Introducing: The Final Hours with Sarah Turney and Kourtney Nichole from Crime House

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Some crimes are so shocking they don't just make headlines,
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they forever change our society. I'm Katie Ring, host of
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America's Most Infamous Crimes. Each week, I take on one
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of the most notorious criminal cases, whether it's unfolding now
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or etched into American history. Serial killers who terrorize cities,
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unsolved mysteries that kept detectives up at night, and investigations
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that change the way we think about justice. Each case
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unfolds across multiple episodes, release every Tuesday through Thursday, and
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the first sign that something was wrong to the moment
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the truth came out or didn't. Listen to and follow
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America's Most Infamous Crimes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music,
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or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
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Hey Cluminati, it's Caylin.
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We're taking a short break this week, but we didn't
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want to leave you without something to listen to, and
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I'm so excited to share something special that I know
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you're going to love. If you're especially drawn to our
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missing person segments on Clues, then you need to check
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out the new crime original The Final Hours, hosted by
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Sarah Turney and Courtney Nicole. You might already know Sarah
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from her podcast Voices for Justice. She actually produced a
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long form podcast on the disappearance of Mora Murray. So
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shout out Sarah, and you might know Courtney from our
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popular true crime Instagram account Crime with court With Sarah
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having lived through the pain of her sister's disappearance and
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Courtney having seen firsthand how crime can impact a family,
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they bring powerful lived experience to every case, looking not
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only at what happened, but also what led up to it.
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Each episode of the Final Hours examines the moments just
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before a person disappears. Think the routines, the timelines, and
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the small details that often get overlooked because every disappearance
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has a moment when everything still feels normal. A text
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that doesn't raise any concern, a routine that goes unchanged,
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a door that closes just like it always has until
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it doesn't. The Final Hours puts those moments under a microscope,
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and we have the first episode for you right here.
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In it, Sarah and Courtney examined the two two thousand
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and six disappearance of Jennifer Kessei, who vanished on our
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way to work, leaving behind a mystery that still haunts
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investigators today. I mean, I personally have not been able
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to stop thinking about this case since.
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I first heard about it.
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If you like what you hear, be sure to follow
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the final hours on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or
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wherever you listen. New episodes drop every Monday, and you
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can find a link to the show in the episode description.
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This is crime House.
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You're squinting at a blurry, black and white surveillance video.
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It stated January twenty fourth, two thousand and six. The
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time is twelve fifty nine pm. It's taken at the
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Huntington on the Green condominium complex in Orlando, Florida, and
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shot from a distance. In between the camera and the
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parking lot are what appear to be two swimming pools.
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A few seconds later, a car pulls into the fenced
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in lot beyond those pools. It's a two thousand and
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four Chevy Malibu. It stops and nothing happens for the
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next thirty two seconds. Then the driver steps out on foot.
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They head back in the direction they came.
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Luckily, another camera gets a closer shot of the driver.
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A minute later, that person is recorded walking past a gate.
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They appear to be male, with short hair, not very tall,
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about five three or five to five, and they're dressed
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in a light colored outfit, may be a uniform of
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some kind. But there's something frustrating about these videos. They glitch,
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only catching every two or three seconds of the scene.
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Because of that, the driver's face, the suspects face is
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always blurred or blocked by the fence.
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And because of this seemingly tiny issue, Jennifer Kessey's disappearance
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is a total mystery even today.
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Every year, over half a million people go missing, and
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that's just in the United States alone. Most of those
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stories barely get a headline. Some don't even get a
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flyer or a tip line. And when cases do get
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media attention, we usually only get the broad strokes.
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But for those of us who have lived these true
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crime cases, we know the devils in the details. It's
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the tiniest moments that play over and over again in
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the minds of the victim's family, friends, and investigators alike.
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Why did they leave their dirty clothes on the floor
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when they always put them away? Why did they add
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an exclamation point when they never punctuate a text? Who
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is that plus one they added to that dinner reservation?
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They never showed up to.
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This is The Final Hours, a Crime House original powered
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by Paved Studios. I'm Sarah Turney. If you don't know me,
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I've been an advocate for missing and murdered victims for
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a long time. After my sister Melissa disappeared back in
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two thousand and one, I dedicated my life to those
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in similar circumstances by raising awareness and resources for other
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unsolved cases.
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And I'm courting a an investigative journalist who became fascinated
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with true crime after a member of my own family
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found themselves on the wrong side of the law. It
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taught me there's always more to a story than what
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you read in the news, and now I'm dedicated to
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shining a different perspective on cases and amplifying stories that
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haven't gotten enough attention. So every Monday, Sarah and I
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will be looking at the tiniest details that might not
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have gotten attention either. Each episode, Sarah will offer insight
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on what those close to the victim might have been
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going through, and I'll give more context into the crime scene,
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the red flags, and the investigation itself.
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We'll be putting the final hours of these cases under
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a microscope, from the timeline to the clues to the
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last conversations. We'll be looking for anything that could be
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hiding in plain sight, because when it comes to getting justice,
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there's no such thing as over analyzing.
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For our first episode, we're discussing the disappearance of Jennifer Kessi.
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In January two thousand and six, twenty four year old
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Jennifer had just gotten home from a vacation with her
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boyfriend and was ready to get back to her routine.
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On the morning of the twenty fourth, she took a
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shower and did her hair and makeup and walked out
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the door of her new condo, expecting another ordinary day,
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and fortunately it was anything.
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But It's two thousand and six. A new chapter is
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just beginning for twenty four year old Jennifer Kessei. She
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recently bought her first condo in Orlando, Florida, and while
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she's had a boyfriend Rob for about a year now,
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they aren't quite ready to move in together yet. The
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relationship's long distance Robs three hours away in Fort Lauderdale.
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Jennifer doesn't love it, but she's embracing it. They see
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each other on the weekends and during the week she
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seems to enjoy her independence She's got a job she loves,
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a financial analyst at a timeshare business, which she's crushing.
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By the way. She's gotten two promotions in her first
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year at the company. That's how she can afford that
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new luxury condo. And she's got a great group of
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friends and family that really adores and supports her. Her
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family is about two hours away in the Tampa Bay Area.
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She and her younger brother, Logan are super close. She's
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got a solid group of girlfriends from her sorority days
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back at the University of Central Florida. She's popular, a leader, responsible,
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and not afraid to be assertive or speak her mind.
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Everything you'd expect from a young, hungry professional who's undoubtedly
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going places. Most of all, she's got a really great
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head on her shoulders.
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Yeah, and the one thing that kept coming up about
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Jennifer was she was super mindful of her own personal safety,
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the kind of student who would carry pepper spray in
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her purse while walking across campus, someone with a you
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can never be too careful type of attitude. Maybe that's
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because she heard this story growing up many years back
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when they lived in New Jersey. Her parents, Drew and Joyce,
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were held at gunpoint. I don't know too many details
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about that, but when something like this happens to the
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people you love, you take your own personal safety a
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lot more seriously. And that's exactly what Jennifer did. She
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saw it as a cautionary tale. Now living alone, not
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super close to her boyfriend and family, Jennifer was extra
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aware of her surroundings. Her new condo, the Mosaic at Millennia,
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wasn't in the nicest part of Orlando. Sure, it was
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a gated community with on site security, but it was
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still in the process of being built when she moved in,
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which meant a lot of strangers, particularly construction workers, coming
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and going from the property at all hours of the day.
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And Jennifer mentioned the uneasiness she felt to her family
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and her boyfriend Rob on more than one occasion. You know,
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I think Jennifer did the right thing by expressing her
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concerns to family and friends.
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Smart.
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It's very smart. I still do that, you know, twenty
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seven years old. But when a woman lives alone, she
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becomes a target for predators.
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Well, I think that's one of the scariest aspects is
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that she did all the right things.
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Yeah, she did everything right. You know, living alone, you
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do become an easy target, especially you know in Jennifer's case,
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where she's in a condo and it's being it's newly built,
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so there's tons of people kind of coming and going,
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and you can kind of become an easy target. And
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I feel like that goes for any woman, you know.
