Where is Jennifer Kesse? | Full Episode | Forensic Files

foreign [Applause] disappeared Jennifer has vanished what could have happened where could Jennifer
be as the as the days pass by there's been few answers and even fewer leaves someone out there knows something how
could someone just vanish but she did oh my God oh my God this can't be happening
detective it's been 14 years where is Jennifer kessie every single day hello I'm Jennifer
kissy it's her laughter it's her wit it's just her loving nature I think of her all the time
we were inseparable our friendship never wavered just the greatest friend I've ever had
in January 2006 Jen was on top of the world she was in love I remember Jennifer giving me a phone number she's
like I don't ever do this I could spend hours on the phone talking to her couldn't have been happier she had a
great job had just gotten promoted she had just bought her first condo with her own money life couldn't have been any
better for her on the morning of January 24 2006 we got a phone call was Jennifer okay she
didn't show up for work today totally out of character for Jennifer so out of character something's wrong
something was wrong was there any evidence of a forced entry no there was no blood on the ground
the Orlando Police Department they worked very hard thanks for joining us tonight I'm Lewis Bolden Joyce and Drew
Casey organized searches they were standing on street corners holding signs begging pleading for anyone to please
help them find their daughter nothing panned out nothing absolutely nothing she's been missing for more than two
years ten years ago 12 long years 13 years later 14 years now it's our turn so not only am I
looking at Jennifer kessie's parents I'm looking at the two lead detectives right
now on this case yes yes us and our team I'm a private investigator and I'm working for the kessie family we have to
find her oh my God we've got to find her there are people out there who know exactly what happened to Jennifer
kissing [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] if you have any tips about the Jennifer
Cassidy case you can contact the kessie family tip line we don't have her we need her where is she you know aliens
didn't abduct her please help us to meet the kessies is to love the Cassis they're just good people Louis Bolden is
an investigative reporter for wkmg in Orlando he's covered the case since Jennifer kessie went missing in 2006.
Joyce and Drew kessie were very vulnerable it's just really hard and you could sense that you could feel that you
were a desperate family and people just wanted to help them we all have the story all new at six if you had told me
then in 14 years we would still be looking for Jennifer Cassie I would not have believed it
Lauren McCarthy and Jennifer were best friends since childhood she she was extremely safety conscious she was very
aware of her surroundings she carried pepper spray with her all the time the reasons that she bought the place that
she did was because it was a gated community with a guard foreign January 22nd 2006 Jennifer returned from
a vacation to Saint Croix with her boyfriend Rob Allen my best friend said to me after the trip he's like oh you're
in love and you just don't want to admit it they had been dating a year you've got the bug you're all in even though
Rob lived in Fort Lauderdale about three hours from Jennifer's condo in Orlando we did the long distance but after the
initial day we started spending virtually every weekend together on Monday January 23rd on her way into work
as a project manager for a timeshare company Jennifer called her mom Jen shared every detail about the trip she
was just really happy she was on a cloud but that evening Jennifer spoke with Rob
and their conversation didn't end well we had a disagreement long distance was taking a toll on their relationship she
was a little emotional saying oh you know you don't love me I'm not with you and
a little insecurity they spoke around 10 pm Rob had no idea that it would be the
last time he would ever hear her voice that's just not something that even came into my mind unfortunately take things
for granted the next morning was when Jennifer didn't show up for work and didn't
answer her phone she was always on the radar with everybody it was so out of character for Jennifer to not respond
her friends and family rushed to her condo we were probably on the road within five minutes we were very frantic
okay call the hospitals again okay call the police again when they arrived at the condo in the
early afternoon a building manager opened Jennifer's locked apartment what did you see the first time you walked in
her travel back it was like she walked in the night before and just dropped her suitcase right where it was the rest of
the home looked like a maid had been there except for Jennifer's bathroom God loved Jennifer but she's a little bit of
a bathroom pig in the morning so makeup curling iron all that stuff all over the
vanity wet shower wet towel back in 2008 the kessie's told 48 hours that while the condo appeared to be in order they
did notice that Jennifer's purse keys and cell phone were missing what do you believe happened she slept for sure and
I think she got up for work as she normally would okay I'm going to work I have a meeting it's busy locks the door
