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Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. She said, I'll get evil with you, and she waited for him to fall asleep, but she hit him over the mouth with a baseball bat, and basically just blew all his teeth right out. Hello and welcome. This is Season 10, Episode 249 of Sword and Scale.
A show that reveals that the worst monsters are real. Look, I know a lot of you have left social media. I don't blame you at all. Trust me on that. And I know that a lot of you support the show by joining Plus or indulging in the services or products of our sponsors. And thank you so much for that. But if there's a single thing you could do today to help the show more than you ever have in your entire life...
If there's one thing you can do to help us out, if you really do like the show, just go on your Facebook, your Twitter, your Instagram, your TikTok, whatever the hell it is that you have right now as you're listening to my voice and tell your friends about the show. Tag a few of them in it. Tell them they got to hear this thing and let them know about it because the podcast industry seems to be dying. It really does. It feels like nobody's listening to podcasts anymore.
So if you could do that one thing for us today, that would really, really help out. Let's get some more ear holes up in this bitch. All right. See ya.
The national sales event is on at your Toyota dealer, making now the perfect time to get a great deal on a dependable new Toyota truck. Like a rugged, half-ton Tundra, workhorse by nature, powerhouse by design, the Tundra combines raw capability with premium comfort and advanced tech to fuel your wildest adventures. And with the available i-Force Max Hybrid Powertrain, you can take electrifying horsepower farther,
than ever before. Or check out the fully redesigned Tacoma, delivering trail-dominating power and captivating style. The new Tacoma was born to make your off-roading dreams come true. And with the new available tech, this legendary truck is getting even better. And when you buy a Toyota truck, you buy Toyota dependability, meaning your truck will hold its value long into the future.
So visit your local Toyota dealer and check out amazing national sales event deals when you visit buyatoyota.com. Toyota, let's go places. It was the Monday after Mother's Day weekend of 2018. A mother named Ann Johnson called her local police for help. Her daughter, Jolene Cummings, was missing. Jolene was a 33-year-old hairdresser with three kids and a busy schedule.
She had spent the last few years working at a salon in Fernandina Beach called Tangles and was beloved by her coworkers for her bubbly, no BS personality. Kind of like mine. Jolene and her former husband Jason Cummings had recently separated. Now she was living alone with her kids and had been dipping her toes back into the dating pool. But Jolene wasn't answering her cell phone.
Jolene always answered her cell phone, no matter what was going on. Plus, Jolene would have not missed a call to her mother on Mother's Day, which was also Jolene's birthday. The police went to Jolene's house in Hilliard, Florida and saw no signs of her car or Jolene. They put out a bolo for her tan SUV and soon reached her ex-husband, Jason Cummings.
Jason said that Jolene was supposed to meet him at the Winn-Dixie supermarket the day before to do their normal child exchange, but she never showed up. So he took the kids to Jolene's mom's house. All right, can you just kind of start from the beginning as far as when's the last time that you saw Jolene? It wasn't this past Sunday. It was a Sunday afternoon.
prior, seven, six or so. At six o'clock, about six or five actually. At one day, I see them drop my kids off. Okay, explain to me, that's when you saw her at one day, is that a normal routine? What's the custody schedule? I pick them up from the babysitter's Friday afternoon, and I keep them until six o'clock. Who's the babysitter? Tanya, I don't know her last name. Okay, and where do you pick them up at?
Jason and Jolene had a seamless arrangement. They traded off custody every week. Jason took the kids to Jolene at the Winn-Dixie supermarket and he picked them up from Jolene's babysitter, Tanya, at a nearby park. They had been doing this for a long time without any issue until the week before Jolene wanted him to break a custody arrangement and he refused. They hadn't really been speaking much since.
Okay.
Jolene went through a rough patch at the end of their marriage.
Even though she'd sometimes disappear for a few days, she would always come back and be a great mom.
That's why Jason wasn't too concerned when Jolene didn't show up at the Winn-Dixie on Friday for their child care exchange. What I really want to get into is, you know, obviously you are a person of interest. Anytime that somebody goes missing, you understand. If you want to be a police officer, I mean, it's like, you understand, you know, that's one. And I don't want you to think that we're zeroes.
