Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Killers Amongst Us: Florida's missing Jennifer Kesse showered and dressed for work, then vanished (part 3)

Episode Date: August 18, 2020

As the search continues for Jennifer Kesse, her black Malibu is found in an apartment complex about a mile away. What evidence can be found? And what about the construction going on in Jennifer's apartment complex? Jennifer's parents, Drew Joyce Kesse, tell us more about the evidence found in their daughter's car and what police have done with it... very little according to them. 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. A beautiful young girl, Jennifer Kessie, beautiful, outgoing, smart, the works, until one day Jennifer doesn't show up at work. What happened to Jennifer Kessie? Are there killers amongst us? On the morning of January 24th, 2006, none of Jennifer Kessie's friends, family, or co-workers could locate the 24-year-old Orlando woman.

Jennifer was very habitual and 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 a phone call that she didn't show up for work...

Joyce immediately called her son, Logan. 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 and she was missing. Welcome back, everyone. You are joining us here on Killers Amongst Us at our home, I Heart. You were just hearing our friend Greta Van Susteren and the mysterious disappearance of Jennifer Kessie. With me, judge, trial lawyer, Ashley Wilcott, professor of forensics, Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet, Joseph Scott Morgan,

renowned psychoanalyst out of Beverly Hills, Dr. Bethany Marshall, Ray Caputo, lead news anchor, Orlando's Morning News, WDBO, and special guest, Drew and Joyce Kessie, still looking for their gorgeous girl, Jennifer Kessie. Drew, Joyce, it means so much to us to hear what you have to say because you have lived through this since day one. I want to talk about what it means, all the new construction going on around where Jennifer lived and around where her vehicle was found. First to you, Drew, Cassie, what about it? Well, we knew Jennifer was moving into a complex, switching over from apartments to condos. So there was a lot of construction going on, redoing of each unit. But it was simply gorgeous to us and something

inviting, to be quite honest with you. It didn't turn out that way, obviously, but we thought Jennifer was truly making a good move. When you look back on things, and I think, Nancy, people have to understand and remember that, I mean, we're not criminals as people and families, and we didn't have bad things truly happen to us in our life every day and what have you. So we didn't think right off the bat about, oh, there's 10,000 construction workers around. And who are they? Are they legal? Are they staying here? Do we have every single thing of security under wraps here? It's I mean, now we look back on it and we would do that. But seeing plain normal and yeah, this was a logical choice.

And it's going to be a great place for jennifer to live even though the construction was a lot that's that's what i feel as a matter of fact take a listen to this we're standing at jennifer's condominium which she purchased in november of 2005 if you look around it's a beautiful place the condos are beautiful there was so much construction going on that there just wasn't a lot of people that lived there i know a couple of the workers that were in the complex had made some cat calls at her and kind of put her at ease. It just made her feel uncomfortable having these strangers. And they were men.

And it was very apparent that she lived there alone. But overall, we thought everything was just fine for Jennifer. In addition to her home, she also had a new boyfriend, Englishman Rob Allen. We had a lot in common that we were attracted to each other. I lived in you know Fort Lauderdale as such and she lived in Orlando. Obviously distance is hard so that was difficult for her but she was happy in her relationship. Rob was an awesome guy, super nice, give you the shirt off his back. One thing was he's a little bit older at first so I kind of gave a little bit of crap for

that. He just saw me as you know this is a guy Jen started dating that I don't really know much about. You know, it's a foreign guy. Beautiful new condos. You're hearing the mysterious disappearance of Jennifer Kessie to Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst to the stars at drbethanymarshall.com. Dr. Bethany, there's something so alluring, so alluring about a brand new home, a brand new condo. Nobody's ever lived there before. You don't have to get rid of all their germs, fresh paint, new carpet, hardwood floors.

