Cold case: Jennifer Kesse disappears steps from Orlando home
Solve This Crime 03/21/2016 2:01 pm PDT
UPDATE January 25, 2021:
It has been 15 years since the disappearance of Jennifer Kesse and there are still few clues about what happened to her on the day she vanished, WKMG-TV reports.
March 21, 2016:
Twenty-four-year-old Jennifer Kesse had just returned to Orlando, Florida after a four-day vacation in the Caribbean with her boyfriend. She called her family the next day.
"She sounded fabulous," said Jennifer's father Drew Kesse.
But the following day, on January 24, 2006, Jennifer failed to turn up for work at a real estate company where she's a fast-rising executive. A concerned CFO called her family to ask if she is ill.
"She really was never sick anyhow. Never missed work," said Drew Kesse.
Her father Drew and mother Joyce immediately know something is wrong. And their fears escalate when Jennifer doesn't respond to phone calls, texts and emails.
"We were calling hospitals, calling jails, calling her friends, asking them to call places, calling Rob, and he tried calling her and she did not answer," said Drew.
A frantic Drew and Joyce drive two hours to her condo near Disney World, where they find everything normal.
"We actually found two or three outfits laid out on her bed she was picking. Showered, shower was still damp. Her towel was still damp. Her work stuff was not there. So we knew that, OK, she got ready for work," said Drew.
And her car is not in the parking lot. But what happened after that remains unknown, and an urgent search is launched when the Kesses notify police that Jennifer is missing.
"And this wasn't just a massive police presence, this was the family and the friends," said investigative reporter Beau Zimmer, who covers the case.
They are all out canvassing the area, putting up missing posters and handing out cards bearing her picture, with the help of TV news reporter Scott Thuman, a friend of Jennifer's.
"I made sure they were on every TV station every single night as long as we could keep that alive," said Thuman. "They did the networks, they did radio shows. They did every newspaper interview they could."
"It was hard to go anywhere without seeing her face and her picture and also the information on her vehicle," said Zimmer.
And two days after Jennifer goes missing, police find her new Chevy Malibu in a visitor's parking space at an apartment building about a mile from her condo.
"And the crazy thing about that was that there were valuables still inside, and so police realized that maybe this was not a robbery or a burglary," said Zimmer.
But there is little evidence in the car to tie anyone to Jennifer's disappearance.
"There was maybe one print and detectives think that it was maybe wiped down, and that this was an intentional act to not only hide this vehicle, but also to hide any evidence of who may have driven it," said Zimmer.
Then what appears to be a big break in the case, police uncover security video from the apartment complex where the car is found, showing that it was dropped off just hours after Jennifer would have left for work.
"And they got their first images of who they believe might be involved with Jennifer's disappearance," said Zimmer.
"There's two different angles, all surrounding the pool area," said Zimmer. "But it's very, very blurry and it's hard to see. But you can see someone pulling Jennifer's car into that visitor's parking lot. They wait inside the car for a number of seconds before they get out and look around, and then walk out of frame of the picture. But the next shot of the video was what everyone thought would be so helpful. The next shot was of a person that was walking back and forth along the fence line."
But then, disappointment.
"Every frame of the video, the person is obscured by a post and so you never see the person's face," said Zimmer.
And the police are never able to identify who it is.
"It has got to be the most frustrating thing for detectives, the most frustrating thing for the Kesse family, because for one just one split second, later or earlier, you would have seen that individual's face and you would have had a better idea of what happened to Jennifer," said Zimmer.
Police had already interviewed persons of interest, including Jennifer's boyfriend Rob, who had an airtight alibi: He was more than 200 miles away in Fort Lauderdale at the time of her disappearance.
"The police said that between his phone records and the fact that he was in South Florida, we don't believe that he was involved," said Zimmer.
Nor does Jennifer's family. Rob was cooperative and gave DNA twice.
"Rob has been put over the coals, Rob has been polygraphed three or four times, Rob has been interviewed probably a dozen times," said Drew Kesse. "The people we want interviewed and polygraphed a second time don't even make it back to the list."
Among them is an ex-boyfriend of Jennifer's who was reportedly in a jealous rage after learning that she had gone to the Caribbean with Rob.
"The night before or sometime before, he had been out drinking and gotten drunk and apparently he was upset that he was not the one that was with Jennifer," said Zimmer. "They talked with him several times, and while police say he is not a suspect in the case, certainly you get the feeling from others that he should be talked to a little bit more."
Jennifer's mom Joyce says there was a married co-worker who had been hitting on Jennifer at the office.
"Jennifer arranged to meet him in the cafeteria at work so that once and for all she could tell him, 'Leave me alone, I am never going to date you. And besides, I don't date married men,'" said Joyce.
That person was questioned.
"We feel it should have been consistent to keep the pressure on that individual," said Joyce.
Police declined to speak with Crime Watch Daily about the case. They also reportedly looked at handymen who had been renovating the condo Jennifer bought just two months before her disappearance, as well as construction workers who had been updating the entire complex.
"Jennifer had told some of her friends that she felt really uncomfortable around some of these guys," said Zimmer. "Apparently there may have been some cat calls and things like that."
"I can't help wonder if someone was stalking her from afar that she didn't even know," said Joyce. "Could there have been someone watching her comings and goings?"
"The police tried to talk to as many of the workers that would have been there when Jennifer disappeared, but they acknowledge that they may have missed some people," said Zimmer.
Jennifer's parents have also seriously considered the possibility that she was kidnapped by sex traffickers, whom Drew Kesse says were known to have been working in the Orlando area.
"My gut feeling to this day, honestly, I truly believe she was trafficked," said Drew.
So does Jennifer's friend, reporter Scott Thuman.
"It would make sense on a lot of levels, as unfortunate as it is," said Thuman.
That's what leads Jennifer's family to believe she may be still alive.
"I just feel it in my gut," said Joyce.
And Drew and Joyce vow to keep looking until Jennifer is found. They're still driving around with missing posters on their car and putting out flyers showing how she might look now, 10 years after her mysterious disappearance.
"I will find you. I will. Just hang in there," said Drew. "Honey, I'm coming. It's been too long but I'm coming."
Anyone with information about the case can submit a tip to JenniferKesse.com.
