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Jeffrey Willis on trial: Jury selection marks start of Rebekah Bletsch murder trial

Posted at 4:04 AM, Oct 17, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-17 09:00:52-04

MUSKEGON, Mich. (AP) — Jury selection is starting in the trial of a western Michigan man who is charged with killing a jogger, one of two homicides pinned on him in the Muskegon area.

Jeffrey Willis is accused of shooting Rebekah Bletsch in 2014 in Muskegon County's Dalton Township. Investigators say bullets in the body matched a gun found in his vehicle.

Because of widespread publicity, hundreds of people could be screened as potential jurors, starting Tuesday.

Willis was arrested in 2016 after a teenager said he tried to kidnap her. That arrest led to charges in Bletsch's death as well as the death of gas station clerk Jessica Heeringa, who disappeared in 2013. Her body hasn't been found.

Willis has pleaded not guilty.