I mean, that's what everybody wants, right? That is what everybody wants. But along with a brand new, beautiful condo comes construction. So I have kind of a mixed image of this place. Obviously, Jennifer, the Kessy family can, you know, illuminate us about what this place actually looked like. But I have this mental image of hardwood floors, raised ceilings, a beautiful view, a lovely place for young people where there's this illusion of security and safety. But I also have this other image of construction, a lot of men hanging around, a very transient community of people coming and going,

people in the construction community. So it is a mixed bag where I'm not even sure if all of the condo units were inhabited yet. I mean, was every unit inhabited or were there places where people could hide or secrete themselves? So there was an illusion of safety, but there's also this underbelly running through this entire picture or this scenario or situation. Joining me, Ray Caputo, lead news anchor, Orlando's Morning News, WDBO. Ray Caputo, were the condos full? Were all of them inhabited? Were they still building, constructing more condos? Like, you know, you see condos and it says, oh, phase two, phase three, phase four. Were there workers on her property?

Yes, absolutely, Nancy. About half of the condos were built at the time, and they were still building some. So there were tons of construction workers around. Some of them we're hearing were undocumented. And not only that, but construction workers were actually living in some of the unoccupied units just because they were closer to work. So not only were they there every day, some of them wereoccupied units just because they were closer to work. So not only were they there every day, some of them were actually there 24 hours a day. So there were a lot of transient people there, a lot of folks who didn't have addresses there,

and Jennifer was living amongst them. As always, investigators first questioned Jennifer's family and close friends to see if any of them had a reason to kidnap or harm her or if they knew someone that did. Now, her ex-boyfriend, according to reports, was recently upset and wanted to get back together with Jennifer. He was questioned. Her current boyfriend was also questioned. His alibi checked out. He was eliminated as a suspect. He lived at least an hour away from her. To Joyce Kessie, what can you tell me about her ex-boyfriend that wanted to get back together? Excuse me. We have known the family for over 30 years. So the boyfriend and Jennifer dated for a couple of years during college.

And when Jennifer broke up with him, she broke up with him because they just didn't have the same visions for their life, their future life. And unfortunately, the boyfriend took it badly and had been trying to get back with Jen. And she had taken a break from relationships, then met Rob and didn't want any part of that former relationship. And that was something that the ex just was having some difficulty getting over. Well, as is so often the case, and this is not a good thing, the first response from law enforcement was a response that trivialized Jennifer's disappearance. Listen. The first response of law enforcement was, well, she had a fight with her boyfriend.

She'll be back. Jennifer was an adult, and at that time, she was allowed to be missing. All they had to say was, this happens all the time. We'll have her back in 48 hours. And we were kind of taken back by that, told them we didn't like that. You don't know, Jen. You don't understand. This isn't normal. It was apparent, I think, in the early evening hours that due to Jennifer's very strong family connections and the way her family interacted that we were dealing with something that was suspicious and that she was in danger. That day when it started to get dark and they still hadn't heard from her,

it was like it just felt like crazy. Just, you know, what is happening and where is she? But quickly, there was a break in the case. Her car is here. There will at least be DNA. Is she in the trunk? I think it's a parent's worst nightmare. You don't know what you're going to find. The first response of law enforcement was,

well, she had a fight with her boyfriend. She'll be back. Jennifer was an adult, and at that time, she was allowed to be missing. All they had to say was, this happens all the time. We'll have her back in 48 hours. And we were kind of taken aback by that. Told them we didn't like that. You don't know Jen. You don't understand.

This isn't normal. It was apparent, I think, in the early evening hours that due to Jennifer's very strong family connections and the way her family Interacted that we were dealing with something that was Suspicious and that she was in danger That day when it started to get dark and they still hadn't heard from her. It was like it just felt like Crazy just you know what is happening and where is she. But quickly, there was a break in the case. Her car is here. There will at least be DNA.

Is she in the trunk? I think it's a parent's worst nightmare. You don't know what you're going to find. That's right. The car was found. As we already know, her home was undisturbed. Her clothes laying out on the bed. She had taken a shower.