of her condo that's where the mystery started foreign I love her that afternoon Jennifer's
brother Logan began to question some of the construction workers at the complex he said they were uncooperative it
didn't feel right did you sense somebody knew something yeah 100 first the kessies say police in
infuriated them by not taking their daughter's disappearance seriously I'm like come on start to work get to work
police say they did not believe Jennifer's case met the criteria for declaring her missing they kept
suggesting that she must have had a fight with her boyfriend and would be back Joyce used to complain to me she's
like call them I don't hear helicopters in the air but by early evening when there was still no sign of Jennifer
police officially declared her missing and despite evidence that she was at her condo that morning police pursued a
theory that Jennifer may have been abducted the night before cell tower data was analyzed and it indicated
Jennifer was out of her apartment and not at home police kept insisting that Jennifer went out in the middle of the
night and we're like you don't understand that's not how our daughter's brain works but upon further
investigation police realized the cell tower data was misinterpreted and she actually wasn't out that night she was
the type of person who would call her mom or her dad or me when she was simply walking from Target in the parking lot
and it was dark out Leo all along have felt that she was abducted in the morning but police were very quick to
shut us down on certain things as the hours went by the kessie's Panic became unbearable they feared that time
was running out we have to find her as quickly as possible because the more time that passes
the less chance we have and the worse it's going to be using Jennifer's apartment as their
headquarters they began their own media blitz you could go to any part of town and everyone knew Jennifer Cassie's name
and they knew her face because there were posters there were Billboards her face was everywhere the searches were
massive there were hundreds of people that came out the community just rallied I had never seen anything of this
magnitude but still no one knew where Jennifer was as you can imagine we were basket cases
oh we were flipping out then two days after her disappearance I think that my heart stopped police found
Jennifer's car panic here panic [Music] foreign thing is not knowing where Jennifer's at
not knowing where to look next we can sit around and discuss different ideas and different theories but not
having a concrete solid Avenue to go down to bring resolution to the family is the most frustrating part of this
case right now as the Desperate Hours went by Sergeant Roger Brennan and his team of
investigators searched the streets of Orlando looking for Jennifer Cassie you're going through canvases of areas
that she would travel or that she might be at 48 Hours interviewed him in 2008. as we were driving around the area
around her complex we were trying to identify different areas that her vehicle may have been seen
thank you Jennifer's car had been seen the morning she disappeared a couple said they saw
it swerving out of her apartment complex at around 7 40. it appeared that somebody was fighting over control of
the car detective Joel Wright was one of the original investigators unfortunately
the witnesses couldn't say which way the car went once it got out onto the surface Road
then two days after Jennifer vanished the Orange County Sheriff's Office received a call about Jennifer's vehicle
being in the Huntington on the green Condominiums approximately 1.1 miles away from her condominium
what was concerning about this was the area it was located is not an area frequented by Jennifer it's actually a
complex that's been known where stolen cars were would be recovered from you have that initial hope you're like
okay we found the call it's only going to be a matter of time before we find Jennifer in an unexpected move detective
summoned boyfriend Rob Allen to meet them at Jennifer's car when the police officer asked me to follow with him and
to look at the inside of the car and the inside of the trunk my stomach was churning as far as what could you find
You know despite being more than 200 miles away when Jennifer disappeared Rob was suddenly a person of interest I
think they wanted to open the trunk in front of him to see his reaction if in case Jennifer was in there
when police opened the trunk Jennifer wasn't there there were no signs of a struggle
in fact everywhere they looked everything seemed normal this is the interior Jennifer's car as we found it
in 2008 Sergeant Brennan shared evidence photos several items were located inside
the vehicle or her cell phone charger sandals and shoes nothing appears to be disturbed
in the vehicle at all it didn't appear that it was a robbery didn't appear that it was a car theft it didn't appear that
it was carjacking when that car was found we jumped all over it we immediately started asking everybody
walking around if they had seen anything the canvassing started then and then it
got more intense as the days went on and we eventually had horses and and helicopters and everything else up in
the air looking around we didn't come up with any solid leads of anybody who saw
Jennifer saw anybody Park her vehicle here but when police checked security cameras it looked like they finally