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Yeah. Unfortunately, Well, at least Jennifer got a little break
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from the stress of everyday life in January two thousand
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and six. On the nineteenth, she and Rob took a
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vacation to the Caribbean island of Saint Croix. The trip
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was short, they were gone for less than four days,
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but it seemed to be exactly what she needed. Meanwhile,
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Jennifer's brother, Logan did a little house sitting. That weekend.
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He and two of his friends, Travis and Matt went
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to her condo to hang out, but Travis ended up
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forgetting his work phone there. He planned to get it
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from Jennifer when she returned. By the evening of January
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twenty second, Jennifer and Rob were back in Florida. She
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spent the night at his place in Fort Lauderdale and
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then drove straight to work from there. On the Monday
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morning of the twenty third. That night, after leaving her office,
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Jennifer called her parents to tell them all about SAT.
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Her mother, Joyce, said that Jennifer had an excellent time.
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Joy said she quote was on a cloud. She also
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spoke to Logan, who asked her to keep an eye
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out for Travis's phone. Jennifer said she saw it and
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would take it with her the following morning to work
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so she could mail it back to him, since it
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was easier than making the hour and a half drive
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to pick it up. But things shifted when Jennifer called
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Rob around ten pm that night.
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Apparently they had a bit of a disagreement, which Rob
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would later freely admit. Coming down from the high of
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the trip, he said they got into a heated discussion
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about being long distance. Rob claimed this was a big
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point of contention in the relationship. The distance made Jennifer
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feel a little insecure, almost like Rob didn't love her
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enough to move.
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I feel like these last moments are so hard. You
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always imagine the last time you see somebody that you're
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going to have these amazing words of affirmation, that you're
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going to tell them how much you love them, and
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that's just not reality. You know, sometimes we fight, sometimes
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we have arguments, and you just never want to have
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that be the last thing you say to someone. Yeah.
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Yeah.
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And I know from firsthand experience that you go back
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and you think about those last moments and you overanalyze,
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and you know, for me, you criticize yourself. You always
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wish that you did more, you said more, and especially
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love them more.
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And the hardest part is you just never know in
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that moment's going to happen. And so you know, those
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last words are it's tough, yeah, and then what if?
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Yeah?
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Absolutely, Like you always think what if? What if I
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did something different that could have changed the whole course
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of this. And when you overanalyze, you go back and
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you think, you know, were they hinting at something? You
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try to like draw any information or any clues you
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can out of those last statements.
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You know.
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Unfortunately that's the thing with these cases. Sometimes there's zero
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indication anything is wrong, because nothing is. But other times
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there are tiny little clues that maybe we didn't notice before,
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which you know, which is why investigators always pay really
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close attention to even the tiniest deviation from someone's routine
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before their disappearance, did pack a bag, search for a
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new location, text a new friend, Maybe they spoke about
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a change in plans, a new encounter, an unexpected phone call,
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something that might not seem like anything out of the
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ordinary but can actually be the key to unlocking at all.
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I feel like specifically morning routines. Yeah, I think morning
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routines are obviously very important for many reasons, but it's
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because it's what people typically stick to, you know, A
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small little deviation that could.
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Mean everything, absolutely. You know, if you know somebody that
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deeply right, something like they didn't have coffee that morning
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could make all the difference, you know, like what happened?
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Why were they thrown off? It's those little tiny details absolutely.
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Unfortunately, we don't know exactly how Jennifer's conversations went that night.
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We don't know if anything deviated from the norm, and
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we don't know how they ended either, But we do
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00:12:54.360 --> 00:12:56.919
know that that was the last time any of them
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got to hear Jennifer's voice.
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It's January twenty fourth, two thousand and six, sometime before
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seven thirty am. Jennifer's tand lines are fading, Her bags
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haven't even been unpacked, her suitcase sits on the floor
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00:13:17.960 --> 00:13:21.200
of her living room, waiting for that dreaded laundry day.
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Jennifer lays out a few different outfits on her bed
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and chooses one for work. Then she turns on the
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shower and hops in, going through that same autopilot routine
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00:13:30.840 --> 00:13:33.559
we all do. Afterwards, she gets in front of the
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mirror and does her hair and makeup, the same way
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she does every single morning. She checks the clock. It's
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getting close to seven thirty am. She needs to get
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out the door soon. Her bathroom's a mess, but it
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00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:48.559
often is. She always leaves her makeup and curling iron
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on the counter to clean up later. She tosses her
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damp towel on the bed. She grabs her cell phone
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and Travis' cell phone to mail back to him. She
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takes her iPod, her keys to her Chevy Malibu, and
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her purse and heads out the door, locking it behind her.
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I think that these are the points in these stories
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that always stick with me, these really normal moments putting
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on your makeup, leaving your curling iron out, having no
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idea that your whole life is about to change.
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And it's stories exactly like Jennifer's that really make us
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realize that you're never guaranteed any moment in life, and
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at any point in time it can be turned upside down.
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Absolutely. I mean, and this is a woman with plans.
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She had Travis's cell phone ready to mail back, which
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00:14:29.759 --> 00:14:32.159
is like not a fun thing to do. She was
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ready to get things done that day. This is just
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not somebody who disappeared willingly.
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So I think, you know, as someone who's covered a
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00:14:40.159 --> 00:14:44.320
lot of true crime cases unsolved solved, I think the
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moments that really stick out to me when it comes
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00:14:46.759 --> 00:14:49.320
to each and every case is the tiniest little details
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00:14:49.320 --> 00:14:53.039
of right before they disappeared or before tragedy struck. It's
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00:14:53.159 --> 00:14:56.519
very humanizing because we all go through the same motions
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00:14:56.559 --> 00:14:59.600
as human beings, and it just makes you realize that
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00:14:59.639 --> 00:15:02.000
it could be any one of us at any given time.
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Yeah, there's something about the wet towel on the bed
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for me. I don't know what it is, but it's
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00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:08.480
something about leaving a wet towel like you're gonna come
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00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:10.200
back for that, You're not gonna let it sit there
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and mildew. It might be the weirdest thing to say,
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00:15:12.679 --> 00:15:15.159
but there's something about that that just sticks in my mind.
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00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:18.000
Yeah, sticks to me too. It's just also heartbreaking to
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00:15:18.919 --> 00:15:21.679
envision in your head. You know, she had a whole life,
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00:15:21.720 --> 00:15:24.360
she plan on coming back to continue her life, yet
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00:15:24.840 --> 00:15:26.960
you know something happened that prevented.
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00:15:26.600 --> 00:15:29.240
That from happening. Yeah, I mean that morning is critical.
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00:15:29.480 --> 00:15:31.480
You know. One thing though that kind of sticks with
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00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:34.279
me about this though, is even though there are so
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00:15:34.320 --> 00:15:37.120
many people outside getting ready to go to work and
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00:15:37.159 --> 00:15:39.759
start their days. You know, it's a place where you
305
00:15:39.799 --> 00:15:42.159
think you would feel in the safest, but sometimes you know,
306
00:15:42.200 --> 00:15:44.799
people can get so in their heads and so focused
307
00:15:44.840 --> 00:15:47.000
on getting from point A to point B that they
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00:15:47.039 --> 00:15:49.679
don't take a second to look up in kind of
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00:15:49.720 --> 00:15:52.639
case their surroundings. And so even though you could be
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00:15:52.759 --> 00:15:55.840
surrounded by a ton of people, everybody else is kind
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00:15:55.840 --> 00:15:57.759
of in their own heads and maybe not picking up
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00:15:57.759 --> 00:16:00.960
on something potentially bad happening right in front of them.
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00:16:01.200 --> 00:16:03.480
Yeah, it's scary.
314
00:16:04.200 --> 00:16:06.919
Typically, every morning, while she's on her way into the office,
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00:16:07.080 --> 00:16:10.840
Jennifer calls Rob to say hello, But that morning eight
316
00:16:10.840 --> 00:16:13.639
am comes and goes, and Rob hasn't heard a thing
317
00:16:13.679 --> 00:16:16.840
from her. He waits and calls her again after he
318
00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:20.080
gets out of his nine o'clock meeting. Now, his calls
319
00:16:20.120 --> 00:16:23.720
are going straight to voicemail, which is not usual. At
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00:16:23.759 --> 00:16:27.240
the same time, Jennifer's coworkers are also getting worried. It's
321
00:16:27.279 --> 00:16:29.559
not like her to not call or show up for work.
