Trial set for man charged with killing gas station clerk

MUSKEGON, Mich. (AP) - A western Michigan man who's charged with killing a 25-year-old gas station clerk is now scheduled to face trial nearly five years after she disappeared.

Court officials have set the trial for Jeffrey Willis to begin March 6. He faces murder and kidnapping charges in the April 2013 disappearance of Jessica Heeringa from the gas station where she worked in Norton Shores. Her body hasn't been found.

Willis has denied having anything to do with her disappearance.

Jurors convicted Willis of first-degree murder last month for the 2014 fatal shooting of Rebekah Bletsch while she was jogging in Muskegon County's Dalton Township. He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison with no chance for parole.

Published: Wed, Dec 13, 2017