Jason nodded and provided a solid alibi, including his job and a playdate with his kids' friends. He told the detective exactly what went down at the Winn-Dixie when Jolene missed her pickup. He said that he and the children showed up on time and waited 20 minutes before trying to get a hold of Jolene. I texted Jolene and said, look,
You're late. Send them over here in 20 minutes. See if you need me to drop the kids off at your mom's. Let me know. Because usually if she's running late, she'll tell me, hey, can you please drop the kids off at mom's? Blah, blah, blah. I'm running late. I waited about another 10 minutes, then I went to her mom's house to see if she was over there, see what was going on. That's when I found out they've been trying to get a hold of her all day, and nobody talked to her. You still have that text? Were you texting her on that Sunday? Yes, sir.
Jason then handed over his phone and his car to be analyzed. What do you think happened to the girl? Me, personally, I think that she's... I think that she's doing the drugs and don't want to be found. Wanted to walk out, but now she's got all this attention on her, she's probably scared. Is that your hope or is that your thought? That's my hope. Okay, what's your thought?
In this world, man, I don't want to think about some of these people. I mean, you don't think of shit like this. Can you please, I've been so caught up. Can you please tell me about this guy? She has a guy she's been seeing and we're looking into that. I'm trying to locate him for an interview. Bring him in and interview him just like I am doing for you.
But it wouldn't be that easy to get Jolene's new boyfriend, Jason G, to talk on the phone. When they finally got a hold of him on his cell phone and said, this is the sheriff's department, he hung up and then turned off his phone. As they attempted to locate Jason G, the detectives paid a visit to Jolene's babysitter, Tanya, who had a few choice stories to tell the police. I received a phone.
Text from Jolene and she said, DCF is going to be calling you.
And I was like, what do you mean? You know, and we went back and forth and she told me that every, she then called me cause I was freaking out. I was like, why are you giving these people my name and number? I'm like, I have nothing to do with your issue. This is all on texting stuff. I said, I have nothing to do with this issue right here. Why did you give them my number? So she called me and she's like, well, I gave him your name and number because you can account for the kind of mom I am. And because I see you, you know, three, four times a week, drop and picking off the boys.
DCF, or Department of Florida Children's and Families, suddenly became involved in Jolene's life after a fight between her and Jason Gee the week she went missing. I asked her what happened and how it started. She said they woke up in a good mood and was fine. And then they started cooking. It was holy. There was holes in her story.
So there really wasn't an excuse, more or less. They just got into a fight and then he started throwing things at her. The boys were crying. Who started throwing things? Jason G. Started throwing things at her and the boys were crying. So that's when she told me she called the cops and I said, "Do you need me to come get the boys?" This was again Thursday. And she said, "No, the cops just are here." And the DCF lady just pulled up. And I was like, or just left because that's why I got upset because she gave her my name and number.
And I was like, okay, so the DCF just left and you made your report and everything. Are you sure you don't make it the boys? She's like, no, I'm just going to calm them down and blah, blah, blah. So I said to Jolene, you know, Hey, we can get our, I know you don't work on Thursdays, but I can tell she's very, very, very stressed, highly stressed, constantly coming in scatterbrained. So I reached out to her and I said, if you ever want to go on a kid date and just hang out and talk, we can, again, this is all on text.
Jolene insisted that everything was fine. Jason had left and she wasn't going to let him back anywhere near the house. The fight Jolene had with Jason happened on Thursday. The police were called and DCF showed up. Jolene said she was staying away from Jason.
Tanya saw Jolene the next morning when she dropped off her boys. Did you see her on Friday? Yes, Friday morning. Okay, yeah, I guess Friday morning. What time? 9.15. And I know exactly because I actually have been... She doesn't pay me a lot being a single mom going through a divorce. She doesn't pay me a lot. So to calculate how much I'm technically getting per child, you know, just do that, you know. And I added up the math and she's...
single mom, I'm trying to help her out. So anyways, she pays me, but usually it's, she pays me half and half, but this day she paid me, she was on time, and she was not scatterbrained and crazy. She was calm, collective, kissed the boys goodbye,
Gave me my money and that was it. And that was weird. That. Because typically my mom can hear her, "Hurry up boys, come on, let's go." And I'm not again trying to speak ill of her. It's just how she is. I'm a loud person so I might sound different to others too, but she's constantly, "Let's go, I'm late. Come on, boys, let's go."
Tanya said that was the last time she saw Jolene. What was the last time you communicated with her via text or phone call? I look. Sure. Because I can tell you exactly. Friday at 6.19 p.m. I have a lawyer. DCF is no longer allowed to contact me. They have to contact my lawyer. I forgot about that. And I said, oh, okay, nice. She said, yep, the whole point. I got into it today. So I said, nice. That was it.