Everything seemed to be in place in the home. We all agree that nothing unusual happened inside her condo. The crime scene moves to where her car is found. Listen. We started looking for video cameras because video cameras were becoming more and more prevalent in society. Two surveillance cameras at the complex revealed evidence that would become critical to the case. What does the video show? It shows someone pulling into a parking spot, very visible in the guest parking spot by the pool,

that correctly parked the car, sat in the car for 32 seconds, walked out. The video recorded the car arriving at 12 noon on Tuesday the 24th, the day Jennifer disappeared. And when we see it in the surveillance footage that we have, you're basically watching the person walk around the outside of the fencing of the pool area. That's the fencing you see in that film footage. It's incredibly grainy. That shot of the car being parked could have been anybody. But, in fact, we do have video. You're hearing our friend Greta Van Susteren speaking to Joyce Kessy. This is Jennifer's mom.

We have video taken outside Jennifer's condo, bad luck that the person walked past a post and a fence, a brick and wrought iron fence, and you couldn't see the face. And we also have video from the car where you see a person get out of the car, very grainy. Now, isn't it true, Joyce Cassie, this is Jennifer's mom, nothing is stolen from the car. Very grainy. Now, isn't it true, Joyce Cassidy, this is Jennifer's mom, nothing is stolen from the car. There's a brand new DVD player in there. And police came up with one latent print and one piece, a very tiny fiber DNA. Is that right, Joyce? That's correct. There was a latent fingerprint. It didn't match anybody. But what we have since found out after obtaining the police records is haven't done anything really with. So the only thing that we do have

is a piece of fiber. Let me ask you this, Joyce, where was the print found in the car? Its location could be significant. Where was the print? You know, Nancy, I don't know. Drew, do you know where the print was in the car? Yeah, I believe it was on the dash. Like the console, so to say. Okay, so I'll tell you why I'm saying that, Joseph Scott Morgan, because let's just say if the print was upside down, if it was at an obtuse angle, that would tell me, for instance, that there had been a struggle in the car. That's why I'm asking about the location and the direction of the print.

See where I'm going, Joe Scott? Yeah, I do, Nancy. And if in fact it is some type of struggle, for instance, that may have, or interaction that anyone had, a very dynamic event, you might have these in odd positions, you know, these latent prints that are left behind. One other thing that people really need to consider here, if they'll just think for a moment, all of the actions you have to go through in order just to enter a car, opening the door. Some people grab the outer frame. Some people grab the frame of the car. Some people grab the steering wheel to literally leverage themselves into the car. So not only might you leave latent prints on these surfaces, you could very well leave touch DNA. And that's why I'm hopeful in regards to this case. If they

picked up something else that can be in the future, in the very near future, maybe even the present now, they could take the evidence they have, go over it again, and examine it very carefully for something that in the past. Well, yeah, you're right about that, Joe Scott, because it's got to be evidence they already have because that car is gone. Now, Drew, you know where the car is. You know the people that have the car, but aren't they asking an arm and a leg for the car? They weren't at the beginning.

I had people reach out to see exactly what they would want for the car. And after they realized whose car it was, it pretty much doubled. Not a lot of money. I mean, it went up to like $3,500. But then we did research on, there was no GPS within the car. There was only a black box. And we did the research on if there's any value within a black box to do what we needed to do. And it came up as there's nothing that would be able to be told to give us information to move anything forward from a black box within a car.

And the car had no value to us. I mean, we were paying the car. So, you know, the car is still out there. It's still in the state. We know where it is. But we still have, well, Orlando Police Department still have nine canisters of what they actually processed and vacuumed out of that car. So there is still viable evidence within the police department. We are not privy to that. Which seems so unfair. And I'm going to get to your lawsuit in just a moment. Joseph Scott Morgan, if the car was properly processed, in other words, vacuumed, tell me what we could do now with that evidence if Orlando PDC is fit to do it, if they'll just get off their rear end and do it. Nancy, if they process this car correctly, and hopefully they did back in time, that evidence could be taken now and reanalyzed, say with the technology we have today as opposed to the mid-2000s.