322
00:16:30.200 --> 00:16:33.879
So around eleven AM, the company's CFO dials Jennifer's parents
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00:16:33.879 --> 00:16:37.600
to see if they've heard from her. Immediately, panic sets
324
00:16:37.639 --> 00:16:40.919
in for Joyce and Drew. Within minutes that are hopping
325
00:16:40.919 --> 00:16:42.759
in the car to make the drive from the Tampa
326
00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:46.919
Bay area to Jennifer's condo in Orlando. Her brother Logan
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00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:48.960
and his friend Travis also meet them there.
328
00:16:49.320 --> 00:16:52.600
When Joyce and Drew first arrive, the apartments logged. Luckily,
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00:16:52.600 --> 00:16:54.919
they do seem to have a spare key, but when
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00:16:54.960 --> 00:16:58.440
they get inside, they don't find Jennifer or anything out
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00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:01.159
in the ordinary for that matter. In fact, Joyce says
332
00:17:01.159 --> 00:17:04.240
her condo looks how it always looks, a bit messy,
333
00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:07.079
hair and makeup products all over the counter. The towel
334
00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:09.400
is still wet, so she clearly took a shower that
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00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:12.240
morning and got ready for work. Her other outfits are
336
00:17:12.279 --> 00:17:16.359
still laid out on the bed, her purse, keys, briefcase, iPod,
337
00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:18.480
and both her cell phone and the one left by
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00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:21.640
Travis are all gone and her car isn't in the
339
00:17:21.680 --> 00:17:25.519
parking lot, So now her parents are thinking, Okay, maybe
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00:17:25.559 --> 00:17:27.440
she got into an accident on her way to work.
341
00:17:27.920 --> 00:17:30.559
They start calling hospitals and police stations in the area,
342
00:17:31.240 --> 00:17:33.079
but none of them have gotten a report of a
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00:17:33.119 --> 00:17:36.880
woman matching Jennifer's description. At this point, they do what
344
00:17:36.920 --> 00:17:39.759
I would encourage any family to do. They file a
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00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:41.799
missing person's report with local police.
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00:17:42.440 --> 00:17:45.839
Except the police fail to take Jennifer's case seriously at first,
347
00:17:46.240 --> 00:17:48.440
especially after they speak with Rob, who says he and
348
00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:51.599
Jennifer had a little spat the night before. The police
349
00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:53.920
say it's likely she just stormed off somewhere to cool
350
00:17:53.960 --> 00:17:56.279
down and she'll probably resurface soon.
351
00:17:58.119 --> 00:18:01.519
This is something I could talk about for how police
352
00:18:01.519 --> 00:18:05.519
departments sometimes don't take these cases seriously. And it's a
353
00:18:05.559 --> 00:18:08.000
hard thing, right because most people who go missing do
354
00:18:08.119 --> 00:18:10.960
come back, But how do you balance that with the
355
00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:14.319
small percentage that don't. Like this is a family who
356
00:18:14.359 --> 00:18:17.039
truly did everything they could to make, you know, to
357
00:18:17.240 --> 00:18:19.759
try to find Jennifer right away, and they knew.
358
00:18:19.559 --> 00:18:22.000
Immediately that something was wrong, and you know, that goes
359
00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:24.559
to show how close they were with Jennifer and how
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00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:25.480
much they knew her.
361
00:18:25.559 --> 00:18:26.960
Yeah, And I just want to say, like, if there's
362
00:18:27.000 --> 00:18:29.559
any family out there that's listening, if somebody in your
363
00:18:29.559 --> 00:18:32.359
life goes missing and the police refuse to take a report,
364
00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:36.480
keep insisting, keep being annoying for your loved one. Yes,
365
00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:41.000
there's a huge misconception around reporting a loved one missing
366
00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:43.480
and that window of time that says you have to wait.
367
00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:46.880
There's actually no legal requirement that says you have to
368
00:18:46.920 --> 00:18:49.039
wait twenty four to forty eight hours to file a
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00:18:49.039 --> 00:18:51.599
missing person's report. You know, if you think something is wrong,
370
00:18:52.359 --> 00:18:56.240
it probably is, and speak with police immediately, don't wait, Yeah,
371
00:18:56.279 --> 00:18:58.960
because I mean, you know, those first few hours are
372
00:18:59.079 --> 00:18:59.960
so critical.
373
00:19:00.359 --> 00:19:03.759
Yeah, you know, in disappearance cases, the first forty eight
374
00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:07.640
hours are crucial. So when investigators aren't taking a case
375
00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:11.839
seriously right away, it is precious time wasted. Witnesses disappear,
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00:19:12.079 --> 00:19:17.720
evidence degrades, and memories fade. In this situation, the family
377
00:19:17.759 --> 00:19:20.559
takes matters into their own hands, which we've seen time
378
00:19:20.599 --> 00:19:24.519
and time again. They begin questioning other people at Jennifer's complex,
379
00:19:24.599 --> 00:19:27.599
including the construction workers and day laborers who are on
380
00:19:27.720 --> 00:19:30.880
site that day. Logan actually speaks to a few of them,
381
00:19:30.920 --> 00:19:34.160
and he says none of them aren't very cooperative. Actually,
382
00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:37.039
he sense they knew something they weren't sharing. For the
383
00:19:37.079 --> 00:19:40.039
rest of the day, there's no word from Jennifer, and
384
00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:42.799
while friends and family members are already handing out missing
385
00:19:42.839 --> 00:19:46.720
person posters, the local police don't start investigating until later
386
00:19:46.839 --> 00:19:49.759
that evening, which is so sad. One of the first
387
00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:52.599
things they look for is security footage, which the building
388
00:19:52.680 --> 00:19:55.920
doesn't have. Since the condo is still fairly new and
389
00:19:56.039 --> 00:20:00.480
under construction, cameras haven't been installed yet. It's a strating
390
00:20:00.599 --> 00:20:05.359
dead end, so they start questioning potential witnesses. There's not
391
00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:07.279
a ton of neighbors though, and a lot of the
392
00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:10.920
units are still vacant. Luckily, there is one person in
393
00:20:10.960 --> 00:20:12.960
the building who says they saw something.
394
00:20:13.400 --> 00:20:16.400
Yeah, At around seven forty in the morning of Jennifer's disappearance,
395
00:20:16.440 --> 00:20:19.799
someone saw her Chevy Malibu leaving the parking lot. All
396
00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:22.359
they really say is that it was driving erratically and
397
00:20:22.440 --> 00:20:25.480
they found that to be unusual, But they apparently didn't
398
00:20:25.480 --> 00:20:27.440
get a good look at who was inside the car,
399
00:20:27.720 --> 00:20:30.319
and when police examined her apartment and realized there's no
400
00:20:30.359 --> 00:20:32.880
sign of an altercation, a break in, or a robbery.
401
00:20:33.319 --> 00:20:36.519
That's when they realize Jennifer must have been abducted in
402
00:20:36.599 --> 00:20:41.079
her parking lot in broad daylight. The question was by
403
00:20:41.240 --> 00:20:43.359
who and where did they take her?
404
00:20:44.920 --> 00:20:47.599
Yeah, it's especially hard in cases like this. You know,
405
00:20:48.160 --> 00:20:51.400
sometimes in these cases, all investigators can do is wait,
406
00:20:51.559 --> 00:20:54.160
if you know the evidence is as eliminated as it is,
407
00:20:54.880 --> 00:20:57.079
especially if they've already followed up on things like cell
408
00:20:57.079 --> 00:21:00.759
phone records and previous communications and ruled that out as well.
409
00:21:01.079 --> 00:21:03.000
I don't know, I guess, I guess. Logan did talk
410
00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:05.519
about like having an instinct about the guys.