She said who she got into it with. No, actually. And it doesn't dawn on me that that even meant anything until now. And then I text her happy birthday, not knowing any of this until her mom and actually a mutual friend reached out. Did she answer that text when you texted her happy birthday? No. None of Jolene's friends, family, or coworkers had any contact with her since Saturday evening. Jolene always worked on Saturdays at Tangles. It was as though...
She had vanished. It's always one thing or another, or I'm late, or I'm this, or I'm that, or I'm this, you know? So at first, I thought this was all not a joke, but maybe she did some drugs and had a long, bad hangover, but no, there's something wrong. When detectives got a warrant to search Jolene's home, they found that her kitchen had been destroyed. Cabinet doors were hanging off hinges, and holes had been punched in the walls.
The police report indicated that all the damage had been done by Jason and that he also had an outstanding violation of probation warrant. At a press conference about Jolene, the police addressed this. In reference to a domestic issue involving Jolene and her former boyfriend, Jason Gee. A neighbor advised she heard loud arguing and things being broken inside Jolene's house, so she called the sheriff's office. When deputies arrived, Gee was gone.
Jolene told the responding deputy that G had showed up at her house and wanted to stay, but she asked him to leave. He had an active warrant out for his arrest for violation of probation, and he avoided deputies who were actively looking for him to see if he had any information on Jolene's whereabouts. G was found on Tuesday, May 15th, hiding in a house in Hilliard under some cardboard boxes and was arrested on the outstanding warrant.
After Jason's arrest, his father spoke to the media advocating for his son's innocence. But that wasn't true. Jason G. had a history of various drug charges, outstanding warrants,
and domestic charges. Today we also found this court document. It shows another ex-girlfriend of Guy's had similar problems and filed a restraining order against him in Jacksonville back in 2011. It shows while she was with her two young children, Guy assaulted her in her car, forced her neck against the seat, grabbed her phone and smashed it. It goes on to say he told the woman he was going to make her life miserable.
Jason G. was arrested and taken down to the station. With no phone to turn off and no boxes to hide under, he would have to face the reality of Jolene's mysterious disappearance head on. COVID-19 viruses like me change to fool your immune system and make you sick. But updated vaccines help protect you. Stay up to date on COVID-19 and flu vaccinations. Sponsored by Champions for Vaccine Education, Equity and Progress.
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33-year-old mother and hairdresser Jolene Cummings had gone missing the weekend of her birthday, which was also Mother's Day.
Jolene was in the middle of a divorce. A very dangerous time for a woman, to be quite honest. And though her ex-husband checked out, her new boyfriend Jason G was a seasoned criminal with a violent past. He had run from the cops when they tried to question him and had also gotten in a serious fight with Jolene two days before she disappeared.
He was arrested on an outstanding warrant and the cops could finally question this sketchy man in Jolene's life that nobody trusted. But Jason had an alibi, his father. Is there any way your son could be involved with her disappearance? My son had nothing to do with that girl's disappearance. You know, he come out here Wednesday. He's been with me all week long. Saturday when the girl was supposed to be missing, me and him was here at the house all day long. Jason G. agreed to talk once in custody.
He admitted to smashing Jolene's kitchen and that they fought in the past, but he swore he had no idea where she was. He said he hadn't seen her since their fight on Thursday when the police were called. He said he had been avoiding the cops because of his warrants and not because of Jolene. With Jason in custody and his story semi-believable,
The detectives turned back to Jolene's schedule and traced her steps. The last place she was seen alive was at the Tangles Hair Salon on Saturday. Jolene had a busy day with clients and then closed up shop with a new hairdresser named Jennifer Seibert. Soon, the detectives met with the salon's manager, Ann Morgan.
Ann had been working for the salon's owner for a long, long time and had seen Jolene through her entire employment at Tangles. She come there and apply for the job, and that's how I know her ever since she works there about five, six years now. That's how I become to know her. Since she worked there, you mean at Tangles? At Tangles. We get along wonderful, and she look up to me. I'm just like her mom.
Would she confide in you? Most times she confided in me things, you know. Did you give her advice? Yes. Ann said that Jolene had recently filed an injunction against her ex-husband Jason Cummings and was a bit obsessed with her upcoming court date.
He always give her hard time and she tried to put what she call me conjunction or something like that against him. Yes, he had everything they say or they text.
She always keeps all those records she told me for the court. If she had a few minutes or 10 minutes, five minutes, she pulled those books out and looked at it. And I assume she looked at it and studied it. Jason had told the cops about the injunction. But still, could there be more to this story than just a messy divorce?
