. Yeah. And plus, like cousins are not. No one just calls up a friend to come over after they've committed a ton of sex crimes and murder in their basement unless they know for a fact that person is going to participate or help them in some way. I'm with you. I think he had possibly something more to do with Jessica's murder than he's letting on. And police agree.

[41:31] Now, he just spends a little over a year in prison and gets five years probation and an electronic GPS monitoring to track his whereabouts at all times. Now, even though this GPS tracker doesn't lead police to the truth, I mean, I'm sure there was part of him that hoped like he would go back to the scene of the crime. [42:01] and he is sentenced to life without parole in both charges. [42:06] Despite a new tip that came in just in October of 2019, Jessica's body still hasn't been found. And although Jessica's murder is in prison for his crime, you know, I don't feel like her family is fully at rest because this past December, another Christmas passed without bringing their daughter home. And I think every day they're going to continue looking for her until they can find Jessica. [42:29] if you want to see any of the pictures we mentioned in this podcast you can find all of that along with our source material at our website crimejunkiepodcast.com and be sure to follow us on instagram at crimejunkiepodcast we'll be back next week with a brand new episode but [42:59] or Puppet of the Month.

[43:23] *music* [43:25] *music* [43:28] *music* [43:31] Crime Junkie is an audio Chuck production. So what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve? [43:44] Okay, Ashley, you said we have a lighter story about a prophet, which we do, but I am going to give a little content warning. It gets a little bit dark in the middle. There are no... I see your face. There are no dead dots. This is the first time we've ever recorded a prophet of the month in person. I might get to see you cry. Okay. [43:58] So today we are talking about Cash, who was submitted by his mom and our listener, Jenna. And Jenna was finally moving out of her apartment and getting ready to rent a house with acreage, which like the dream. And she could finally get a property of her own. And there are chickens on the property. So she was like, okay, I have to make sure that like the dog is going to be okay with chickens. And like Charlie would kill all the chickens. I love Charlie. [44:20] Yeah, my dogs are the same way. So she found this cattle dog who actually was living in a foster home that had chickens and she called the shelter and they're like, oh, yeah, he'd be great. Why don't you come out and meet him here at the shelter? We'll get the foster dad to bring him in, all that stuff. [44:34] So she talked to her boyfriend, he was like, "Well, it's gonna be hard to find a rescue who's good with chickens, we should probably at least check it out." [44:42] checking it out, turned into filing adoption papers. And so they meet this dog and [44:49] Jenna knew immediately that she was in love with him. She called her boyfriend who brought over his dog, Sage, to make sure the pups both got along. And they were a perfect match. Sage, her boyfriend's dog, loves playing fetch. And this puppet had zero interest in fetch, but loves herding dogs who are playing fetch. So they got along right off the bat. And

[45:13] Like... [45:14] What more could you ask for? It was getting late, they couldn't adopt him that night, but she was talking to the foster dad and he was like, you know, this dog just came available for adoption. She's like, oh, like that's cool. He's like, yeah, he was in evidence. [45:26] Wait, in evidence? Yeah, like, I read this, and my little crime junkie ears prick up, and I'm like, that makes the dog better. I fully, like, imagine him in the box, taped up with his little eyes. I know that's not how he was. The foster dad doesn't know much, or doesn't disclose much to that, and he's just like, yeah, he was part of an animal abuse case, and he was evidenced in the trial. And so Jenna was like, [45:46] "Oh, that's really interesting." But they couldn't fill out the paperwork that night, the shelter was closing, so she's like, "Okay, tomorrow... [45:52] We're going to finish this and I'm going to get this dog. [45:54] And content warning right now, because we're going to find out why this dog was in evidence. And it gets a little bit gruesome. So the next day when Jenna's filling out all the paperwork to adopt, the desk clerk at the shelter was like, "Hey, you heard this dog was in evidence. Do you know anything about it?" And she was like, "No, you know, they just kind of mentioned it." And the desk clerk kind of goes through what had happened to this dog. And this dog had been owned by these two guys and he hadn't been neutered. And a lot of times when that happens, dogs... [46:22] especially male dogs, get... [46:24] A little aggressive. A little aggressive and a little bit curious. They don't always stick around. They wander around looking for someone to hook up with. I get it. You do? I have no idea. But I've had dogs. Did you used to roam looking for people to hook up with? I've known you your whole life. You don't get it. Anyway, these two guys decide that they're going to, they're going to take care of this problem by... Stop. I don't...