411
00:21:08.039 --> 00:21:11.799
Well, two days after Jennifer's disappearance, please get their first
412
00:21:11.880 --> 00:21:16.359
huge clue. On January twenty sixth, someone finds Jennifer's black
413
00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:19.559
two thousand and four Chevy Malibu. It's sitting in a
414
00:21:19.559 --> 00:21:22.920
parking lot at a different condo complex about a mile away,
415
00:21:23.400 --> 00:21:27.359
parked in a visitor space. But this complex isn't someplace
416
00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:30.880
Jennifer's been known to visit before. In fact, the complex
417
00:21:30.920 --> 00:21:33.160
has a reputation for being a place where people ditch
418
00:21:33.240 --> 00:21:37.279
stolen vehicles. Interestingly, one of the first things police do
419
00:21:37.319 --> 00:21:40.200
when they find Jennifer's car is, they call Rob to
420
00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:43.680
the scene. At this point, they've heard Rob's airtight alibi
421
00:21:44.039 --> 00:21:46.839
he was over two hundred miles away when Jennifer disappeared,
422
00:21:47.319 --> 00:21:49.720
but they want to see his reaction when they open
423
00:21:49.799 --> 00:21:53.200
the trunk. Investigators lead him to the rear of the car,
424
00:21:53.319 --> 00:21:56.640
and with his heart racing and stomach churning, they pop
425
00:21:56.680 --> 00:22:01.559
it open. But Jennifer's not inside. Like the police were anticipating.
426
00:22:02.599 --> 00:22:06.200
There's actually nothing unusual about the car at all. There's
427
00:22:06.279 --> 00:22:09.200
no immediate sign of a struggle. Plus, at first glance,
428
00:22:09.240 --> 00:22:12.039
it doesn't look like a robbery since a DVD player
429
00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:14.720
and a few other things of Jennifer's are still inside,
430
00:22:15.400 --> 00:22:17.880
like her phone charger and a couple pairs of shoes.
431
00:22:18.319 --> 00:22:21.440
So afterwards, the cars taken to the station and their
432
00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:24.920
detectives find a few other key pieces of evidence, like
433
00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:28.119
a few strands of hair, other latent fingerprints, and a
434
00:22:28.160 --> 00:22:32.319
partial palm print on the hood, which was actually pretty significant.
435
00:22:32.839 --> 00:22:35.359
Police didn't share this detail publicly at the time, but
436
00:22:35.559 --> 00:22:39.000
Jennifer's dad, Drew later said quote it looked like someone
437
00:22:39.119 --> 00:22:41.519
was thrown down on the top of the hood, arms
438
00:22:41.519 --> 00:22:44.079
spread out and then dragged back, almost like off the
439
00:22:44.079 --> 00:22:46.400
hood to the point where you can almost see fingers
440
00:22:46.480 --> 00:22:50.519
scribbling down the hood end quote. So there appears to
441
00:22:50.559 --> 00:22:53.440
be signs of a struggle. After all. What they don't
442
00:22:53.480 --> 00:22:58.279
find is Jennifer or Travis's cell, her keys, purse, iPod
443
00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:01.880
or briefcase for work. And when they run those prints
444
00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:06.000
through local and national databases, they can't find a match.
445
00:23:06.240 --> 00:23:08.519
They also say the DNA is too degraded to get
446
00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:11.240
a read on it. However, the discovery of the car
447
00:23:11.359 --> 00:23:14.200
does lead to maybe the biggest piece of evidence this
448
00:23:14.319 --> 00:23:17.680
case has yet to see, not security footage of the
449
00:23:17.720 --> 00:23:18.440
parking lot.
450
00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:21.319
Court's talking about the security footage we mentioned at the
451
00:23:21.359 --> 00:23:24.279
beginning of the episode, the one showing a male between
452
00:23:24.279 --> 00:23:27.279
five foot three and five foot five parking Jennifer's car,
453
00:23:27.480 --> 00:23:29.839
getting out, and walking back along a fence in the
454
00:23:29.880 --> 00:23:33.680
direction he came. Jennifer's nowhere to be found in that footage,
455
00:23:33.799 --> 00:23:36.119
but it was captured at twelve fifty nine pm, the
456
00:23:36.200 --> 00:23:39.519
day she disappeared. If Jennifer was taken from her complex
457
00:23:39.559 --> 00:23:42.400
between seven thirty and eight am, what happened in that
458
00:23:42.519 --> 00:23:45.960
five hour block of time. The big issue here is
459
00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:48.559
the quality of the video. The footage of the man
460
00:23:48.599 --> 00:23:51.599
in the parking lot is super far away and blurry.
461
00:23:52.200 --> 00:23:54.319
The images of him walking along the fence are a
462
00:23:54.359 --> 00:23:57.279
little bit better, but as we mentioned, his face is
463
00:23:57.319 --> 00:24:00.240
blocked by the fence in every frame. That's why the
464
00:24:00.279 --> 00:24:05.519
police turned to an unexpected resource, NASA. Yes, the NASA,
465
00:24:05.640 --> 00:24:07.839
to see if they can use their advanced technologies to
466
00:24:07.880 --> 00:24:11.480
improve the quality of the video. But as it turns out,
467
00:24:11.880 --> 00:24:15.279
this is a problem even NASA can solve. They've improved
468
00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:17.960
the resolution a bit, but it still wasn't clear enough
469
00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:21.400
to make out the potential suspect. I'm sure that this
470
00:24:21.480 --> 00:24:25.680
has stuck with Jennifer's family forever. It's things like this again,
471
00:24:25.720 --> 00:24:27.680
where you think about the what ifs. What if we
472
00:24:27.839 --> 00:24:29.960
just had that security footage, what if it was just
473
00:24:30.119 --> 00:24:34.119
a little bit more clear. It feels like the answers
474
00:24:34.160 --> 00:24:36.960
are right there, but they just can't physically see them
475
00:24:36.960 --> 00:24:39.799
in that video. And I can't even imagine how that
476
00:24:39.839 --> 00:24:40.519
makes them feel.
477
00:24:40.920 --> 00:24:42.920
It is kind of like a little sliver of hope
478
00:24:43.279 --> 00:24:46.200
that you do have the potential suspect caught on camera,
479
00:24:46.720 --> 00:24:49.079
you know, but it is just it's frustrating that they
480
00:24:49.640 --> 00:24:51.960
you know, they can't narrow down the face and you know,
481
00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:54.160
I want to point out that it's not unusual to
482
00:24:54.200 --> 00:24:57.000
see a suspect abandon a victim's car so close to
483
00:24:57.039 --> 00:25:00.279
the abduction point or crime scene. This actually been for
484
00:25:00.319 --> 00:25:02.359
an easier getaway, or if they want to switch into
485
00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:04.119
a new vehicle, maybe parked nearby.
486
00:25:04.599 --> 00:25:06.880
I think it makes it even harder to understand if
487
00:25:06.880 --> 00:25:09.440
this was meticulously planned out or just kind of done
488
00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:12.359
last minute, if this was a crime of opportunity. You know,
489
00:25:12.400 --> 00:25:16.599
his face was always perfectly blocked by something. And again
490
00:25:16.680 --> 00:25:19.400
I'm sure this is, you know, even today, a really
491
00:25:19.480 --> 00:25:24.640
haunting thing to look at because it's the only real
492
00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:29.200
suspect that this case has yet you just can't figure
493
00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:29.880
out who it is.
494
00:25:31.880 --> 00:25:32.119
Well.
495
00:25:32.160 --> 00:25:34.319
Regardless of what was going through the suspects head of
496
00:25:34.359 --> 00:25:38.000
the time, one thing was certain. Police were now pulling
497
00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:41.400
out all the stops to find Jennifer Kessey, and it
498
00:25:41.440 --> 00:25:43.680
was only a matter of time before they began narrowing
499
00:25:43.720 --> 00:25:47.519
down their suspect list, leading to a guy known only
500
00:25:47.880 --> 00:25:48.680
as Chino.
501
00:25:54.839 --> 00:25:57.480
There was evidence in the house, and they would not
502
00:25:57.920 --> 00:25:58.640
listen to me.
503
00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:02.640
This podcast is back with a new case and a
504
00:26:02.680 --> 00:26:05.599
new season, and this time the stakes are higher than
505
00:26:05.640 --> 00:26:06.240
ever before.
506
00:26:07.160 --> 00:26:09.680
The letter the Doctor said, I asked twenty one or
507
00:26:09.720 --> 00:26:10.960
left to I'm.
