Weeks Struggling to Put a Name and Face on Their Grief

June 3, 1995

'All we ever wanted was answers. We want to know why,' says Deidre's mom.

By JENNIFER BENESCH

Tribune Staff Writer

VESPER - Brenda and David Week are in pain and struggling to put a face and a name on their grief.

The town of Hansen couple met with neighbors Thursday to gather information about the night their daughter, Deidre, 11, was killed in a hit-and-run accident.

“All we ever wanted was answers. We want to know why,” said Mrs. Week, who has set up a makeshift office on the kitchen table in the couple’s farmhouse. She has a list of witnesses to the accident, newspaper articles and taped interviews about the accident.

She also has a memorial plaque with a picture of her daughter, a gift from Vesper Elementary School, which Deidre attended. The plaque sits on a book titled, “When God Doesn’t Make Sense.”

Deidre died after she was struck on March 24 while riding her bicycle northbound on County Trunk HH, north of Vesper. She was a short distance from home when a vehicle struck her from behind and left the scene.

Lorrie Griffith, a neighbor of the Weeks, remembers being on the phone with a friend the day of the accident and hearing a “thud” outside at 6:30 p.m.

Jim Vruwink, a town of Hansen witness to the accident, later stated that he pulled his vehicle into the Griffith driveway and honked the horn to try and summon help. Griffith said she never heard a car horn or saw car lights in her driveway the night of the accident.

“I expected more to come out of it,” Griffith said. “I thought the discrepancies were pretty significant.”

She believes the inconsistencies between her statements and the statements of Vruwink are being ignored by the Wood County Sheriff’s Department.

Sheriff Brian Illingworth said statements from neighbors interviewed by department investigators have been inconsistent while statements by Vruwink that he has reviewed have been consistent.

He said there have been eight suspects since the investigation began, and two still are considered strong suspects.

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

He said the vehicle did not appear to be driven at an excessive speed. The speed limit on County Trunk HH is 55 mph. Vruwink voluntarily took and passed a polygraph test May 11.

David Week said he is angry because his actions in moving his daughters’ body and then leaving the scene on the night of the accident have come into question.

He said he was going to feed his dogs at about 6:30 p.m. and heard the impact. He said he stopped for a moment but thought, “No, things like that couldn’t happen to us,” and continued with his chores.

Week said he went to look for his daughter a few minutes later because she was late in getting home.

“I know I shouldn’t have moved her, but she was sitting in water, and I knew she was gone,” he said. Week said he then felt an urgent need to contact his wife at work to let her know what had happened and left the scene when a neighbor arrived with a blanket to cover Deidre.

The Weeks said all they want is to have their questions answered.

“She was our daughter, not the investigators’ and not the sheriff’s,” Week said. “She was ours.”