Founder of Deidre Fund Gets His Money Back

May 25, 1995

Family says they would have given him the donation.

By JENNIFER BENESCH

Tribune Staff Writer

The town of Hansen founder of the Friends of Deidre M. Week fund recently sought and received the $500 donation he used to start it.

Jim Vruwink, who witnessed the March 24 hit-and-run accident that killed the town of Hansen girl, started the fund at First National Bank, Vesper.

Wood County Sheriff Brian Illingworth recently returned the money to Vruwink in the form of a cashier’s check. He was asked to have control of the fund when it was established to show “everything is credible,” Illingworth said.

“Jim asked the money be returned to him because he came under scrutiny as a suspect.”

The fund now totals $2,708.33, and donations still are being accepted. Donors are asked to indicate if their money should go to a reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for the death or to the family for some type of memorial.

The majority of the funds are earmarked for the family, Illingworth said.

Daily Tribune Publisher Randy Graf also established a fund at Firstar Bank, Wisconsin Rapids, for the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible. The fund has about $3,000.

Deidre, 11, died after she was struck from behind by a vehicle while riding her bicycle near her home at dusk on County Trunk HH, north of Vesper.

Vruwink said he was driving southbound on County Trunk HH and turned around, attempting to follow the vehicle, but could not get close enough to see a license plate.

He voluntarily took and passed a polygraph test May 11, hoping rumors that he was involved in Deidre’s death would stop, he said.

“I’m just sick of being accused,” Vruwink said. “I took the polygraph and have done everything I could for the family. It’s been pretty tough on me. I thought I was doing the right think that night by risking my life and going after the person that did this.”

Larry Cornelius, Nekoosa, Deidre’s maternal grandfather, said the family would have returned the money to Vruwink had he not requested it.

“We’re glad he asked for it back because he was a suspect in this case, even though the police did clear him,” Cornelius said. There is a great deal of friction between the two families, he said.