News

Actions

Bletsch family, friends post signs and billboard to killer’s cousin: ‘Your Silence Killed’

Posted at 9:50 PM, Jun 13, 2018
and last updated 2018-06-13 22:14:43-04

MUSKEGON COUNTY, Mich. -- Family and friends of Rebekah Bletsch are using a billboard, Facebook and yard signs to send a message to Kevin Bluhm: that his silence killed her.

Bletsch was murdered in June 2014, shot while jogging near her home.  In November 2017, Jeffrey Willis was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison for her death.

Willis was also found guilty for the murder of Jessica Heeringa, who disappeared from a Norton Shores gas station in 2013.

Bluhm is Willis' cousin, and Bletsch's family wants to send him the message that he could have said something to police that would have prevented her murder.

The Heeringa disappearance happened more than a year before the Bletsch murder.  Bletsch's sister is convinced that Bluhm's silence, his refusal to mention to police what he knew about Willis, led to her death.

"I do wish he would have said something," Bletsch's sister Jessica Josephson told FOX 17. "I'd be standing here with my sister instead of you."

Josephson thinks of her sister every day, and says her murder could have been prevented.

"[Bluhm's] silence killed," she said. "We believe if he had come forward to the authorities with what he knew that Becky would still be here."

That's why signs saying "Your Silence Killed" can be found in and around the Muskegon area.  A billboard with the same message will soon go up on US-31 near Laketon Avenue.

There's also a Facebook with details and videos explaining how Bluhm had more than a year to step forward and say something.

"The evidence to us was laid out pretty clear when it came to Kevin Bluhm and what he said and what he'd seen," Josephson said. "And then by him saying 'I lied and made it all up,' that was his ticket out."

Josephson says Bluhm's continued silence is also causing heartache for the Bletsch family and all who knew Becky.

"We're all hurting; my family, his family and other families," Josephson said. "We're not going to give up. Not until we believe the justice with Kevin Bluhm has been served."

Friends and family of Bletsch say the message serves Bluhm with a reminder of the role he played in her death.

"What I want Kevin Bluhm to know is that she's got a lot of people out there that love her and care about her and miss her. And we're not going to give up and it's not too late for him to come forward and say something," Josephson said.

Bluhm pleaded no contest to being an accessory after the fact in the Heeringa case.  He spent 476 days behind bars and was sentenced to time served in January.