Then, all of a sudden, something amazing happened. They found Jolene's car. On Tuesday afternoon, we received information that a vehicle matching Jolene's 2006 Beige Ford Expedition was seen parked in the parking lot close to the Home Depot in Ulee. We towed the vehicle to the Sheriff's Office to see if we could obtain any type of clues about Jolene. We immediately began going around to businesses in the area looking for any video surveillance camera footage.
that was available in hopes we could find out when the vehicle was parked there. Jolene's tan SUV was not damaged. All her belongings were inside. By the way, who drives a tan SUV? I mean, you've got to be a psychopath. Anybody that drives a tan car, who goes to the dealership and goes, yeah, give me the tan model that's out there in the lot that you can't sell. Give me that one. All right, I'm done.
Anyway, all of Jolene's belongings were inside the SUV. We found some camera footage that showed Jolene's vehicle being parked around 1:17 a.m. Sunday morning. The video showed the driver sit there for a few minutes and then get out. We were hoping to see Jolene get out of that vehicle. But Jolene never got out of the SUV. Instead, a plump middle-aged woman with long brown hair twisted up into a bun got out of the car.
Picture a very smug-looking Karen type, if that helps. Police immediately identified her as Jennifer Seibert, Jolene's co-worker and the last person known to have seen her alive.
According to Anne from Tangles, Jennifer had only been working at the salon for a few months. She came there just about two months or so like that. I think it's about two months, a little bit more, two months around that number. What did you notice about Jennifer? Well, really, I don't know much about Jennifer, but she seemed like
When Jennifer was hired, Anne tried to get to know her better by asking about her life, like anyone would with a new co-worker. I asked her, she do not want to tell me anything.
I asked, I say, you, or you live here with somebody or by yourself? She pursue tell me that she live with her sister and her brother-in-law and her mother, but her mother not well. When police went to the address Tangle Salon had on file for Jennifer, it was fake.
The address did not exist. You know, we're the girls when we're not busy, so we can have a small talk, which I say, are you married? She said, yeah, but she divorced because her ex-husband was very mean to her. At one time, he tried to kill her. He took her to death.
The words she used, you said, put a cap on her?
I love that. Jennifer was an odd duck with a strange past. No one at the salon thought much of it, except Jolene. Jolene was very curious, more than just hairdresser curious about Jennifer, and confided in Ann about it. About two weeks before she's missing, she told me, she said, Miss Ann,
something about Jennifer that I cannot put my hand on it. She not right. She, she fake Ms. Ann. She fake. She keep on saying the word. She fake. She fake. She, and I say, why you keep on saying that? She say, I don't know. I cannot tell you, but I have a feeling that something about her that I don't trust.
Jennifer would do weird things at the salon, like refuse to help certain customers for what seemed like unacceptable reasons. Another time she turned off the air conditioner in the middle of a humid, hot afternoon when the salon was full of people. She was nosy and in everyone's business. But when the questions turned back to her, she gave short answers and avoided more questions. Even customers noticed the tension between Jennifer and
And Jolene. And so Jolene asked Jennifer to get the gift certificate out of the bottom drawer. Somewhere in that drawer is the gift certificate. And Jennifer like blew up. Like, you can deal with it. I can't fucking find it in front of this lady. Okay. So Jolene asked if we can get excused so she can go find it, help the lady. She did. One day, Jolene came in telling Ann she wanted to have a chat with her when they got a free moment.
When it came time for a quick smoke break out back, Ann and Jolene went outside, but Jennifer followed them. Jennifer did not smoke. Did you get the impression that she was trying to listen to the conversation between you and Jolene? Yes. And...
What was Jolene trying to tell you about the incident with her ex-boyfriend on Wednesday? Okay. And...
Jennifer came out. Yes. And stood close or trying to be included in the conversation? Tried to be included. I'm here. Jolene here. Jennifer here. I'm the middle. Okay. And what was Jolene's reaction? Jolene was sitting down and I'm sitting on the chair and Jolene look up to her, say, "Go away. I don't want to talk to you. I want to talk to Miss Anne."
"You fake! You, yes you fake! You fake! You crazy! You fake!" And Jennifer said, "What do you mean? Why I'm fake? What's the reason for you to say that I'm fake?" And Julian said, "I want to talk to you now. Just go away." And Jennifer still stands there, so I kind of have to intervene. I said, "Go ahead and go inside, honey. I'll talk to you later."