[46:48] I'm done. Okay. [46:50] by taking matters into their own hands. And it didn't go well. Oh my god. [46:56] and they basically left him for dead. But this is how brave this puppet is. He's basically bleeding out. He runs to the neighbor's house. The neighbor recognizes the dog, confronts [47:08] These two guys who tell the neighbor what they did. And this angel neighbor goes right back into their house, calls 911. And immediately there's a deputy arresting the two guys and rushing this dog to an emergency vet where his life was saved. [47:24] saved. So he [47:26] He... [47:27] Are you okay? No, I just... [47:30] Who does that? Monsters. Like, I even have here in my notes, like, supposedly these men are humans. I am not convinced of it, to be completely honest. Do you have any idea, like... [47:40] Any follow up on these guys? Are they still in prison or did they get a slap on the wrist? Because I'm about to flip this table. Jenna actually included a couple of links about the case. [47:48] and about the trial. They were charged with it. I believe they were convicted. But this dog goes into foster care and starts getting rehabilitated. He eventually comes up for adoption and Jenna gets to adopt him and he's having his best life. And actually a couple days after she adopted him, the news found out that this dog who was involved in this case was a child. [48:07] got his forever home and they came out and did a story on him and we'll link to that on our website and [48:15] The dog's name's Cash now. [48:17] And he's living his best life. He's come a long way. He had a huge fear of men, which like... Same now. Completely understandable, right? And really, really bad separation anxiety. He one time literally chewed through the front door when Jenna wasn't at home because he so badly wanted to be with her. But he's such a good dog. He has amazing recall. He comes back to her...

[48:41] all the time and like she's like I don't this dog would have never run away [48:45] I don't understand. [48:46] If that's the reason they did that horrible thing, [48:49] that's not the dog she has today. And he knows a ton of tricks. And he recently started agility training, which he absolutely loves. And he also loves stuffed animals. And this like, [48:59] just made me warm all over. He doesn't shred them like my dogs do. My dogs systematically dismember them. They take a leg off. No, it's dark. They take one leg off and then they take another leg off and they take the arm. It's like a reverse hangman. But he loves them and he doesn't shred them. He has a huge basket full. And whenever Jenna grabs a leash to take him on a walk or a car ride or to the dog park, he goes to his little basket and shuffles around to find a new stuffy [49:29] with him and tries to take a special stuffed animal friend with him wherever they go. And his favorite is this giant chicken stuffed animal. And it's literally almost the size of Cash himself. [49:44] Let me show you a picture real quick. Oh my god, he's adorable. He's so cute. And we'll have pictures of Cash and his big chicken friend on our website, along with the links to the news articles about this amazing, brave little puppet. I just feel like they're so... [50:00] much we can learn from dogs about forgiveness. [50:03] Oh, 100%, this dog has no reason to ever... [50:07] you [50:07] Look at a human kindly, let alone lovingly. I mean, we say it all the time. Like, we don't we don't deserve them.

[50:15] But just that... [50:16] I mean, I know he's scared of men, but that he would, like, open up. I'm going to cry. You are going to cry. Just that he would, like, open up to another human, and, like, he still wants to be around her when he, like, [50:24] knows [50:26] what we're capable of, you know, as like a species, like some of us are so awful. Yeah. [50:31] I love dogs. [50:35] So I reached out to Jenna, and like Ashley said, we don't deserve dogs, but... [50:39] Dogs. [50:40] still need homes and [50:42] There are millions of people out there who love them and give them loving homes. So I reached out to Jenna to talk to her about the shelter that she got cash from. And she sent me a link, gave me their names, and I found a senior preppet, which, like, [50:56] You know we love. Yeah, a special place in our heart. And I'm not sure I know how to pronounce his name, so I might butcher it, but his name is Lakai. He is a Border Collie Newfoundland mix, which is just like the biggest, fluffiest boy in the world. Again, he's a senior, so he's a little bit older, but he was surrendered because his owner had to move into a residency that didn't allow dogs, or at least dogs of his size, because he is... [51:21] A big boy. But if you just want, like, a new best friend and get to skip, like, all the puppy stuff, this is your boy. He's a social butterfly. He loves other dogs and other people. And he really just wants to hang out with you. And I think, like, something great about, like, those bigger breeds, and especially as they get into their senior years, like, they don't actually require a ton of physical activity. Unless you consider cuddling a physical activity.

[51:51] requires so much physical activity. He's a hard dog to own. But some of these older, especially big breed dogs, they just want to lay around. They want to Netflix and cuddle. Yeah, yeah. And something I was reading about Lakai in his little profile, which again, we'll link to on our website, is his adoption fee has been reduced, which usually means that he's been there for a while, or he's harder to place, which a senior big dog is. So you guys, check out Lakai. Check out the rescue he's from. [52:19] We'll link to all of it on our website. Check out the shelter where he is. It's in Phoenix, Oregon. They have a ton of adoptable pets there. You know, just open your heart. [52:28] Open your heart. Open your home. [52:30] Thank you. [52:36] Okay, Crime Junkies, you know I absolutely love a twist and a turn, especially when it comes to people who turn out to be someone they're not. That's why I have been obsessed with the podcast Chameleon. Every Thursday, host Josh Dean deep dives into a scam so bizarre, it will leave you wondering, how did they get away with that? It is truly one of my favorite podcasts right now and I've been listening for years. [52:58] I think you'll love it too. [52:59] Listen to Chameleon wherever you get your podcasts.