This is the key, though, and we have to keep this in mind. This evidence, all of it is very very fragile so what is going to be very important is how well have the orlando police department preserved that evidence in their evidence room is it still viable and and that's you know that's the big question at this point uh you know when you consider kind of how they've shut everything down in the face of this investigation, and, you know, the families having to do this all on their own, I just hope that Orlando will have the good sense to come back to this and revisit it with the technology that exists in the present. Let me ask you a question to Drew Kessie. What happened with the police? I mean, how did this go so sideways? Do

you have any idea if they are retesting the evidence with new DNA technique? No, we don't. Unfortunately, I guess, you know, two and a half years ago now, it just got to the point where we knew they weren't working on Jennifer's case and we asked them to please make it a cold case so we can get different resources and more money to be quite honest with you and specialization amendments and they said no no no open active we're not doing anything and it probably got to the point for a year, we actually, as a family, were asking them formally in writing, please do this. Please give us case files. We don't want to go to court, but it's time. And they refused us. And we just looked them in the eye and said, we're going to

sue you and take you to court for access to the files and they said we'll do what you want they were very surprised the day we did um but that was to us if you're going to sit there then please step aside we personally care about our daughter even if it's 12 years later and now 14 years later which we're still in court and we are not out of getting all the files. And in fact, they found files after they said they gave us all the files recently. And we're still working on redacted files. So we're not out of court. Over a year on a four-month agreement, we're not out of court yet. And the court wasn't processed properly because we do know of one instance where it looks like there's a struggle on the hood of her car. And it was never processed.

Explain to me about that, Drew Kessie, and the boot print as well. Well, we received the files, and within the files, There's pictures of Jennifer's car and we had probably received four or five pictures over the years of Jennifer's car, but there's well over 150 pictures of Jennifer's car within the files. And just looking through one day when we first got them my investigative team as well as myself almost at the same time said said, what's on the front of the car that we've never seen before? And when you really look at it, it looks like someone on the driver's front side of the hood was slammed down, chest first with arms with almost like fingers dragging on the hood of her car. And we're having a really hard time right now, to be quite honest with you, verifying if that is really what we're seeing. Most people have said, yeah, there was a struggle on top of that. We have it within the file that the detectives asked the processors to, it seems as though something happened on the hood

of the car, process that. Within the files, there is nothing I've read as well as our investigative team and legal team that it was processed. So nothing was done with that. And it's there blatantly in a picture now as well. We have a what I consider a pretty clear boot print at the bottom of Jennifer's gas pedal in the rug. That is obviously not Jennifer's. And it would, in my eye, almost have to be the last person in that car who was driving that car. And, you know, we're just trying to work with that too. But again, we're 14 years down the road

and money gone. And we try and raise what we can to move forward. But we're in a hard place right now, Nancy. What do you make of the video where the person is walking and they are obscured by the gatepost? Well, we do know that that person is the person who drove Jennifer's car, pulled into a visitor's parking space, actually backed up to straighten out within the space sat in it for 32 seconds presumably wiping it down got out walked away never looked back and we know that there's other people in that film um but you know if if someone just pulls into a parking space in a condo complex and someone gets out and walks by you don't pay attention what you. But there are other people in that film.

But we have never been able to identify that person whatsoever, period. Just as much as Jennifer has disappeared, that person has disappeared also. To Ashley Wilcott, judge, trial lawyer, Anchor Court TV at AshleyWilcott.com. Ashley, what can be done, if anything, for the Cassies to get the evidence and have it tested? There are experts all over the country that would, for free, test the evidence, Ashley. So, first of all, I think they've done the right thing. Regrettably, they had to file a lawsuit. That was the right thing to do, in my opinion, get the judicial system involved when law enforcement 12, 14 years down the road is

refusing to give you any information to conduct your own investigation. Second, I'm really hopeful, fearful that the court is going to say, listen, whether law enforcement wants to call it an active investigation or not. And I know they're not doing anything, but that's how law enforcement protects records, right, to a court. They say, well, it's an active investigation. We cannot release details. So the court has to be convinced they've done nothing on the case. It's not active, and it's in the public's interest for this file to be released. I'm fearful that happens, not just the file, but all the evidence so that they can then test it.

They've got to continue that battle because there's no legal reason I can think of that a court could not choose to order the police to release the evidence for testing to the family, to Drew and Joyce, so that they take the case. Now, the sad part to me, Nancy, is this should be investigated by police in the way that the family's investigating, but obviously that's not happening, so they need to continue to do that. The other thing that I wonder, realizing it was 14 years ago, were there any traffic cameras, any surveillance videos, any, you know, a lot of times the reason as a parent you want your child to move into a new condominium is because it has the most up-to-date security in place. So I would also want to know, is there any video from any person or any facility or any traffic cam that has more evidence of this car.