According to Ann, Jennifer just stood there, even after Jolene told her to basically beat it. Ann eventually shuffled her inside to break up the bubbling confrontation. After they finished their cigarettes, Ann and Jolene went back to work and Jolene continued talking about Jennifer. She said, Miss Ann, what Jennifer last name? I said, I don't know, honey. Why? She said, because I want to go online and look up Ann.
Like the criminal people got the rap seat. She want to go on that side and look and see the Jennifer name pop up. I said, I don't have it, but I can call Vicky and ask her her last name. The day got busy and Ann didn't have time to call the salon's owner, Vicky, and ask her for Jennifer's information. But Jolene wasn't going to just let this go.
she finally got jennifer's full name with the customer's help yulene made the comment go over there look at her license i want to know her last name because there's something just odd about her when you say look at your license you mean the cosmetology cosmetology license yeah that was hanging up on her thing okay so i'm like okay she is because there's something just weird because
She just shows up any time. Jolene says she started wearing wigs when she first started. Then they complimented her on her hair because it was so long. So then she stopped wearing the wigs. But Jolene says she just didn't have a right vibe with her. So she was going to look up her name and figure out what the heck was going on with her. Jolene was determined to find out what was so wrong about Jennifer. She says she cannot explain it.
But something about Jennifer is not right. She's not a person that she says she is. On Jolene's last day working at Tangles, one of her customers told the police that while she was sitting in the chair getting her hair done, or did, I don't know what the right nomenclature is these days, Jennifer came up and started talking to her. Jolene had walked away for a moment and Jolene had said to the customer that
It's like she really doesn't like me. I told her she needed to watch her mouth. The police still couldn't find Jennifer Seibert anywhere. Her address was bogus. Her phone was off. They hunted the eastern beaches of Florida to try to find Jennifer's car, and then they caught a break. Through our investigative techniques, we finally located Seibert and her vehicle, which is a 2016 Ford.
Kia Soul black in color. We found her the northbound I-95 rest area in Saint Johns County on Wednesday evening, May 16th, parked between two other semi trucks. She had apparently been living in her car at various locations. Based upon the surveillance video of her driving Jolene's car, we arrested her for grand theft auto and she was booked into the Saint Johns County Jail and ultimately brought back to Nassau County.
Here's Jennifer in custody. Are you sleeping? I am. I'm sleeping. My name's Wayne. This is Charlie. We want to talk to you for a few minutes.
You heard that right. Jennifer Seibert wasn't Jennifer Seibert at all. Her name was Kimberly Kessler.
I was born in May of 1968, May 9th. I am 50 years old. I've been running from the FBI for over 25 years. I've been living under this particular alias since 1999. So not quite 1999. This is about 19 years. And that's about it. But that wasn't about it. That was just the tip of the iceberg. And now that they had Jennifer, a.k.a. Kimberly, in custody...
The police were about to go down a rabbit hole like they'd never seen before. Kimberly had been masquerading as many different women over the years. She'd lived under 17 different aliases in various states from Arizona to Texas to Florida. She was filled with layers of secrets, lies, and crime.
They were just beginning to scratch the surface of her deception. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
I've done nothing. I've been living, I mean, I've been trying. I've been living in my car for the last over two years. I'm not getting, it's not getting any better. It's not. I would like to know, you know, and I'm not the FBI, I'm not a federal law enforcement agent or anything like that, but, you know, I kind of like to hear the background of why, you know, the last 25 years. Pull it all up. Pull it up on the computer. Pull my name up. Pull it up. Kimberly Kessler. You should be able to pull that up. What?
Kimberly was from Butler, Pennsylvania, and according to police records, she had been reported missing by her own family in 2012. However...
They waited eight years to report her missing. She actually disappeared on July 4th, 2004. What kind of mother waits a decade to report her child missing? Kimberly was charming and witty with the detectives, but Kimberly was a weirdo. And basically anyone and everyone who had known her throughout the years and her various aliases
would verify that fact. For example, the name Jennifer Seibert was the name of a young German girl who had died in a car crash in Butler when she was a teenager. Kimberly used to walk to the cemetery and write down the names of dead girls who were born near her own birth year. Super normal behavior. I'm being facetious in case you haven't picked it up via audio.
Now that they had figured out her real name, detectives had started hunting down people who knew Kimberly way back when she was actually Kimberly. Here's an ex-boyfriend of Kimberly who she lived with in the early 90s after they graduated from high school. Can you tell me some more about her? I saw something about stabbing you in the leg. Can you tell me about that?
