MUSKEGON, Mich. (WOOD) — Testimony could wrap up as early as Tuesday in the trial of Jeffrey Willis, who's charged with kidnapping and murdering Norton Shores mother and gas station clerk Jessica Heeringa five years ago.
About 30 witnesses testified last week and about seven remain on the docket, including the lead detective on the case. Willis is also expected to take the stand in his own defense.
Testimony will likely draw to a close Tuesday or Wednesday. Attorneys will then give closing statements, after which the case will go to the jury.
During Willis' 2017 trial for the murder of Rebekah Bletsch, it took jurors only about 90 minutes to convict him.
DNA and ballistics tied Willis to Bletsch's murder. But there's none of that in the case of Heeringa, whose body was not found after her April 26, 2013, disappearance from the gas station where she worked. So prosecutors have worked to present so much circumstantial evidence that jurors will feel like they must convict him
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