508
00:26:10.880 --> 00:26:14.480
Security either of us. Right now, A dying man is
509
00:26:14.519 --> 00:26:16.519
serving a life sentence for a murder he says he
510
00:26:16.559 --> 00:26:17.119
didn't commit.
511
00:26:17.920 --> 00:26:20.680
Did you ever question if they got the right person?
512
00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:23.000
I don't think I've believed it at the time. I
513
00:26:23.000 --> 00:26:24.000
don't think I believe it now.
514
00:26:24.640 --> 00:26:26.640
I'm scared to be sitting here in his damn chaired
515
00:26:26.680 --> 00:26:27.599
talking about this shit.
516
00:26:28.519 --> 00:26:30.680
How many other cold cases we're going to come forward
517
00:26:30.680 --> 00:26:32.279
and go, hey man, we need to look at money,
518
00:26:32.400 --> 00:26:34.920
and because I didn't do it, how many more do
519
00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:35.240
we have?
520
00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:38.759
You can listen now to season three of Proof wherever
521
00:26:38.799 --> 00:26:41.799
you get your podcasts, and follow along with us as
522
00:26:41.799 --> 00:26:43.880
we reinvestigate the murder at the bike shop.
523
00:26:44.359 --> 00:26:47.000
Everything I tell you is truly. I'm not bull shitting
524
00:26:47.119 --> 00:26:50.160
one way or the other. I hope I don't bring
525
00:26:50.160 --> 00:26:56.079
it Tony shit down on me. I really do. It's
526
00:26:56.160 --> 00:26:59.839
January twenty sixth, two thousand and six, eight ten am.
527
00:27:00.039 --> 00:27:02.279
Jennifer Kessey's car is found in the parking lot of
528
00:27:02.279 --> 00:27:05.400
the Huntington on the Green condominium complex, less than a
529
00:27:05.400 --> 00:27:09.000
mile from her home. A bloodhound named bo is dispatched
530
00:27:09.000 --> 00:27:11.480
that day. He pulls the smell from the driver's seat
531
00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:15.200
and follows a trail it leads police back to Jennifer's complex.
532
00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:19.799
The trail actually bypassed the complex's main gated entrance and
533
00:27:19.920 --> 00:27:22.119
led to a stretch of fence that separated the private
534
00:27:22.160 --> 00:27:25.559
property from the public sidewalk. The dog followed that sent
535
00:27:25.640 --> 00:27:28.559
through the fence onto the property and directly to the
536
00:27:28.599 --> 00:27:32.480
rear staircase leading to Jennifer's condo. So police think the
537
00:27:32.480 --> 00:27:35.119
assailant went back on foot after dropping off the vehicle
538
00:27:35.200 --> 00:27:38.279
to Jennifer's condo. What the dog can't tell them is
539
00:27:38.319 --> 00:27:41.200
who the scent belongs to or why they go back
540
00:27:41.200 --> 00:27:42.160
to the scene of the crime.
541
00:27:42.799 --> 00:27:47.200
By February, police are canvassing the area with more dogs, horses,
542
00:27:47.240 --> 00:27:50.200
and helicopters to see if they can find Jennifer Kessey.
543
00:27:51.039 --> 00:27:55.240
They search nearby lakes, ponds, all wooded areas, but it
544
00:27:55.359 --> 00:28:00.039
leads nowhere. After about three to four polygraphs, twelve interviews,
545
00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:03.680
and his full cooperation, they rule out Jennifer's boyfriend Rob
546
00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:07.359
as a suspect. Instead, they focus on what that centrail
547
00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:09.880
has been telling them and what Jennifer was telling her
548
00:28:09.880 --> 00:28:13.279
loved ones in the weeks before her disappearance, that they
549
00:28:13.359 --> 00:28:15.960
might be looking for someone who works at the Mosaic,
550
00:28:16.279 --> 00:28:21.079
particularly a construction worker, a day laborer, and it's possible
551
00:28:21.119 --> 00:28:24.119
more than one of them is involved. Many of these
552
00:28:24.160 --> 00:28:27.519
day laborers disappeared before the police could speak with them.
553
00:28:27.759 --> 00:28:30.640
Joyce Kessey told CBS that this may be because they
554
00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:33.240
weren't US citizens and were afraid of being sent home.
555
00:28:33.839 --> 00:28:36.680
Because after speaking with other residents at the building, many
556
00:28:36.680 --> 00:28:40.240
of whom are Jennifer's age, single young women living alone,
557
00:28:40.480 --> 00:28:43.920
police hear a few more unsettling details, like the fact
558
00:28:43.920 --> 00:28:46.759
that many of the workers slept in the unoccupied condos
559
00:28:46.799 --> 00:28:50.119
overnight after their shifts, and they would reportedly drink and
560
00:28:50.160 --> 00:28:53.079
party there after hours. Two Some of the women said
561
00:28:53.079 --> 00:28:55.519
they were harassed that the workers would can't call and
562
00:28:55.559 --> 00:28:59.480
whistle at women, including Jennifer. At least one resident claimed
563
00:28:59.480 --> 00:29:02.200
that twenty five percent of the time, the security guard
564
00:29:02.240 --> 00:29:05.240
was missing from the gatehouse and they left it unattended.
565
00:29:05.799 --> 00:29:08.599
Some residents complained to the leasing office manager about this,
566
00:29:08.799 --> 00:29:11.000
but they said there was nothing they could do about it.
567
00:29:11.559 --> 00:29:14.240
One woman even said she was pretty sure the workers
568
00:29:14.319 --> 00:29:18.039
let themselves into her apartment when she wasn't home. She
569
00:29:18.079 --> 00:29:20.920
said she noticed little things like her underwear drawer had
570
00:29:20.960 --> 00:29:23.640
been rummaged through, or that her shower was wet when
571
00:29:23.640 --> 00:29:26.440
she hadn't used it. There was even a night when
572
00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:29.640
she saw a man standing on her patio pleasuring himself.
573
00:29:30.519 --> 00:29:33.599
So this gets investigators thinking, with no signs of a
574
00:29:33.640 --> 00:29:37.480
body and potentially more than one suspect involved, could it
575
00:29:37.519 --> 00:29:40.559
be possible that Jennifer was a victim of human trafficking.
576
00:29:42.400 --> 00:29:45.000
It's such a hard situation. I mean, I think all
577
00:29:45.039 --> 00:29:47.799
families want to have hope, right, but it's also horrific
578
00:29:47.839 --> 00:29:51.559
to think about somebody going into human trafficking. It's it's
579
00:29:51.680 --> 00:29:52.519
just impossible.
580
00:29:53.000 --> 00:29:54.599
You know, a lot of people think it is, and
581
00:29:54.799 --> 00:29:56.759
a lot of people think it happens in these these
582
00:29:56.799 --> 00:29:59.680
far away places that aren't, you know, in everybody's every
583
00:29:59.720 --> 00:30:02.720
day life. But you know, in reality, it can take
584
00:30:02.759 --> 00:30:05.359
place anywhere. Oh yeah, I mean it can happen right
585
00:30:05.400 --> 00:30:06.960
in front of you. I think that's you know, I
586
00:30:06.960 --> 00:30:09.480
think we've all been to the airport and seen those signs,
587
00:30:09.519 --> 00:30:12.440
you know about human trafficking, like it happens right in
588
00:30:12.480 --> 00:30:15.240
front of us, right under our noses. Years ago, I
589
00:30:15.319 --> 00:30:17.839
used to work at the front desk of a hotel
590
00:30:17.880 --> 00:30:20.519
in Seattle, And one of the big things that they
591
00:30:20.599 --> 00:30:22.960
honed in was that everybody working at the front desk
592
00:30:23.079 --> 00:30:26.119
or basically interacting with with any guest at any given
593
00:30:26.119 --> 00:30:29.240
point you would have to complete, you know, an online
594
00:30:29.240 --> 00:30:32.759
course for recognizing human trafficking. It was that big of
595
00:30:32.799 --> 00:30:35.000
a deal. And so it's really important to know the signs.
596
00:30:35.359 --> 00:30:37.720
That's amazing that they did that, though we need more
597
00:30:37.759 --> 00:30:40.640
hotels to do that. Good on them, like do.
