License plate scanners and the Jessica Heeringa abduction

JESSICA HEERINGA IS STILL MISSING

Fixed or on police cruisers, license plate scanners are being used to track millions of  unsuspecting Americans, it's been revealed this week. Broad illegal searches which have civil libertarians rightly up in arms.

 

That recent disclosure, coupled with revelations of the government's nonstop internet peeping, made by ex-CIA contractor Edward Snowden in early June this year, shows that indoors or outdoors Big Brother is now watching all of us 24/7.

 

And yet on the night of April 26, 2013, when underpaid Exxon Mobil-mart employee Jessica Heeringa was abducted as she closed up shop for the night, there where no cameras in her place of business and, allegedly, no license plate scanners along the route that the suspect and his silver minivan took...

 

Or was there?

 

A baffling abduction with no searches

 

Alerted by would be customers who found the Exxon station in Norton Shores Michigan curiously deserted, police were on the scene within minutes of Ms. Heeringa's April kidnapping.

 

Still, they say they found no clues, except a tiny droplet of blood which later through DNA analysis proved to belong to the 25-year-old blonde mother-of-one.

 

Fuzzy surveillance video of the suspected vehicle leaving the area that night was obtained from nearby businesses and that silver minivan singularly hunted for in the days, weeks and months since Heeringa has been gone without a trace.

 

Indeed, so sure was law enforcement about this aspect of the case, that they became fixated on the elusive van, refusing to launch any official ground searches for the victim, and further urging no one else to do so either.

 

But today stumped investigators worry that what and who they sought for so long may be a red herring in Heeringa's abduction. After all, no one has seen this vehicle ever since that date, nor a 30-something man who supposedly resembles the police sketch of its driver.

 

Never too late

 

Of course, as the Cleveland kidnappings have clearly shown us, it's not too late to organize search teams to scour the Norton Shores suburb for a missing woman. In fact, it's a darn good idea because most people who are abducted are taken by men they somehow are acquainted with.

 

Yes, men.

 

Generally, though, if a woman or child isn't found within 72 hours, the odds are they've met up with foul play, but, still, that shouldn't prevent folks from hunting for Heeringa, nonetheless.

 

One way or another, a family in Michigan needs closure now, even if all that is returned to them is their missing loved one's remains.

 

In the meantime, maybe local police agencies should just man up about their own warrantless surveillance of innocent motorists and cough up their license plate scans for that evening.

 

Sadistic stranger, fiendish friend, or even a corrupt cop, it couldn't hurt to see who actually was in the vicinity of the crime at that particular hour.

 

You know? 

 

EPONYMOUS ROX

 

The Mysterious Disappearance of August Reiger

WHERE ON EARTH CAN AUGUST REIGER BE?

 

Father's Day, June 16, 2013, an American family of four vacationing in Ecuador takes a jungle hike together on the scenic but hilly trails overlooking the tourist town of Banos. Two brothers suddenly race up ahead ... but only one of them returns. What happened to the other? Was he kidnapped? Did he fall? Is he a runaway? Or was he murdered?

 

Fulbright scholar, class valedictorian and Oklahoma resident, August Reiger, 18, vanished in thin air on June 16th while exploring Ecuador's picturesque countryside with his mother, father and younger brother, Laithe. 

 

At one point in the trek the two boys had dashed ahead of their parents, yet, minutes later, only the youngest son rendezvoused with them again.

 

"He was sitting there waiting," explains Mr. Reiger, "but he hadn't seen his brother."

 

The steep and winding path the Reiger family took, while secluded, is a popular tourist attraction in this region, and the small town where they were staying, dependably crime free.

 

In fact, although U.S. and Ecuadoran officials are jointly investigating August Reiger's strange disappearance as an abduction, and even offering a reward to his potential kidnappers, the reality is there's never been an abduction in this area.

 

Moreover, no ransom note has been delivered...

 

Adding to the mystery, some locals have since been claiming they might've spotted the youth riding in the back of a pickup truck, apparently headed for the Amazon rainforest.

 

But others think that's a bit farfetched. They're speculating that Reiger is probably at the bottom of a ravine somewhere, his body hidden from search parties by dense foliage.

 

What do you think? Is this brilliant young man still among the living? And, if so, where?

