Fatality Builds Tensions

August 19, 1995

By BILL HEATH

Marshfield News-Herald Editor

There is nothing more frustrating than an unsolved crime.

When the death of a child is involved, the grief builds up. Tensions run high. Fingers are pointed. Accusations are made. Rumors fly. And law enforcement agencies sometimes become embroiled in the controversy merely because they don’t have a suspect in custody or charges filed.

It has been nearly five months since 11-year-old Deidre Week was thrown off her bicycle which was struck by a hit-and-run vehicle near her home on County Trunk HH near Vesper. She died of massive head injuries on March 24.

The only eyewitness was a neighbor, Jim Vruwink, who said he was traveling on County HH at the time and pursued a suspect car, which he described as being a burgundy or red, four-door, mid-size car with what he believed were two males inside. He eventually lost sight of the car and was unable to get license plate numbers.

Vruwink was driving south on County Trunk HH at the time and told authorities that he seen a northbound car strike the girl and throw her into the ditch on the side of the road. He turned his car around and gave pursuit, deputies were told.

Because he was the only eyewitness to the accident, his story eventually became suspect. To put minds at ease, he agreed to take a lie detector test. The examiner who conducted the test on May 11 reported that Vruwink was truthful and that he was not involved in the accident and had no knowledge concerning who was involved.

Vruwink’s automobile also had been examined within an hour of his initial statements to police.

Sheriff Brian Illingworth at once point was accused of a coverup because campaign work done in 1988 by a relative of one of the people in question in the case. A lot of people help with political campaigns and that involvement seemed negligible.

We think that we know Sheriff Illingworth well enough that he is not going to protect anyone suspected of a crime.

He, too, has expressed his frustration in not being able to find the person responsible. Illingworth, like the Week family and Vruwink family, have all supported petitions and a request to get the attorney general’s office involved in taking a look at the case or helping with the continuing investigation.

If its Department of Criminal Investigation does play a role, it would be unusual in this type of case. A spokesman at the office earlier said the Wood County Sheriff’s Department was properly handling the investigation.

Deputies and investigators did a door-to-door investigation along this rural road and in the entire area. Authorities believed that someone from the area was responsible because the road primarily carries local traffic. But those checks so far have led nowhere.

In June, Wood County officers announced that they had formed a list of eight possible suspects. No arrests have yet been made.

At the outset, there were a lot of calls – more than 200 – to the Wood County Sheriff’s Department with tidbits of information. Authorities have followed up every lead, every rumor. Calls with information are still welcome as authorities try to piece together what happened on that March evening.

A Deidre Week reward fund was set up. Ribbons of support were placed in the area. Friends and relatives have taken their case public on more than one occasion.

The concerns are still evident and real.

And a lot of people, who feel frustrated that the case has not been solved, are continuing to ask tough questions: How did this accident happen? And who was responsible.

In time, those answers will come. For now, however, the tensions continue to run high and the accusations and rumors swirl. Family members, friends and neighbors will not rest until the person responsible is brought to justice.

Time has not yet provided the room to heal, to comfort.

Yet someone out there knows who drove that car that day. In time, the public and families involved will too. Only then can this tragic accident be put to rest.