OTTAWA COUNTY,Mich.– 72-year-old Sharon Roersma was beaten to death and thrown into the Grand River. Now her 50-year-old son appeared in court Thursday for lying to an officer.
Michael Roersma is considered the “primary suspect” in the murder investigation. Earlier this week he was jailed for a probation violation, and Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department said he was being questioned but was not being charged with murder. However after they re-interviewed him on Wednesday all that changed.
Information gathered during the interview led authorities to authorize a warrant for a charge of obstruction by lying to police during a murder investigation.
According to court documents, during their first interview, Roersma said he knew nothing about his mother’s death. However, the second time they interviewed him, he admitted to being with his mother when she died, and loading her body into the back seat of her car and dumping her body in the Grand River.
Roersma is being held on a $100,000 bond. The investigation is ongoing, and he is not being charged with with murder at this time.