You know, to Joe Scott Morgan, I can't help but go back over what Drew and Joyce Kessy are telling me about the boot print and the struggle they believe happened on the hood of Jennifer's car. What can we do with that now? Well, I'm thinking that if the photographs that were taken at that time were of sufficient quality, and what I mean by that, that the lighting was accurate, that the technology or the technique that was used by the crime scene photographer was sufficient, it could be enhanced to a certain degree to give a more, let's see, a more solid picture of what's going on. Say, if you can use alternative light sources for the photography, enhance it to a certain degree to give you an idea of what kind of activity. Now, wait a minute. Slow down. Slow down.

What do you mean put alternative light sources on the photo? Now, I mean, I know that that works at a real crime scene, but we'll, first of all, explain to people listening what you mean by alternative light source and how would that work on a photo? Well, let me kind of rephrase that. The technology that is used in order to enhance the photograph that already exists did not exist back then. And a lot of this is going to go to recapturing the image in real time, if you will, using the technology they have. And that's going to be enhanced lighting and highlighting on the photograph that they have. You can raise images up that otherwise would not have previously been

visible. And we're talking about this from a high tech, from a computer enhancement perspective, as opposed to alternative light sources like ultraviolet and those sorts of things that we employ at the scene at the time. To Ray Caputo, joining me, lead news anchor, Orlando's Morning News WDBO. Ray, does the city of Orlando and the surrounding area of Metro Orlando, do they remember the Jennifer Kessie case? Is it out front and center? Is it still discussed? Is it on anybody's mind?

Nancy, 14 years later, this is still probably the most important missing person case in town. You know, no more than a couple of weeks ago, I was driving near my home and I got to an intersection. I was at a red light and I looked on the other side of the street in a large transformer box on the corner. There is a big picture of Jennifer. We still see her, her picture up at grocery stores, bus stations, anywhere you go where they would put pictures of missing people. Jennifer is the first one. It's absolutely a case that's perplexed our town and people still care

about this because when you see Jennifer, you see, you know, an everyday young woman not doing anything wrong, doing everything right in her life. And it scares people. If this person's still out there, they can do it with somebody else. To Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst joining me out of Beverly Hills. Dr. Bethany, something Ray just said, Ray Caputo, that when people see Jennifer's photo, it makes them afraid. Why? Because in the face of the unknown, we project or imagine our worst possible fears. There are so many unknowns in this case, Nancy. If a body was slammed on the hood of that car, under what circumstances did that take place? If there is a heel of a boot

that was not Jennifer Kessie's boot on the gas pedal, whose boot was it? If she was living somewhere and there were construction workers and the way the condo was when her parents entered it that morning, there was a damp towel and clothing, like she was just leaving for work like any other day, and then poof, she just disappears. There are so many unknown variables. And the fact is, the police are holding on to the files to protect themselves. And what they the police are perpetrating on the community is a story where there's lack of sunshine, there's lack of data, there's lack of knowledge about the specificity of what happened. You know, it's rooted deep in our evolutionary biological heritage that we are more afraid of things that we don't know than things

that we do know. Meaning if something, look, if somebody doesn't call you for three days, like let's say Lucy went to school, you texted, you called, you couldn't get a hold of her, you would be much more frightened with the unknown than if a teacher said, look, we're going to go on a field trip and you won't hear from her for three hours. That's known. So I think that's what we're doing. This whole show is dedicated to is turning the unknown into the known so people can be less afraid. And so Jennifer Kessie's parents can be, you know, put their minds at rest and know the facts of what happened to her. Take a listen to this police press conference. 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. Her parents, all those who love her deserve answers and we will continue to work hard to provide those answers. You are hearing police as they address the case of Jennifer Kessie. That mother, Joyce Kessie, that father Drew K Kessie, with us right now, still searching for answers. Nancy Grace, killers amongst us. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.