caught a big break we have a film of the car being dropped off thank you around noon on the day Jennifer
disappeared one of the cameras captured a person driving Jennifer's car pulls into a parking spot next to the
pool area backs out to even straighten himself in there sits in there for 32 seconds
gets out walks away never looks back yeah the Phantom figure walked away in the direction of Jennifer's complex it was
beyond frightening in my mind it was that person took my daughter and how fast can we find that person
this is the camera that that caught the person that parked Jennifer's vehicle here but to the kessie's frustration the
person caught on that camera could not be identified apparently this video when it films captures every two to three
seconds as it's filming so that's why you only see the subject on one side of the gate and then the opposite side of
the gate and he's blocked by the post on either side of the game technology then
was not what technology is now what are the chances of that happening but it did
seeing that tape of Jennifer's car that was probably the worst moment it was like being hit with a ton of
bricks and then also anger just anger because the the person was so casual something really bad obviously happened
and they were just so casually dropping this car off like they were you know getting home from work
we printed up pictures and we brought them out here we were hopeful that somebody would
recognize just the gate or just the general appearance or the stature or maybe the hairstyle or some aspect of
this individual but that didn't happen what does that image tell you of that individual in front of the gate it's
difficult to tell it looks like a man by the wall by the gate and someone with pretty big feet for his height is what
we're the information we've been getting in 2008 detective Wright and Sergeant Brennan analyzed the surveillance tape
with 48 Hours what do you know about this person's height we've done quite a bit of measuring and work with the
camera angles and also had people of different heights walk by we've come up with a height of between five foot three
and five foot five and this has been backed up by the FBI who also came down and checked out the figures now the
clothing looks to be maybe someone who is a painter or some type of worker what do we know was going on around
Jennifer's condominium at that time we know there was quite a bit of a renovation going on inside or complex
the workers made her feel uncomfortable she just said you know there's a lot of workers here and they tend to like just
stop when I'm walking by or go into my car and they just look complicating the investigation many of
the workers disappeared before police could talk to them some of the people who were working on
the property left a lot of your day laborers are not here legally so I think they were scared
investigators then went to check the security cameras at Jennifer's condo complex but there weren't any
just a security guard who is supposed to log the names and license numbers of visitors however the logs that we went
through didn't appear to be complete they also couldn't count on getting any reliable forensic evidence from
Jennifer's condo it was never secured by Orlando Police by the time they took it
seriously we had 14 people in the condo and they said well you ruined the crime scene and I said are you kidding me they
had no better luck with the forensics inside Jennifer's car we didn't find any fingerprints on the steering wheel do
you think the car was cleaned by someone possibly wiped it the surveillance video
does tell us that there was about 30 seconds of time when the person was inside the car that person could have
taken that time to wipe down the steering wheel and the rear view mirror or what have you and what about DNA
there were some vacuuming samples taken from each section of the vehicle that was socially sent off to a lab for
evaluation but the samples were inconclusive so to me they don't have DNA at every turn the detectives kept coming
up empty and the case was going cold as he's refused to give up on Jennifer I refused to let her be forgotten until
she found more photos from the case on Facebook at 48 hours there's just no other place I could be
today so my heart is here in 2008 on the second anniversary of Jennifer's disappearance family and
friends gathered on a street corner in Orlando it's just difficult that having her you
know she's like my other half so yeah Christmas talking to her [Music] exactly they held up signs just as they had done
the day Jennifer went missing with the desperate hope that someone passing by knew something a wrong has been done and
a person has been taken against her will and that's that's my daughter and she needs to come home to her family
maybe the right person will see us detective Joel Wright was still trying to solve this confounding mystery there
were an unbelievable amount of man-hours went into this case in 2009 detective Wright decided to take a fresh look at
the case one of the people he interviewed on audio tape was a former housekeeper at Jennifer's complex the
woman had not been questioned back in 2006. do you remember a person by the name of Jennifer Cassie that turned up
missing yeah yeah when he showed her that security camera photo of the unidentified suspect
