The Muskegon County jury deliberated about 1 1/2 hours Wednesday before finding Jeffrey Willis guilty of first-degree murder in the death of 25-year-old Jessica Heeringa, who disappeared in 2013 while working late at a gas station in Norton Shores. Her body has never been found.
Defense attorney Fred Johnson said in his closing argument there's no evidence Willis killed or kidnapped Heeringa. Willis is scheduled to be sentenced June 12. First-degree murder in Michigan carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Willis was convicted last year in the 2014 fatal shooting of jogger Rebekah Bletsch.
He's already serving a life sentence in her death.