598
00:30:40.640 --> 00:30:43.200
They appear to be controlled by another person and can't
599
00:30:43.200 --> 00:30:46.519
be left alone? Did they have poor hygiene or show
600
00:30:46.559 --> 00:30:49.039
signs of neglect? And do they have any tattoos that
601
00:30:49.079 --> 00:30:54.559
signify branding like names, barcodes or money simples, And can
602
00:30:54.559 --> 00:30:56.880
they share with you where they are from and where
603
00:30:56.880 --> 00:30:59.599
they are going in a way that seems genuine. You know,
604
00:30:59.640 --> 00:31:01.599
if you know the signs can be it can be
605
00:31:01.640 --> 00:31:03.960
easy to spot. And you know, I urge everyone to
606
00:31:04.839 --> 00:31:08.079
pay close attention when you're out in public, and especially
607
00:31:08.240 --> 00:31:10.799
workers in the public, like you know, front desk employees
608
00:31:10.839 --> 00:31:11.799
at a hotel.
609
00:31:11.599 --> 00:31:14.039
And if you do suspect something, call the US National
610
00:31:14.119 --> 00:31:16.519
Human Trafficking Hotline or nine one one.
611
00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:21.839
And actually, you know, human trafficking is a shockingly underreported
612
00:31:21.839 --> 00:31:24.759
crime in the US, and the real number of victims
613
00:31:24.839 --> 00:31:27.480
is a lot more than we actually think. The US
614
00:31:27.640 --> 00:31:31.240
National Human Trafficking Hotline recorded ten thousand, three hundred and
615
00:31:31.240 --> 00:31:35.839
fifty nine trafficking situations involving over sixteen thousand different victims
616
00:31:35.880 --> 00:31:38.680
in twenty twenty one alone, and they say this is
617
00:31:38.720 --> 00:31:41.599
only a fraction of the real data.
618
00:31:41.680 --> 00:31:44.920
Because disappearances in human trafficking cases can be so hard
619
00:31:44.960 --> 00:31:48.200
to investigate, Jennifer's case started to slow over the next
620
00:31:48.279 --> 00:31:51.440
few years. During that time, there were a few suspicious
621
00:31:51.480 --> 00:31:54.599
details that kept the family guessing, like in August two
622
00:31:54.599 --> 00:31:58.200
thousand and seven, Jennifer's photo was found on several dating sites,
623
00:31:59.000 --> 00:32:01.400
but authorities working vince the user had nothing to do
624
00:32:01.480 --> 00:32:05.000
with her disappearance. That same month, the family also received
625
00:32:05.039 --> 00:32:07.440
threatening phone calls from a twenty eight year old named
626
00:32:07.559 --> 00:32:11.599
Tyler Green. These calls went on for years, saying Logan
627
00:32:11.720 --> 00:32:14.920
was next, along with harassing messages on the web page
628
00:32:14.920 --> 00:32:18.519
the family started for Jennifer. Later, Tyler would be charged
629
00:32:18.519 --> 00:32:22.079
with aggravated stocking, among other things, but he was apparently
630
00:32:22.119 --> 00:32:26.279
never considered a suspect in the case. However, around two
631
00:32:26.319 --> 00:32:29.799
thousand and nine, three years after Jennifer disappeared, a promising
632
00:32:29.839 --> 00:32:32.720
new lead did emerge. Detectives had gone back to the
633
00:32:32.720 --> 00:32:36.640
complex to reinterview potential witnesses, and this time they found
634
00:32:36.680 --> 00:32:39.599
a housekeeper who looked at the security footage and said
635
00:32:39.599 --> 00:32:42.839
the guy in it looked a lot like someone named Chino.
636
00:32:43.400 --> 00:32:46.079
Chino was a maintenance worker on the property who'd been
637
00:32:46.119 --> 00:32:49.440
staying in another building at the complex. In fact, he'd
638
00:32:49.480 --> 00:32:52.480
gone into Jennifer's apartment to fix something the week before
639
00:32:52.559 --> 00:32:56.799
she disappeared. So detectives run Chino through the system and
640
00:32:56.920 --> 00:32:59.559
learned that they actually received a tip about him during
641
00:32:59.599 --> 00:33:02.880
the first week of the investigation, suggesting he was involved.
642
00:33:03.480 --> 00:33:06.200
And it wasn't hard to track him down because by
643
00:33:06.240 --> 00:33:08.599
March two thousand and nine, he was doing time in
644
00:33:08.640 --> 00:33:11.680
a Florida prison for the statutory rape of a teenage girl,
645
00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:16.440
which was committed two years after Jennifer's disappearance. Plus, there
646
00:33:16.480 --> 00:33:19.799
were a few suspicious details about Chino, like the fact
647
00:33:19.839 --> 00:33:22.519
that he'd supposedly had keys to every condo in the
648
00:33:22.559 --> 00:33:25.759
complex and that he'd apparently approached other women in the
649
00:33:25.799 --> 00:33:28.839
parking lot late at night, and just nine months after
650
00:33:28.920 --> 00:33:32.200
Jennifer vanished, he did two, he moved out of the
651
00:33:32.200 --> 00:33:36.240
complex and was never seen by anyone there again. However,
652
00:33:36.440 --> 00:33:39.319
Chino was a bit taller than the suspect in the footage.
653
00:33:39.400 --> 00:33:42.720
He was around five foot nine, and he was cooperative
654
00:33:42.720 --> 00:33:45.440
with the police. He denied having anything to do with
655
00:33:45.519 --> 00:33:49.079
Jennifer's disappearance and even agreed to do a polygraph, which
656
00:33:49.119 --> 00:33:52.519
he passed. Police were never able to find any direct
657
00:33:52.599 --> 00:33:57.119
connection between him and Jennifer's case, so eventually they moved on.
658
00:33:57.759 --> 00:34:00.599
By twenty eleven, there was only one to ten left
659
00:34:00.640 --> 00:34:04.759
working Jennifer's case full time. Meanwhile, the Kesses asked the
660
00:34:04.799 --> 00:34:08.840
police to make Jennifer's case cold, mainly because there's more
661
00:34:08.880 --> 00:34:14.039
resources available for cold cases, like additional funding, specialized programs,
662
00:34:14.159 --> 00:34:17.559
priority access to modern forensics methods, to name a few,
663
00:34:18.400 --> 00:34:22.199
But for some reason, the Orlando Police Department refused.
664
00:34:23.239 --> 00:34:27.039
Twenty sixteen marked ten years since Jennifer's disappearance. It was
665
00:34:27.079 --> 00:34:29.360
also the year she was officially declared dead by a
666
00:34:29.360 --> 00:34:33.440
Florida court, but the search was far from over. In
667
00:34:33.519 --> 00:34:36.840
twenty eighteen, the Kesses sued the Orlando Police Department for
668
00:34:36.880 --> 00:34:39.960
a copy of the case file. In twenty nineteen, they
669
00:34:39.960 --> 00:34:43.400
were successful. In fact, they were the first Americans to
670
00:34:43.559 --> 00:34:47.039
ever successfully sue for an open case file. The city
671
00:34:47.119 --> 00:34:50.840
charged the family more than eighteen thousand dollars for those files,
672
00:34:51.239 --> 00:34:52.800
but at least they were able to go through them
673
00:34:52.800 --> 00:34:55.480
all on their own now, and they hired their own
674
00:34:55.519 --> 00:34:59.119
private team to help, which they probably needed because there's
675
00:34:59.159 --> 00:35:02.599
more than sixteen pages of documents and sixty seven hours
676
00:35:02.599 --> 00:35:06.119
of interviews and audio tapes. But those files also led
677
00:35:06.159 --> 00:35:10.000
to a disturbing realization there'd been no investigative work done
678
00:35:10.039 --> 00:35:13.800
on Jennifer's case since twenty twelve. Seven years had passed
679
00:35:13.800 --> 00:35:16.719
of the family begging the case to run cold while
680
00:35:16.800 --> 00:35:21.039
detectives just sat on it. Anyway, I think access to
681
00:35:21.079 --> 00:35:25.599
case files in true crime cases is such an important topic,
682
00:35:26.360 --> 00:35:29.559
especially after so much time has passed. Like, I get it,
683
00:35:29.639 --> 00:35:32.000
if there's sensitive information that needs to be held back,
684
00:35:32.159 --> 00:35:35.079
hold it back, but why not let the family look
685
00:35:35.079 --> 00:35:37.639
at it. It's just another pair of eyes, I mean,
686
00:35:37.719 --> 00:35:40.280
usually multiple pairs of eyes from someone who knew this
687
00:35:40.360 --> 00:35:41.119
person best.