she gave him a possible new lead she did look at the photo and said that looks like Chino the housekeeper said
the Phantom figures walk clothing and hairstyle resembled a man she knew from the complex named Chino but she could
not be sure it was him Chino was a name detective Wright had not heard before but he learned Chino used to live in
another building at Jennifer's condo complex and was a former maintenance worker there in fact Chino had done work
in Jennifer's condo just one week before she disappeared and that's not all he learned I put just the name Chino into a
leads tracking system and one tip did come up uh crimeline tip had been received
in the first week of the investigation the tip was Anonymous and suggested Chino may have been involved in
Jennifer's disappearance but it's unclear if police had looked into it or talked to Chino at all
at that point I thought the investigation was kicking into gear it wasn't hard to find Chino he was
serving time in a Florida prison for statutory rape of a teenage girl a crime he committed two years after Jennifer
disappeared I knew that Chino had been arrested for a sex crime and that was part of the development of
him as a person of interest was that right yes detective Wright interviewed him in prison and asked him
about working in Jennifer's condo when you get to work in her unit was she pregnant while you were doing it
how did you get into the on the Sheila is everything normal everything was normal
Gina was then asked about these pictures the one that the housekeeper said may have looked like him you know the photos
he looked at earlier the guy walked by the gate right is there any reason why somebody with me
would say that with you and Chino is five foot nine taller than the figure's height estimated by police
Gina was very Cooperative he was familiar with the case and he denied any kind of wrongdoing Chino agreed to take
a lie detector test he passed and what did that tell you it told me that he passed the polygraph but I would never
rule someone out just because they passed a polygraph Wright also re-interviewed another maintenance
worker who had done repairs with Chino in Jennifer's condo nobody mad about anything and you're getting along fine
everybody getting along fine regular conversation just letting us know what she wanted to be done in her unit
detective Wright then interviewed the building manager at Jennifer's condo to find out if there were any issues
between Jennifer and Chino or anyone else are you aware of anybody that might have had a problem with Jennifer that
worked there or lived there no again the case stall then in 2010 detective Wright was moved
off the case as time went by the kessies felt abandoned by the Orlando Police Department we asked them for several
years to make her case cold because there's more resources available for cold cases and they kept saying no per
case is extremely active do you believe that anyone realistically has been working this case in recent years no
[Music] in 2016 it had been 10 years since Jennifer went missing she was declared
dead by the state of Florida that was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life I stood in a
courtroom alone while a judge declared her deceased fed up that kessie's made a dramatic
move they sued the Orlando Police Department to get Jennifer's Case Files at the time we thought
they want what they want the police department's files I had never heard of that happening in 2018 Orlando rollon
became the Orlando Police Chief although he wasn't in charge during the initial investigation he sympathizes with the
kessies I can understand why they're frustrated I can understand why they would feel that maybe an agency like
ours has not delivered on what they would expect for an agency to do chief rollon gave his investigators six months
to work the case and when they came up with no new leads he made the unprecedented decision to finally
release the files to the kessies after the number of years that we have spent on trying to solve Jennifer's
disappearance I think it was time to also honor the wishes of the family the family once closure we won closure we
want to find the person responsible for her disappearance I think it's a win-win
for all so these are just some of your daughter's case files yes I mean we probably have at least three times more
in boxes of this in all the Orlando Police Department handed over more than sixteen thousand pages of documents and
67 hours hours of video and audio to the kessies but under the agreement the Orlando PD would no longer lead the
investigation so at this point in time the only people that are truly investigating what
happened to Jennifer is us and our team when you talk about Challenge and investigations this is the one Michael
toretta is the kessie's private investigator I'm looking through these sixteen thousand documents for something
that might have been missed by the Orlando P the the FDLE maybe even the FBI who have had Parts in this
investigation he says when he reviewed the files he was amazed at what police didn't do
there's never been one quarterback on this case and who they didn't speak with there's a lot of information that could
have been developed that I believe wasn't in the most critical hours of this investigation
[Music] foreign [Music] s that this could have happened to and as parents we need to help out each
