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Newly released documents suggest Jeffrey Willis researched serial killers

Posted at 4:48 PM, Sep 07, 2016
and last updated 2016-09-07 16:52:04-04

MUSKEGON, Mich. – Newly released court documents suggest Jeffrey Willis, charged with the murder of Rebekah Bletsch and a suspect in the disappearance of Jessica Heeringa, may have been researching serial killers.

A search warrant affidavit for Willis’ cousin, Kevin Bluhm, detail a June 14 search warrant of Bluhm’s iPhone and home, as well as an interview between Bluhm and investigators that day.

Bluhm is charged with lying to investigators in Heeringa’s disappearance and the investigation into Bletsch’s murder.

In the documents, investigators say they found a list of serial killers in America inside Willis’ minivan; the same minivan police say he used to abduct a young girl from a rural Muskegon county road back in April.

On the list was a mark next to a reference to a pair of serial killers known as the Toolbox Murderers, who abducted and murdered women in California in the 1970s.

Then, after searching Willis’ home computers, investigators say in addition to finding child porn they found news reports of Bletsch’s murder as well as reports about Heeringa’s disappearance, which investigators are still looking into.

These newly released documents also show that Bluhm told officers Willis contacted him from jail after his arrest 10 days before Bluhm’s interview with police back in May.  He’s accused of lying to police about both investigations.

In August, Bluhm pleaded guilty on both charges of lying to police. He’s set to be sentenced later this month.

Willis has not been charged in Heeringa’s disappearance.