688
00:35:41.480 --> 00:35:44.440
Right at that point, I mean, it can't really hurt, right,
689
00:35:44.480 --> 00:35:46.920
when a case has, you know, long since gone cold,
690
00:35:46.960 --> 00:35:48.440
It can't really hurt to have a pair of fresh
691
00:35:48.440 --> 00:35:51.599
eyes looking at it, and you know, I personally do
692
00:35:51.679 --> 00:35:54.320
agree that families should have more access to case files,
693
00:35:54.599 --> 00:35:57.599
and it's really really sad to think that a lot
694
00:35:57.639 --> 00:36:01.039
of them, including Jennifer's family, had to pay to access them.
695
00:36:01.239 --> 00:36:03.360
Yeah, I was stunned. I was stunned when we found
696
00:36:03.360 --> 00:36:05.239
out that they were the first to sue for these
697
00:36:05.280 --> 00:36:08.800
documents and win, Like so many families have tried to
698
00:36:08.800 --> 00:36:11.920
get these documents and have been denied, and it's just
699
00:36:12.840 --> 00:36:14.840
the worst. That's all I can really say about it. Right,
700
00:36:14.880 --> 00:36:17.800
It's you want this information because you want to help,
701
00:36:18.159 --> 00:36:20.760
and I think police departments might be a little scared
702
00:36:20.800 --> 00:36:23.000
of you know, what's in there and the repercussions. And
703
00:36:24.599 --> 00:36:26.519
I just think all families should get, you know, whatever
704
00:36:26.559 --> 00:36:28.880
they can from these police departments.
705
00:36:28.599 --> 00:36:30.679
Especially in this case when there has been no work
706
00:36:30.719 --> 00:36:33.079
done on the case since twenty twelve. I mean all
707
00:36:33.119 --> 00:36:35.440
that time. It feels like it's almost wasted when the
708
00:36:35.440 --> 00:36:38.320
family could be calmbing through the case files and all
709
00:36:38.360 --> 00:36:40.199
the evidence themselves and seeing what they can do to
710
00:36:40.239 --> 00:36:43.159
help as well. You know, I feel like it can be,
711
00:36:43.679 --> 00:36:46.679
you know, a tough conversation, but personally, I do feel
712
00:36:46.679 --> 00:36:48.840
like going through case files, whether it's you know, an
713
00:36:48.920 --> 00:36:52.400
unsolved case or a solved case. In my personal experience,
714
00:36:52.559 --> 00:36:55.039
it can be very helpful. It can almost be even
715
00:36:55.079 --> 00:36:57.719
if nothing comes from it, maybe a sense of closure
716
00:36:57.719 --> 00:37:00.239
in a way. And I'm not sure with I don't
717
00:37:00.239 --> 00:37:01.719
want to take too much away from this case, but
718
00:37:01.920 --> 00:37:03.920
you know, in my own personal experience in the true
719
00:37:03.920 --> 00:37:06.159
crime case, you know, somebody in my family that I
720
00:37:06.199 --> 00:37:08.559
was very very close with committed a really brutal crime,
721
00:37:08.639 --> 00:37:11.920
and you know, growing up, I wasn't told very much
722
00:37:11.960 --> 00:37:16.400
information about it, and online there were literally like maybe
723
00:37:16.440 --> 00:37:19.519
two news articles about it, so there really wasn't much
724
00:37:19.599 --> 00:37:23.400
to come to grips with, so to speak. So years
725
00:37:23.480 --> 00:37:25.800
later into adulthood, I decided to track down the case
726
00:37:25.800 --> 00:37:27.880
files myself, and once I got them, it was like
727
00:37:27.920 --> 00:37:30.239
stix to seven bins full of information and it really
728
00:37:30.960 --> 00:37:33.719
opened my eyes and kind of helped me process, you know,
729
00:37:34.159 --> 00:37:37.400
the situation, and I feel like more families should have
730
00:37:37.519 --> 00:37:38.360
that ability.
731
00:37:38.800 --> 00:37:41.000
Yeah, well, and it helps the case too. Like when
732
00:37:41.000 --> 00:37:42.960
I got my sister's case file for the first time,
733
00:37:43.000 --> 00:37:46.000
you know, twenty years after she went missing. I remember
734
00:37:46.039 --> 00:37:48.719
going through and reading it and it sparked new memories
735
00:37:49.119 --> 00:37:51.239
and then I was able to go tell the detectives that.
736
00:37:51.440 --> 00:37:53.760
And you know, it's hard to know if it moved
737
00:37:53.800 --> 00:37:56.719
the case forward, but we know how these things work, right.
738
00:37:56.760 --> 00:37:59.440
It's like the smallest piece of information leads to another
739
00:37:59.440 --> 00:38:01.960
piece leads to another piece, and that can lead to
740
00:38:02.000 --> 00:38:02.719
a big clue.
741
00:38:02.719 --> 00:38:06.480
Sometimes every little tiny thing it does help, whether you
742
00:38:06.519 --> 00:38:07.360
think it will or not.
743
00:38:07.800 --> 00:38:08.039
Yeah.
744
00:38:09.800 --> 00:38:12.599
In twenty nineteen, the family forced the police to follow
745
00:38:12.639 --> 00:38:16.079
up on a lead from those original files. Apparently, ten
746
00:38:16.119 --> 00:38:20.079
months after Jennifer's disappearance, police had received a tip someone
747
00:38:20.119 --> 00:38:22.360
in a pickup truck had dumped a six to eight
748
00:38:22.400 --> 00:38:24.960
foot piece of rolled up carpet into a lake not
749
00:38:25.119 --> 00:38:28.440
far from Jennifer's complex. What really struck them was the
750
00:38:28.519 --> 00:38:31.400
workers were laying carpet in a unit across from Jennifer's
751
00:38:31.480 --> 00:38:33.000
around the time she vanished.
752
00:38:33.199 --> 00:38:34.199
I mean, that's huge.
753
00:38:34.639 --> 00:38:37.760
It's also really scary to think about. So five years later,
754
00:38:37.920 --> 00:38:40.119
a sonar team was dispatched to the lake to search
755
00:38:40.159 --> 00:38:44.199
for any anomalies. Then they sent divers down to examine them,
756
00:38:44.840 --> 00:38:47.639
but the carpet in question was never discovered.
757
00:38:48.480 --> 00:38:51.119
Finally, in twenty twenty two, the case was officially turned
758
00:38:51.159 --> 00:38:54.039
over from the Orlando PD to the Florida Department of
759
00:38:54.119 --> 00:38:57.679
Law Enforcements Cold Case Unit. In October twenty twenty five,
760
00:38:57.760 --> 00:39:01.079
Jennifer's father, Drew posted on Facebook that they discovered DNA
761
00:39:01.079 --> 00:39:04.480
in her file that had never been tested, which is
762
00:39:04.559 --> 00:39:08.000
hopeful news, especially considering that the previous efforts to test
763
00:39:08.079 --> 00:39:11.559
DNA didn't lead to any results. Still, the family does
764
00:39:11.599 --> 00:39:14.119
believe that the most likely scenario is that Jennifer was
765
00:39:14.159 --> 00:39:18.519
abducted by one of the workers at her complex. I
766
00:39:18.559 --> 00:39:22.199
feel like we see this in true crime all the time.
767
00:39:22.880 --> 00:39:24.920
And again going back to why it's so important to
768
00:39:24.920 --> 00:39:27.199
give these families these case files. It's a fresh set
769
00:39:27.239 --> 00:39:30.320
of eyes and they found something like this is the
770
00:39:30.400 --> 00:39:33.960
exact proof of why these families need these case files. Again,
771
00:39:34.360 --> 00:39:38.239
they don't have to be you know, completely unredacted. Redact
772
00:39:38.280 --> 00:39:40.480
what you need to release what you can and see
773
00:39:40.519 --> 00:39:41.480
what you can come up with.