 

Eponymous Rox

 

[Updated on 7/2/13 from July 1st to include photo of Laithe Reiger]

The Jessica Heeringa Kidnapping - Updates

UPDATED May 8th: Amid grandstanding and blame-gaming in the Jessica Heeringa kidnapping investigation, the window of opportunity for Michigan authorities to find the 25-year-old mother of one alive is swiftly and sadly closing. 

Statistically speaking, those odds grow bleaker once 72 hours have passed.

Nearly two weeks has in fact lapsed since she vanished from her job at an ExxonMobil mart, and still there's no clue as to the petite young woman's whereabouts, nor the identity of the person or persons who allegedly abducted her just as she was closing the gas station for the night.

This, despite the fact that police where *on the case* within minutes of her kidnapping...

 

In the meantime, the many hundreds of tips they say they've been fielding and following are also proving useless, as all the prime suspects -- many already registered sex offenders -- are interviewed and then ultimately released, having established airtight alibis for the night of April 26th when Heeringa vanished without a trace.

Choppers also scanned the nearby wooded park this week accompanied by search-and-rescue teams on the ground. They were prompted to do so by belated reports of gunfire in the hours immediately after Heeringa's abduction. But police announced by day two of this effort that there was nothing whatsoever to be found there.

 

Apparently a pair of glasses had further set that frantic search into motion as well, although the glasses too proved to be a red herring.

The biggest problem is that the Exxon station Jessica Heeringa worked at had no surveillance system in place. A surprising security deficit, considering their popularity these days, and one which continues to hinder the investigation considerably. 

 

However, those residents in the neighbourhood not actively boycotting the owner of that franchise location, are claiming cameras have recently been installed throughout the premises.

This follows a wave of retaliatory gasoline thefts during the week, presumably done in protest of the owner's insistence on only hiring "pretty, young females," his refusal to assign a second person to assist with late shifts and store closings, and his deliberate decison not to install any kind of security devices that would have served to safeguard vulnerable workers like Heeringa.

The place wasn't robbed of anything, of course, but a prized and underpaid employee.

 

As to the investigation into her puzzling disappearance, a substance found in the parking lot of the mini-mart has been identified by DNA labs as Heeringa's blood. Teams of K-9s, however, have found no scent leading from the property, which further confirms she was whisked away by somebody. Purportedly a muscular, 6-foot tall, 30-ish man in a silver minivan captured minutes later by cameras at various businesses along the way.

Who that party actually is, despite a police sketch circulating all over the country AND the internet is becoming murkier and murkier day by day, as eyewitness testimony also becomes more and more suspect.

 

Whether their tales are true, false, or gravely embellished, who knows for certain. Some people will invent stories in such high profile cases as the Heeringa case though, driven by a need to insert themselves and seem important.

 

It's also not uncommon at all for the actual perpetrator to do the same, solely to throw a wrench in the operation and investigators off his trail...

 

BOOKMARK:  Validated updates will be added here and/or the comment section.

 

EPONYMOUS ROX 

ALERT - ABDUCTION: Jessica Heeringa

UPDATE for June 18, 2013 - comment section
Jessica Heeringa still missing / endangered
- MISSING WOMAN VAN HIGHLIGHTS - 
Police release sketch of kidnapper and new video;
Persons of interest detained for questioning;
Gunshots and nearby park investigated;
"Substance in parking lot" is Heeringa's blood;
Eyewitness testimony may be inaccurate:

[ALSO SEE NEWEST POST FOR ADDITIONAL UPDATES]

UPDATE May 15th 2013: Police are urging eager citizens to refrain from conducting any searches for Ms. Heeringa. Oddly enough, as of today, three weeks since she went missing, no official ground search has in fact been launched, and even the victim's family is limiting their own involvement to stationing themselves all day in a parking lot near the gas station where the young woman was last seen. Organizing broad search-and-rescue efforts is standard operating procedure in missing persons cases, including for abductions ... there is no explanation for why one has not been performed yet for Heeringa.

UPDATE: 7:49 AM, May 2, 2013: Michigan authorities continue to round up and question persons of interest in the Heeringa abduction. Last night a man matching the police sketch below and driving a van similar to eyewitness descriptions was pulled over, brought into custody, and then, after several hours of interrogation at various locations, released again. The individual is reportedly a registered sex offender.

