A man convicted of murdering a Michigan jogger blew a kiss to the courtroom on Monday as he walked out before he was sentenced to a mandatory life in prison.
Judge William Marietti approved Jeffrey Willis’ request to leave court and not hear statements from the family of Rebekah Bletsch, 36, whom he was convicted of shooting to death while she was jogging in Muskegon County in 2014.
That drew shouts of ‘coward’ from furious spectators in the audience, among them the victim’s relatives.
‘Coward’: Jeffrey Willis exits the courtroom before his sentencing in front of Judge William Marietti for the first degree murder in June 2014 of Rebekah Bletsch in Muskegon, Michigan
Killer’s kiss: Willis, 47, blows a kiss at the furious audience in Muskegon County Court House on Monday as he leaves the courtroom
Convict: Willis (left) was sentenced on Monday to a mandatory life in prison for the 2014 shooting death of jogger Rebekah Bletsch (right)
‘I don’t think he’s going to make it very long in prison. I hope he gets what he deserves,’ Bletsch’s sister, Jessica Josephson, said after the hearing, calling Willis ‘a monster’ and wishing he ‘rot in hell.’
‘Knowing your only way out of prison is in a body bag brings a smile to my face,’ she added.
Bletsch’s mother expressed outrage that Willis walked out on his sentencing hearing before giving them a chance to deliver their victim impact statements.
‘This coward should have been here to listen to us,’ she said. ‘We deserve a right to tell him exactly how we feel. And for him to walk out on us was just horrible.’
Prosecutor D.J. Hilson said Bletsch’s relatives ‘deserve the right to address the person convicted of killing their daughter and sister.’
But the judge said there was nothing in Michigan law that required him to keep Willis in the courtroom.
‘Life without parole sounds nice,’ Hilson said of Willis’ mandatory sentence. ‘But it could be and should be a lot worse.’
Willis, 47, was arrested last year when a teenager said he tried to kidnap her. The arrest sparked investigations of the Bletsch homicide and the 2013 disappearance of a gas station clerk, Jessica Heeringa.
A gun, rope, chains, handcuffs and syringes were found in Willis’ van. Police also discovered a computer file titled ‘VICS’ with Bletsch’s initials and her date of death.
Willis denied wrongdoing during the trial, but the jury quickly convicted him in November.
‘I’ve never seen pure evil, but the defendant to me is pure evil,’ Hilson told jurors during the trial, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Willis still faces trial in the Heeringa case, which is scheduled to begin in March 2018.
Heeringa vanished from the Exxon Mobil gas station where she worked in 2013.
A silver minivan similar to Willis’s was spotted on surveillance cameras near the gas station, and police believe it may have been used to kidnap Heeringa. The 25-year-old’s body hasn’t been found.
The evidence in the murder trial against Willis only came to light after he was arrested for the alleged kidnapping of 16-year-old girl at gunpoint.
The girl told officers she was lost along a rural road on April 16, 2016, when Willis, a factory worker, pulled over and offered her the use of his cell phone.
After climbing inside his minivan, a 2006 Dodge Caravan, the girl said he pointed a gun at her and locked the doors before driving away.
However, she said she managed to unlock the door and jumped from the moving vehicle before alerting authorities.
Eventually investigators landed on Willis, who was arrested when detectives carried out a search on his home and vehicle.
Inside his van, police say they found a semiautomatic pistol, ammunition, syringes with liquid, a ball gag, chains, a mask and a bar with wrist restraints. Investigators said the gun linked him to the murder of Bletsch.
A search of his home unearthed child pornography and videos of women being restrained, investigators added.