Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Killers Amongst Us: Florida's missing Jennifer Kesse showered and dressed for work, then vanished (part 1)

Episode Date: August 4, 2020

Jennifer Kesse disappeared over a decade ago and her family is still searching for answers about what happened to the 24-year-old Florida woman. Jennifer's family knew something was wrong when she did not show up for her job on the morning of Tuesday, January 24, 2006.Nancy Grace digs into the mystery with Jennifer's father Drew Kesse, and her mom Joyce Kesse. What happened to Jennifer Kesse? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Hi guys, Nancy Grace here. Welcome back to Killers Amongst Us, a production of iHeartMedia and Crime Online. I think about Jennifer Kessie so often. Long blonde hair, big blue eyes, the world in front of her, just starting out in her professional life. And I also think about her parents because her parents, Drew and Joy, spent their whole life working to make a living to support Jennifer and her brother, the entire family, pouring all their love, their hopes, their dreams, their money, their attention. Oh, think about it. You know, the Little League games, the Girl Scouts, the cookies, the this, the that,

the tooth fairy, the braces. It goes on and on and on. And they're not chores. They're not chores at all. They're the things you do for love. And to this day, they are still doing it for love, searching for their beautiful girl. What happened to Jennifer Kessie? Miss Kessie, what more can you tell me about what time, if you know, that she would contact her boyfriend in the morning?

Well, Jen typically left for work between 7.30 and 8 in the morning. And it was her habit to call Rob when she got in her car. So as she got in her car and was driving to work is when she would make that good morning call. And as we know, Rob never received that call. Drew, tell me the condition of her apartment. Her condition, it was obviously brand new. She had just purchased it. That morning, what did it look like? Had she made breakfast?

Had she done her hair? What? No, no. It looked like she slept in her bed. She had two or three outfits laid out on the bed as if she was choosing an outfit to wear. She, as was stated, the bathroom looked like someone got ready to go to work. The rest of the condo was just perfect. It honestly looked like a maid came through right down to a full setting, four-piece setting, table setting on her dining room table. You are hearing me speaking with Drew and Joyce Kesey on HLN. The search for Jennifer, their girl, goes on.

With me, Ray Caputo, lead news anchor, Orlando's Morning News 96.5 WDBO. Dr. Daniel Bober, renowned forensic psychiatrist at Dr. Daniel Bober on Instagram. Professor of Forensics, Jacksonville State University and author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon, Joseph Scott Morgan. Bruce Johnson with me, owner of ISP Investig investigations, Crime Scene Commander, Chicago Metro. Wendy Patrick, California prosecutor, author of Red Flags at WendyPatrickPhD.com. And special guests joining me, Drew and Joyce Kesey, Jennifer's mom and dad. Take a listen to this, our friends at CBS. By January 2006, 24-year-old Jennifer seemed to have everything going for her. Take a listen to this, our friends at CBS. She had a sense of humor. One of the first conversations we had ended up being like five hours. Rob Allen, a 32-year-old Englishman, lived two and a half hours away in Fort Lauderdale.

The couple had been dating for a year and saw each other every other weekend. We would communicate four, five, six, seven times a day, every day. She became my best friend. In January 2006, Rob and Jennifer took a vacation to St. Croix. It was just perfect. A lot of cocktails, a lot of sun, a lot of beach. We had an awesome time. We joked we should just stay there and just not come back to the real world. But the real world was about to intervene. I go back over and over and over the facts to start at the beginning. What happened the day Jennifer went missing?

Listen. The first clue something was wrong came the next morning. Jennifer failed to show up for a meeting at work. Her co-workers at Westgate Resorts couldn't reach her on her cell phone or at home. So they called her parents. I got the phone call from her employer that she had not shown up. Was there a family emergency? I immediately panicked because Jen's cell phone has never been turned off.

Joyce called the manager of Jen's apartment complex. He went to her unit. Jennifer wasn't there. Neither was her car. I was just like, oh, my God. Oh, my God, this can't be happening. My mother called me, crying, hysterical. She said, Jen's missing.