other and that's what I'm doing private investigator Michael toretta says he has gone through the more than
sixteen thousand page case File at least three times he's hoping to find new Clues as to who could have abducted
Jennifer kessie I always told the Cassie's what I like to do with this investigation is put a puzzle together
one piece at a time one of the first things he did was go back to the scene of the crime and speak to people who
lived at Jennifer's complex you were there at the same time as Jennifer kessie did you ever meet her I don't
recall formally meeting her she did look familiar Colleen who asked to only use her first name moved into the complex
two years before Jennifer disappeared believing it was a safe place to live we were a gated community we had a guard
house I would say 75 of the time somebody was there but she says once workers started Living in empty
apartments around the complex she felt uneasy when I would come home from work there would be a large group of men
outside drinking and whenever I would have to walk past them you know there would be a little bit of comments or
just a lot of uncomfortable stairs it wasn't a great feeling I didn't like it Colleen says she complained to the
leasing office manager he was apologetic but he told me there was really nothing
that he personally could do from the very beginning there were some uneasy things that I kind of brushed off
that were red flags when Tammy who also asked to only use her first name moved into the complex years later she
believed workers often entered her apartment when she wasn't home there was creepy things like my underwear chore
was tossed one time the shower was wet there was Footprints in my closet and then Tammy says she caught a Peeping Tom
a man she believes was a worker at the complex it was a pleasure himself in the corner of my patio you opened the door
and saw that busted him caught him but she says he fled in a white van Tammy filed a police report and to this day
she says they have never found the Peeping Tom or the white van he was driving then toreta spoke to a woman who did not
want to appear on camera and the name Chino came up again that maintenance worker at Jennifer's complex the woman
claimed that Chino often approached her in the parking lot late at night when she returned from work and made her feel
uncomfortable how often would you socialize with him a few times a week but this woman who
wants to be called Ashley had a different opinion of Chino I remember him being fun and friendly talkative she
moved into the complex just weeks after Jennifer disappeared he came over to my condo quite a bit she says they never
talked about Jennifer's disappearance I always wanted to ask him you have keys to all the apartments what do you think
happened that's a really hard question to ask somebody that's sitting on the couch next to you Ashley says she never
was suspicious of Chino until one day nine months after Jennifer vanished when Chino suddenly disappeared and moved out
of the complex in the middle of the night he had the opportunity to tell me and he didn't Ashley says At first she
didn't reach out to police I sat on it for a little bit and it just ate away at me so I did I called the crime line back
then and told them and they took my statement but she says no one ever followed up with her why is what the
women at the Mosaic told you important I think it's important because it paints a
picture that I don't believe I would have gotten from the 16 000 documents there's nothing in there that indicates
that there were problems at the mosaic whose name came up multiple times that kessie team was anxious to talk to him
Chino should expect to hear from us Gino needs to be spoken to again and despite telling detective Wright years
ago he knew nothing about Jennifer's disappearance that kessie's wondered if Chino was being truthful did he know
more than he had admitted but last time police officially questioned Chino was back in 2009 now we
have some of our own questions we'd like to ask so I'm heading now to his last known address
where I'm hoping we can find it Peter Van Sant with CBS News we agreed not to use his full name when we asked
about Jennifer kessie Chino quickly reiterated that he was innocent I even did a lie detector test I mean everybody
knows for a fact that I had nothing to do with Jennifer kessie you had nothing to do with her
disappearance not at all where were you the morning of January 24th 2006. I don't have to answer any questions but
that's for sure and what about that photo taken by security cameras is this you no it's not
do you know who this is and no actually I don't you don't know you're the maintenance man there you saw
the workers at that complex you don't recognize this figure it's okay I have nothing to hide okay
I do not recognize that person do you know of anyone who might have been involved in Jennifer kessie's
disappearance anyway and believe me if I did know anyone that was involved in that the kessie family would be known as
well I met Jennifer kessie she was a beautiful person she had no problem with me before we
left Chino even agreed to talk with the kessie team and in fact weeks later he did but there were no big headlines
torretta presses on I want to do my best and bring Jennifer kessie home to them one day
