Episode 84 Jennifer Kesse
24 year old Jennifer Kesse vanished in Orlando, Florida on January 24th ,2006. People that knew Jennifer best, right away were concerned, because Jennifer was an organized professional who would never go off on a whim. Her car, a black 2004 Chevrolet Malibu was missing from it's parking spot in front of her condo in the up and coming Mosaic at Millenia condo complex. On January 26th, after seeing the news of Jennifer's disappearance on the news, someone called in a tip that her car could be found at the Huntington on the Green Condominiums, about a mile from her home. Police went to the scene and verified that her car was indeed parked at the seedy Huntington on the Green Condominiums, about a mile from her home, but there was no sign of Jennifer. Police caught a break when they reviewed grainy surveillance photos of the car being parked there, and they were shocked to see that Jennifer was not the person who exited the vehicle. Instead, they could see that a slim person, possibly a male standing between 5ft3 and 5ft5 had parked the card and left on foot. Unfortuately, a fence in the surveillance photos obstructed the view of the driver's face. Dogs tracked the scent from Jennifer's car right back to her condo development leading to suspicions that the person who likely abducted her had walked back to Jennifer's condo complex, and perhaps had reason to be there. It came to light that Jennifer had been wary of some men who were working at her condo complex in the days before she vanished. Police tried to investigate some of those men, but ran into hurdles when they found that the company that employed them did not keep proper records, sometimes paid under the table, and often hired people that were in the country illegally. One tip led to a man named Chino who had worked at the apartment complex. While he may have had information about what happened to Jennifer, he reportedly cooperated with investigators.
Jennifer's case eventually went cold but became a popular one in the media and on online discussion forums. Jennifer's family, feeling that things were at a standstill and feeling underwhelmed by the investigation, sued the Orlando PD in order to obtain case files and have the case re-investigated by another agency. It's unclear exactly what clues there are to go in, but reportedly, there was evidence that there may have been a struggle on the hood of Jennifer's car, and DNA may have been recovered. As of today, it's unclear how much progress is being made if any in Jennifer's case, and no sign of Jennifer herself has ever been found.
In this episode, Jennifer's uncle Bill Gilmour, who wrote a book about the case and aftermath, is the guest in this episode, and shares his and the rest of Jennifer's family's insights.
When she vanished, Jennifer was described as being 5ft8, 135 lbs, and having Green eyes and sandy blonder hair. She had a shamrock tattoo on her left hip. If you have information about Jennifer's case, please call the Jennifer Kesse tipline at 941-201-4009. To learn more about the case, and the work her family is doing to try and find answers, visit their website.
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