Police have also released the second surveillance footage they found which shows a clearer image of the vehicle believed to have been driven by Heeringa's kidnapper, although still no shot of the occupants or license plates. Use the numbers provided at the bottom of this post if you recognize this van or happen to see it. A substantial reward is being offered for the perpetrator's apprehension -- ExxonMobile and its brand distributors in Michigan have added $15,000 to the fund this week. 

View the new video plus hear the original 911 call now, and scroll down to read all other vital updates on this case, including in the comment section.

UPDATE @ 8:40 AM May 1, 2013: Police are reporting they have obtained additional surveillance feed from a second location which is less grainy than the first video released earlier in the week. Like that footage, this one also shows a gray or silver van driving away from the area Heeringa was last seen in, at around the moment that she vanished. Investigators intend to make this video clip public too, once it has been fully analyzed.

So far video images have produced very few positive results, though, as days after the bold crime there are still no solid leads in the gas station abduction of the 25-year-old mother of one on April 26th.

And time, as police well know, is of the essence now, as it nears a week since the young woman went missing.

The good news, however, is that a police composite sketch of the suspect has at last been released. Authorities are looking for a muscular, six-foot tall, white male, between 30 to 40 years of age, with brown wavy hair. Click on the thug's mug above, print and distribute the flyer everywhere you can. (Find other vital information below in earlier reports of this case, and also see the comment section for an alert concerning an unauthorized altered version of the portrait being distributed on the web today.)

UPDATE @ 5:40 PM April 29th: After questioning and dismissing four persons of interest, plus family members, friends and coworkers, police are focusing in on one "white male suspect." They also believe there is a good chance Heeringa may have known her abductor, if only casually. The FBI has been contacted and is expected to join the investigation.

Ms. Heeringa's boyfriend of five years, Dakatoh Quail-Dyer, has provided more information about the missing woman for identification purposes.  He says Heeringa has a “lazy eye” when she's not wearing her glasses and has the following distinct tattoos: 

• A music note and peace sign on her left ankle,
• a star on her back,
• sleeping Z's on her left foot,
• and a sun and moon on her right calf.

[Read original story with added details below - check back again or bookmark for further updates.]

 

Police are asking for the public's help in the Jessica Heeringa abduction on April 26th from the Norton Shores suburb of Muskegon, Michigan. A reward is also being offered.

 

The 25-year-old petite blonde is an employee of an Exxon convenient store and was in the process of closing shop for the evening when a six-foot Caucasian male between "30 to 40 years of age" with "parted, light brown, wavy hair" lured her to his van parked just outside the gas station.

 

Earlier reports said a passerby saw the pair walking toward the vehicle but didn't observe anything unusual in Heeringa's demeanor at that point. However, once inside the van a struggle was overheard and then the man drove off with her.

Why the onlooker failed to intervene or take note of the license plate number isn't quite clear yet.

 

Thereafter, other customers arriving at the seemingly still-open facility observed it was unattended and at approximately 11:15 PM notified police of the situation.

 

Heeringa's purse and belongings were still inside the store and no money was stolen from the cash register. 

 

Violent crime statistics show that employees who clerk at convenient stores and gas stations are at exceptionally high risk of harm from assailants or robbers. For that reason such places of business are usually equipped with numerous security devices, including cameras hidden both inside the premises and out.

This particular Exxon station however is said to have had no electronic surveillance at all, which is grievous and clearly placed their underpaid employee in additional peril. Fortunately though, an eyewitness caught a glimpse of the potential kidnapper's vehicle and is describing it as a silver minivan, possibly a Chrysler Town & Country model.

 

Ms. Heeringa is only about five-feet tall and 110 pounds. The single mother's life is in extreme danger and the public's vigilance and assistance in locating her ASAP is now required.

 

Her family says Jessica has no enemies whatsoever and is known to go out of her way to be helpful to people, so her abductor may be a total stranger who pretended to need her aid, or he may even be a customer she was acquainted with and therefore trusted. (Statistically, the latter is more probable, since the majority of kidnap victims are somehow acquainted with their kidnappers.)

 

Anybody who sees this young woman, or recognizes her abductor and/or his vehicle is asked to immediately call 911 or the Silent Observer tip line at 231-722-7463. Visit the 'Find Jessica' facebook page here to touch base with Heeringa's loved ones, and bookmark this post for additional case updates.

 

EPONYMOUS ROX