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