I'm like, what are you talking about? She goes, she hasn't shown up for work. Drew Cassie, you get the news. crying hysterical she said jen's missing i'm like what are you talking about she goes she hasn't shown up for work drew cassie you get the news that jennifer did not report to work you tell me that you immediately jump in the car and drive hour plus to get to her condo now when i was speaking to you earlier i said i don't want to hear about the condo. Now, when I was speaking to you earlier, I said, I don't want to hear about the condo being new. Just tell me about the scene itself. But I do want to hear now about the condo on the outside, the layout, the gate, if there was one. Tell me everything as you approach that condo, jumping out of the car. What did you see? Take me inside from outside in her condo jumping out of the car what did you see take me inside from outside in her condo

sure when we approached the uh the condo complex uh everything was normal to us we got up to the guard gate and we got let in quite quite quickly uh they really don't take a lot of information okay whoa right there right there right there on, hold on. Guard gate. If you live there, did you have a key to get in? Would the guard be there 24-7? If you didn't live there, did you have to identify yourself, who you were, who you were coming to see? Would they let anybody come in that drove up? And could you walk in without being stopped for id that's a lot of

questions but could you answer those drew um yes to all the above to be quite honest with you when it ended up okay uh there was a guard gate now i have to review my own questions what wait okay there yes a guard gate wait break it down for me. Okay. There is a guard gate with a live guard there, as well as a gate that anyone who had a pass key who lived there could come through on the right side. If you didn't live there, you had to stop at the guard gate and give your name, where you were going to, and they'd take your license plate. As we found out through receiving those records, the guards could not spell a name, did not take down a plate properly. They were actually useless in the end for our use and for law enforcement's use. Ju, are you telling me that someone could walk in by foot and not be questioned as to identity?

Correct. At the guard gate, there was a sidewalk that led up to a gate and you could walk through the gate. It was done. I mean, anyone who wanted to get on the premises got on the premises. As soon as Jennifer was gone, her friends converged on the premises and there was just no question. Anyone could get in. Any worker could get in. Any subcontract anyone could get in any worker could get in any subcontractor could get in they just had to stop it didn't matter if they gave the right name correct name or anything you know that is so it was very easily that's a big problem to joseph scott morgan forensics expert weigh in uh yeah because you've got a multitude of people that have access and uh you know we have to think back, there's all of this

construction that's going on around this site. There's also a busy mall area, shopping area that's immediately adjacent to this. So any John Q public that's just passing by, even if it's just out of curiosity, hey, I want to go take a look at these condos, or somebody that's got more sinister motives can say, hey, I want to go look in these condos and see what's got more sinister motives can say hey I want to go look in these condos and see what's going on they can use this as a point of entry Nancy and there's no control there's no control over the over the access to this area and so it doubles the difficulty in attempting to kind of whittle this down as to who may have had contact with her.

Jennifer was very habitual and didn't, you know, didn't do things out of the ordinary. She left for work between 7.30 and 8 in the morning. It was like clockwork. Jen was kind of like my human alarm clock. She'd always call me or text me in the morning and just say, hey, look, have a great day. She called them every day they talked. She talked to her mom, she talked to her brother, she talked to her boyfriend. I never got a text from her or a phone call from her. We had started the work day, but after about a half an hour and then an hour,

we started wondering, where's Jennifer? When they called her phone, it went directly to voicemail. We waited another half hour or so and placed a phone call to Jennifer's dad. And when we had gotten the phone call that she didn't show up for work. She was crying. You know, she was extremely emotional, letting, hey, Jen's not answering. She gave me the whole rundown.

She didn't show up to work. She's not answering her phone. I got confirmation from her family that, indeed, she'd never showed up to work. She was missing. I want to circle back to the scene. When you walked up, Drew, was the door locked or unlocked? Once you get through the gate, there's many, I guess there was probably a dozen three-story buildings scattered about on a property in front of Jennifer's condo was a good-sized fountain lake that faced the main road and straight across,

almost straight across the street was the Mall of Millennia. She lived on a second floor, just absolutely a beautiful condo. In fact, Joyce and I said, we'd like to see you here, right here. And she agreed. And it was her first home that she purchased. The outside of the building, gray in color. It had exterior porches for each unit, and it had stairwells that went up the second floor and third floor within. They were covered stairwells. So where Jennifer, her parking space was in the back of her condo on the other side of, so to say, the Fountain Lake.