[Music] interviews and reviewing the case File toretta says he now has a new Theory as
to what could have happened to Jennifer kessing she's locking the door and never sees it
coming [Music] [Music] 15 years have passed since Jennifer kessie vanished years of Anguish for her family and
friends but they are determined to keep Jennifer's story alive Jennifer is a super funny
super witty very strong will very assure of herself she knew what track she was going to take and she knew
how to get there Jennifer is definitely the most loyal person I've ever been friends with or
probably ever known after years of working for the kessie's private detective Michael toretta says
he has a new Theory as to what he thinks could have happened to Jennifer based on interviews with people who
lived at the complex he believes that up to 10 construction workers were living in an empty apartment just across from
Jennifer's he thinks it was one or more of these workers who abducted her on January 24th
2006. what I'm thinking is Jennifer comes out she locks the door of course she has her back to the apartment behind
her and then is abducted by those individuals across the way across the hallway yes she's locking the door and
never sees it coming she probably was attacked immediately upon exiting she's dragged into that other apartment
and that's the end but toreta struck out when he tried to find those workers who he believes lived
in the vacant apartment across from Jennifer and he says there is nothing in the
files indicating that police ever spoke to them it's impossible to find those individuals
there's no lease there's no list of names of who was staying in which apartment absolutely not that was one of
the most shocking parts of this investigation he continued his investigation toretta
learned that 10 months after Jennifer disappeared a person was seen dumping a rolled up piece of carpet into a lake
not far from her condo and what's intriguing based on your investigation is the men that were in the apartment
across from Jennifer's were putting down carpet that day that's why it's very interesting to me based on your
experience is there a possibility what this person threw in that pond was her body possibly for the past two
days dive Crews have been out on the water in 2019 local police came out with a dive team
it was a good enough tip that you see the actions of how many divers but no carpet was found this is something that
is haunting me we need to see what's inside that carpet the kessies have dedicated their lives
and weathered enormous financial hardship to finding the truth of what happened to their beautiful 24 year old
daughter on that January morning in 2006. it's very very hard to move forward the
hole in our heart is forever there until we have an answer we just want an answer
[Music] Jennifer's loved ones hope this report will convince someone to take the
courageous step of coming forward with information that could solve this heartbreaking mystery because someone
must have seen something I just think of Jennifer all the time who knows what would have happened if this heinous
Crown hadn't been committed for me every Milestone that I've had without her has
been like a tug of war with my emotions you know getting married and having children and
becoming a grown-up and just living life just having her life you know she deserved that
and we just wish that one person that knows something in Orlando would just finally say it it's about Jennifer it's
not about us and just please think of Jennifer [Music] the kessies are offering a fifteen
thousand dollar reward for information leading to Jennifer's whereabouts if you have any information about Jennifer
kessie's disappearance please visit the fine Jennifer kessie Facebook page [Music]
a rising young music producer 10 to 17 shots how much do you have to kill him who killed Kevin Harris the
clues are absolutely out there 48 hours Saturday at 10 9 Central on CBS [Music]

A young woman vanishes from her Florida condo – security footage captures a phantom figure calmly parking her car. Is it the kidnapper? "48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant reports. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

Jennifer Kessie vanished in 2006; her family and investigator pursue leads to uncover the truth behind her disappearance.

Key points

The Disappearance of Jennifer Kessie. Jennifer Kessie vanished without a trace in 2006, leaving her family and friends desperate for answers.
The Search Efforts. The Kessie family and community rallied together to search for Jennifer, but nothing panned out.
A Mysterious Figure. Surveillance footage captured a mysterious figure dropping off Jennifer's car, raising more questions than answers.
A Decade of Pain. After 10 years, Jennifer Kessie was declared dead, leaving her family devastated.
A New Investigation. Private investigator Michael Toretta believes construction workers may have abducted Jennifer.
A Haunting Mystery. The Kessies are determined to find the truth about Jennifer's disappearance, despite years of hardship.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Oh my God, this can't be happening!

A moment of disbelief after Jennifer's disappearance.

0:30WatchMay 23, 2023

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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