774
00:39:41.840 --> 00:39:44.440
And it's really unfortunate in this case that so many
775
00:39:44.480 --> 00:39:46.880
years had passed that they could have followed up, that
776
00:39:46.920 --> 00:39:49.320
the police could have followed up on these leads, yet
777
00:39:49.400 --> 00:39:52.599
no one did. The evidence could have potentially been destroyed.
778
00:39:52.800 --> 00:39:54.920
Yeah, the carpet in the lake, I mean, I don't
779
00:39:54.920 --> 00:39:57.519
know exactly the science of what happens to a carpet
780
00:39:57.519 --> 00:39:59.280
in a lake. But I imagine that you know, the
781
00:39:59.320 --> 00:40:02.159
more time that pas, the less opportunity you have to
782
00:40:02.199 --> 00:40:04.960
collect things like DNA any forensic evidence.
783
00:40:06.639 --> 00:40:08.840
The one thing that time can bring to an investigation
784
00:40:08.960 --> 00:40:12.719
like this is new technology, including new ways to test
785
00:40:12.800 --> 00:40:17.360
forensic evidence like DNA. Nowadays we have things like genetic genealogy,
786
00:40:17.400 --> 00:40:21.039
which can link DNA profiles to potential relatives or suspects
787
00:40:21.119 --> 00:40:25.840
through public databases. There's more cross collaboration between private labs
788
00:40:25.880 --> 00:40:29.079
for matching data sets. There are also ways to test
789
00:40:29.159 --> 00:40:32.599
smaller samples while gathering more information on a suspect.
790
00:40:33.159 --> 00:40:34.760
I think the part that keeps us all up at
791
00:40:34.840 --> 00:40:37.960
night wondering over and over again about these cases is
792
00:40:38.039 --> 00:40:42.639
those last final moments. What changed? Where did things go wrong?
793
00:40:43.199 --> 00:40:46.880
Was their fear of pain? Did they fight back? We
794
00:40:47.000 --> 00:40:50.400
know that Jennifer Kesse woke up on Tuesday, January twenty fourth,
795
00:40:50.440 --> 00:40:53.559
two thousand and six, feeling hopeful for the future. She
796
00:40:53.599 --> 00:40:56.400
got ready for work that day, did her hair and makeup,
797
00:40:56.800 --> 00:40:59.079
packed her brother's friend's phone in her bag to send
798
00:40:59.119 --> 00:41:03.800
back to him. She was responsible, caring, generous. She was
799
00:41:03.840 --> 00:41:07.440
also probably a little uncertain, she just had this beautiful
800
00:41:07.519 --> 00:41:11.400
vacation with her boyfriend. But with the relationship last forever,
801
00:41:12.159 --> 00:41:14.400
they were a long distance. It was tough on them.
802
00:41:14.920 --> 00:41:16.840
But Jennifer didn't let that stand in the way of
803
00:41:16.880 --> 00:41:20.159
her own success. She put on a brave face, grabbed
804
00:41:20.159 --> 00:41:23.159
her purse, her phone, and her iPod. She closed the
805
00:41:23.199 --> 00:41:25.760
door behind her that day, ready to get in her car.
806
00:41:26.320 --> 00:41:28.800
She probably even planned to call Rob like she always
807
00:41:28.800 --> 00:41:31.039
did on her way to work, just to hash it out.
808
00:41:31.760 --> 00:41:34.039
Or maybe she did just take some time for herself
809
00:41:34.199 --> 00:41:36.639
listen to her favorite song on repeat that day until
810
00:41:36.639 --> 00:41:39.400
she pulled into the office parking lot, ready for what
811
00:41:39.440 --> 00:41:43.440
she was sure would be just another day at work. Instead,
812
00:41:43.719 --> 00:41:47.880
Jennifer Kessey lost everything that morning. No one heard her scream,
813
00:41:48.400 --> 00:41:51.599
no one heard her cry out, and to this day,
814
00:41:51.719 --> 00:41:54.239
no one has any idea what happened after she locked
815
00:41:54.239 --> 00:41:56.960
her door behind her. But we do know that she
816
00:41:57.119 --> 00:41:59.480
was loved and there are a lot of people who
817
00:41:59.480 --> 00:42:02.119
won't accepit. I don't know for an answer.
818
00:42:03.320 --> 00:42:07.679
This past January marked twenty years since Jennifer's disappearance. She'd
819
00:42:07.719 --> 00:42:10.679
be forty four years old as of this recording. She
820
00:42:10.800 --> 00:42:14.320
has sandy blonde hair is Caucasian and about five foot
821
00:42:14.360 --> 00:42:17.199
eight or nine. She has a tattoo of a shamrock
822
00:42:17.280 --> 00:42:19.719
on the right side of her buttox, a cleft chin,
823
00:42:19.840 --> 00:42:22.000
and a surgical scar on the left side of her
824
00:42:22.119 --> 00:42:25.280
arm near the elbow. If you have any information about
825
00:42:25.360 --> 00:42:28.440
Jennifer Kesse, you can visit the find Jennifer Kessey Facebook
826
00:42:28.480 --> 00:42:32.079
page or contact your local FBI office. And if you
827
00:42:32.119 --> 00:42:34.079
wish to support the Kessi family, you can go to
828
00:42:34.159 --> 00:42:36.960
their gofund me or visit the link on our socials
829
00:42:37.000 --> 00:42:38.159
and in our show notes.
830
00:42:48.719 --> 00:42:51.039
Thank you for listening to The Final Hours. If you
831
00:42:51.079 --> 00:42:53.519
have any more information on Jennifer Kessey, share it with
832
00:42:53.599 --> 00:42:56.840
us on social media. We want to hear from you.
833
00:42:56.840 --> 00:43:00.199
Your thoughts, condolences, and feedback are what make this community
834
00:43:00.280 --> 00:43:00.880
so special.
835
00:43:01.320 --> 00:43:04.559
At crime House, we value your support. Share your thoughts
836
00:43:04.639 --> 00:43:07.920
on social media, and remember to rate, review, and follow
837
00:43:07.960 --> 00:43:10.760
The Final Hours. To help others discover the show.
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And to enhance your listening experience, subscribe to crime House
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Plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode of The
840
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Final Hours add free, along with early access and exciting
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bonus content.
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00:43:22.360 --> 00:43:25.039
The Final Hours is hosted by Sarah Turney and me
843
00:43:25.159 --> 00:43:28.400
according Nicole and is a crime House original powered by
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Pave Studios. This episode is brought to life by the
845
00:43:31.480 --> 00:43:37.400
Final Hours team, Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benadon, Lori Marinelli,
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Natalie Pritsovski, Sarah Camp and Joanna Powell.
847
00:43:41.880 --> 00:43:44.159
We'll be back next week. Thank you for listening.
848
00:43:45.159 --> 00:43:47.400
Make sure you follow the Final Hours with Sarah Turney
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and Courtney Nicole so you don't miss the next episode.
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Just search the Final Hours wherever you get your podcasts.
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There's also a link in the episode description. New episodes
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drop every Monday, and we'll see you guys next week.
853
00:43:59.480 --> 00:44:02.519
Some crime they're so shocking they don't just make headlines,
854
00:44:02.679 --> 00:44:05.960
they forever change our society. I'm Kater Ring, host of
855
00:44:06.000 --> 00:44:09.199
America's Most Infamous Crimes. Each week, I take on one
856
00:44:09.239 --> 00:44:12.719
of the most notorious criminal cases, whether it's unfolding now
857
00:44:12.880 --> 00:44:16.920
or etched into American history. Serial killers who terrorize cities,
858
00:44:17.239 --> 00:44:20.960
unsolved mysteries that kept detectives up at night, and investigations
859
00:44:21.000 --> 00:44:24.000
that change the way we think about justice. Each case
860
00:44:24.079 --> 00:44:28.239
unfolds across multiple episodes, release every Tuesday through Thursday, from
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the first sign that something was wrong to the moment
862
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the truth came out or didn't. Listen to and follow
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