And her parking spot was identified with her condo number, which we have come to learn is pretty bad. But she was straight away from the staircase. She would literally come out of her car, go probably, I don't know, 20 yards to the bottom of the staircase of her condo, go straight up one flight of steps beyond her floor, have to walk across the entire condo with to get to her condo. The door was totally locked. Okay, so it was locked. Does it lock from the inside or from the outside? From the outside. So it's not as if she had been inside and turned a deadbolt. It was as if she had left and locked it as she left. Is that correct?

Well, the deadbolt would have been a keyed also. So was it locked from the inside or the outside? Or could it have been either? We believe it's both. The door as well as the deadbolt because to us, she got ready for work, walked out her door, and proceeded to her car.

With me, Jennifer's mom, Joyce Kesey. Joyce, did you drive with Drew to the condo? Yes, we drove together. Okay. When you got there, what were your observations of inside her home? Inside the home was Jen's suitcase right in the foyer and her mace on the little table she had in the foyer. And the rest of the place was pristine, save the fact that Jennifer is a huge bathroom pick when she gets dressed in the morning.

So she had stuff scattered everywhere, things on the floor. Her bed, she had several outfits as if she was trying to decide what to wear today. Was that her M.O.? Would she normally do that yes that was jen's routine so it's not as if someone had rifled through her closet you could tell that she was there that morning she had been on the trip with her boyfriend um the tropical trip came home made it back to her condo and apparently was up that morning because she was laying out clothes now would she have laid those out the night before they were on her bed though which means it had to be that morning she wouldn't have slept with them on her bed from the night before i'm trying to get

a good timeline so you believe she laid the clothes out that morning getting ready for work exactly because her bed was unmade what What, if anything, did you notice in her bathroom? Well, the first thing when you walked in the bathroom was, oh my God, what a mess. But it was typical Jen. She's just a messy, messy Jen when she gets ready. The next significant thing is when we pulled the shower curtain back, in the corners of the shower, where, you know, normally you would put your shower, your shampoo or conditioner, there was some water in the corners. That told us that she showered there. Drew then went into her laundry room and draped over the washing machine was a damp towel. And she put the towel, she thought to put the damp towel there.

That tells me that Jen got ready in the morning. She clearly was not in any threat, under any threat at the time she took a shower. And she walked as far as the laundry area, placed the damp towel there. Did you notice any of her clothes missing? The most significant

thing that I noticed missing was Jen was very proud of her brown alligator high heel shoes that she had recently purchased. They were missing. Now, what's interesting, Nancy, is the articles of clothing that were on her bed were beiges and black. So she would have worn those brown shoes, and they were not in her closet.

I'm trying to take in and ingest what you're saying because, you know, Wendy Patrick, California prosecutor, all the red flags, every detail matters. The fact that those, I didn't know this as long as I've been working on Jennifer's case, I didn't know or remember the fact that those particular shoes were missing. It would be as if you came to my place and nobody could find my old Dan Post boots, cowboy boots that I wear every single day. That would be a big indicator. Wendy Patrick, a detail like this is huge. It's powerful evidence, Nancy, particularly if somebody knows you well,

they would know about your cowboy boots. If somebody knows her well, they would also know about those new alligator shoes. And that's how we narrow down suspect pools, even so many years after the fact. We never want to let a case grow cold where new evidence and new tips like this are consistently available. And it will help us to go back even many years after the fact to try to figure out why would those be missing if they didn't fit what she wore to work? How would somebody know where they were if somebody wanted to take them? Did she take them because she had plans to change and go somewhere after work? These details go to juries, but now in cases like this that are still unsolved helps us solve them.

You know, that leads me to this thought, Joyce Cassie. I had always, in the back of my mind, thought someone got into her condo, attacked her, and killed her. I don't necessarily think that. I think she left her condo, based on what Drew was telling me about the front door, that it appears as if she locked it and left.

And the fact, mostly about those shoes, I think she left the home that morning. Joyce? Oh, I definitely believe so, because Jennifer was never, ever someone who took a shower at night, unless, of course, she was going out with friends. But that was not her habit to shower for the next day. She was a morning shower. You know what? And that is what we call behavioral evidence, evidence of routine. Dr. Daniel Bober, a forensic psychiatrist, if mom says she never takes a shower at night,

then you can count on that is a fact. I know for a fact my twins always take a shower at night because I do not want them to get into the bed filthy and sweaty as they are after a day at school and playing. I know that. And I know they do not take a shower in the morning. So that's something that only mommy would really know, Dr. Bober. And I'm telling you, Joyce Cassie's right on this. Absolutely, Nancy. You know, I'm also a child psychiatrist in addition to a forensic psychiatrist, and I always say moms know best.

