MUSKEGON, Mich. (WOOD) — A man charged with being an accessory to the 2013 kidnapping and murder of Jessica Heeringa will go to trial.
Judge Raymond Kostrzewa ruled Monday afternoon that there is enough evidence against Kevin Bluhm to bind his case over to circuit court, after denying the defense motion to dismiss the case, claiming double jeopardy.
The court heard nearly three hours of testimony Monday in the preliminary hearing, including accounts from Norton Shores Police Department Lt. Michael Kasher, who is the lead investigator on the Heeringa case.
Kasher said Bluhm was upset during an interview and said he could take detectives to where Willis hid Heeringa’s body. The lieutenant testified that at the end of the interview, Bluhm said he was lying about where they hid the body.
When Bluhm’s defense team asked, Kasher conceded there is no physical evidence connecting Bluhm to the Heeringa case. The defense said the only argument for the charge was Bluhm’s statement, and if Bluhm lied during the interview, then there is no evidence.
However, the prosecutor said just because parts of Bluhm’s statements were lies does not mean everything he said was a lie.
Bluhm previously pleaded guilty to lying to a peace officer after Norton Shores police said he weaved an elaborate account about how he helped his cousin, suspected serial killer Jeffrey Willis, “take care” of Heeringa, then later admitted the entire story was a lie. Bluhm was also admitted to lying to police in the Rebekah Bletsch murder investigation.
Bluhm, who previously worked as a sergeant at a state prison in Muskegon, was sentenced in September 2016 to time served, 96 days in jail, for the two counts of lying to a peace officer. He remains in jail on a $250,000 bond on the accessory charge.
Willis is accused of kidnapping and killing Heeringa in April 2013 and killing Bletsch in June 2014.
He is also accused of kidnapping a teenage girl in April 2016. That teen escaped and it was her report that led investigators to Willis.