Vesta Speet film interview
We conducted this interview with Vesta Speet in 2006, soon after we heard about this case. There are a few pieces of information to set straight: by the time of her marriage, Shelley had spent one year as a student at Ferris State College (now University). She was planning to enroll at Grand Rapids Community College but hadn’t done so at the time of her death. She and her husband, Bill, took the apartment on College so Shelley could be close to classes. The neighborhood was rough and her friends said Shelley kept the doors locked.
It was Mrs. Speet who walked into the apartment and found her daughter murdered. First she talks about Shelley growing up and getting married.
In the second installment, Mrs. Speet talks about finding her daughter’s body. We wonder–as she did–who the telephone operator was. This woman was her lifeline as she summoned help. Mrs. Speet describes her as “wonderful.” Do you know who she was?
In the third portion of the interview we clear up a few elisions and go back over a couple of things including where Shelley went to her first year of college. But we also talk about the her funeral and the impact of her murder. How do parents deal with the death of a murdered child?
Shelley, left, and her life-long friend Deb