When I need the history on a child, the person that I get the most information from, the most reliable in terms of behavioral patterns and little details like that, only moms really know. Drew and Joyce Kessy know that they may never see their daughter alive again, but that hasn't stopped them from pushing to find her. Posters for Jennifer Kessie are scattered all over Central Florida. We ask the public, please stick with us. Please believe in us. Believe in Jennifer. We'll never stop looking for Jennifer. I was working the night she went missing. I remember talking to Drew on the phone, and I remember hearing the voice of a very concerned and upset

father, and I'll never forget it. The 24-year-old went missing back in January of 2006 when she never showed up for work. To Ray Caputo joining us, lead news anchor, Orlando's Morning News, 96.5 WDBO. Ray, at the time, do you recall when Jennifer's story first hit the news? Oh, absolutely, Nancy. You know, first off, Jennifer is an attractive young girl. Her picture is plastered up. She has this desperate family. So very quickly, we started hearing about this on the news now.

They started handing out pictures and flyers of Jennifer. And you know when you see a young woman like her go missing, it is a desperate situation because your first thoughts are, did somebody abduct her? You know, like her parents are saying now because of sex trafficking, pick her up off the street. So you worry about that. But it was a big news story. You know, it kind of cut through a lot of the news that I was seeing around the time. And mainly because she's a smart UCF grad, you know, a pretty young girl. And immediately you're worrying that this is probably not going

to end well if they don't find this young woman very quickly. Bruce Johnson with me on ISP investigations. There is a big difference in someone being attacked in their home and someone being kidnapped outside of their home. Because outside the home, you're going to have a lot less fingerprints, a lot less evidence that you can actually find in the home. You're going to find fiber, fingerprints, evidence of a struggle. If somebody disappears outside, it's a lot harder to find evidence, Bruce. Absolutely. It is.

You know, again, back then in 2006, did they have cameras in that parking lot? We haven't seen anything of that nature, so I don't think that there were. But a couple of things I want to go over, and I would like to ask Joyce if she knew you were talking about her routine. So we have, let's say, inside suspects and outside suspects. Inside suspects would be the guards, would be the day workers and all your construction workers. Your outside people would be mall people and people that are coming and going on a route on a, you know, not a routine basis, but sporadically. So for Joyce, I would want to know her routine. Did she come home, you know, and go to the pool every day?

Did she come home and change and go work out? Did she come home and change and go jogging? Those things would come into play for the day workers, working every day, seeing her at the pool every day, knowing that she goes jogging every day. She comes home at five o'clock every night. She goes to dinner at six. That would help focus if people on site were watching her.

So far, we've managed to review what we know at this juncture and determined that there was no sign of a struggle. There was no sign of forced entry. It looked as if Jennifer had gotten up. Her suitcases were still in the entrance area of her home from the trip she'd just come back from, gotten up, gotten ready for work, and left wearing those special shoes that were her favorites. But is there a secondary crime scene? The immediate thing you have to consider is maybe she was on her way to work or she was out away from her apartment and something could have happened to her. Her car is missing. Her family says she's missing. She's not been to work. She drove a black Chevy Malibu. It had been all over TV for two days.

Now in Florida, we have a number of bodies of water. We have all kinds of different places where cars can break down. Yeah, this is Millennium Mall right here. Tips came in. Yeah, we think we see it over here. We think we see it over there. Tuesday is when she disappears. When was her car found? Thursday morning. A neighbor who lived at Huntington on the Green saw the news report.

The Huntington on the Green apartment complex, it's about a mile or so east of Jennifer's apartment. The complex was, yeah, it's rougher. Come to find out, a lot of crime in the area. We went out to the apartment complex and found Jennifer's car parked at the complex. Now we're talking about a whole new avenue of investigation. Is there hope of finding Jennifer Kessie? We need those continued tips to be called

in. And in fact, if you've called the tip in in the last 12 years and you don't think it's been worked, call it in again, please. Please do that for us. Nancy Grace, Killers Amongst Us, signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.