NORTON SHORES, Mich.– Just a couple of minutes earlier. That’s what keeps going through Craig Harpster’s mind as he plays back the events the night he felt something was terribly wrong. That’s the night 25-year-old Jessica Heeringa disappeared from her shift at the Exxon gas station.
“Usually, she’s cleaning and I knew something wasn’t right,” said Harpster.
Like clockwork every week, Harpster gets off work at 11pm. By 11:07, he says he’s usually getting gas at the Exxon station, like he did the night of April 26th.
“I pulled up to the pump and hit the pay inside,” recalled Harpster. “The employee has to activate it and nothing happened, nothing happened. I went inside, looked around hollered because the female employee is normally there. Her car was there.”
Harpster grew more concerned.
“I walked outside and just had a gut feeling something was up; that this wasn’t her behavior.”
At 11:15, Harpster called police. Detectives believe Jessica disappeared sometime between 10:50 and 11:15 April 26th.
“It’s very disturbing, how close a time frame that it was,” said Harpster. “It’s very disturbing that it could have been five minutes before or three minutes before. I don’t like it that the time goes by longer. I think every hour counts, not days.”