Yep, you heard that right. After stabbing her boyfriend in the chest, Kimberly then bit his dad in the leg, as you would. Kimberly was crazy.
And the cops knew it. They laughed when she tried to file a PFA, which is similar to a restraining order. After a while, she showed up at his dad's front door. The sheriff caught and he just went on top. We told her to stay away. They came down and while she came down, I had left. He had come down. I guess she was pissed because they wouldn't file any charges against me. And my dad would throw her off the property and...
went after him and she bit into his leg. Put one hell of a mark on his leg. But Kimberly's ex-boyfriend said that she was prone to sudden and violent outbursts. We went to a party one night and saw a girl that she didn't like and just right in the middle of the party started throwing hands and that's when I knew I was done and it took a while to get away from her. You know we have her here. She's our main person of interest for a homicide.
Kimberly had grown up with a brother. When the police called him, he really didn't want to talk and said he had lost touch with his sister.
But friends remembered how cruel Kimberly was to her sibling. I'm not sure if it was whenever they, I think whenever they got out of high school. They were, I think, living together. Who was? Her and her brother. I'm not sure if they were living together, but I know that she ended up getting pissed off at him. Okay? Okay. And she said, I'll get even with you. And she waited for him to fall asleep, but she hit him over the...
Over the mouth with a baseball bat and basically just blew all his teeth right out. Her reasoning behind it was her dad had passed away and her brother was living in their childhood home because the mother and the father had already split up. And before he partied with all his friends over, he felt that he was trashing the place, desecrating the place. That was her dad's home. She went in and hit him while he was sleeping.
Kimberly often had justifications for doing the crazy things she did, but she lied all the time to everyone. So it was impossible to know what was real. Here's Kimberly at the police station again after her arrest. I'm 50 years old. I am 50.
I mean, I don't just... It doesn't matter. Looks are deceiving, obviously. Some people look dumb, some people look whatever. It doesn't even matter. Do you have children? I do. I have a son. He is in North Carolina with his father.
That's what got me going and running again in 1999. Child Protective Services snatched him while I was at work from the babysitter, and that really set me over the edge. So thankfully, his father got him. He told me that the judge told him, or the judge said to CPS, why won't you give this man his son? Like, why are you fighting against him? And the judge made him get our son. So thankfully, my son is 20 years old now. I haven't seen him since he was 14 months old.
I'm very grateful that his father got to raise him. I did not want him in foster care. It scared me to death. I couldn't even understand why they took him. So that set me on my last 19-year run. Some parts of that are true. Yes, Kimberly has a son named Evan Everett Edwards. It's a lot of E's. But she has not seen him since he was 14 months old.
But the reason she hasn't been in his life is nothing close to what Kimberly told the cops. Not exactly true. According to Tim Edwards, the boy's biological father and Kimberly's ex-husband,
When Evan was born in 1998, Kimberly was living under the name Melissa McKernan, not Christina Brooke. After Evan was born, Kimberly started acting crazy and told the neighbors that she thought Evan was possessed by demons. The neighbors grew concerned as conversations like this continued and eventually the Department of Social Services got involved. When the social worker showed up,
Kimberly got in a fight with her and chased her off the property. Tim told the police that Kimberly asked him, dead serious, to kill the social services agent. She told him what gun he should use and how to do it. He refused. But Kimberly became obsessed with the social services agent. Later that week, Kimberly took a .357 pistol
and a taser to the social services office and threatened to kill her caseworker. She was, of course, immediately arrested and thrown in jail. Tim paid the $350 to have her bonded out that night. Kimberly slept on the couch. In the morning, she was gone and Tim never saw her again. But here's the kicker: when Tim went to social services to get his son back,
He found out that Kimberly had obtained a second birth certificate for her son, giving him a new last name. On the birth certificate, it said that she had given birth to her son at home, that his name was Brooke, and she had no idea who the boy's father was. I'm grateful my son's alive and well. So grateful. So grateful. And his dad, one of the things his dad did whenever Evan was like three months old, he
know why. I think he was on drugs. He always said he wasn't, but he acted so wild. His dad took us and he was just acting kind of crazy. And he's like, give me a baby. It was at night. I'm like, for what? Like he was never even interested in the baby before. It's like nine o'clock at night. I'm like, for what? Give me the baby. I'm like, for what? And he goes to like grab them. And I'm like, he's three months old. You can't wrestle over a three month old. They're fragile. I'm
And he just took his head and like pushed it up. And I didn't want to like resist because it's the baby. And he pushed his head into my head. Not very hard, but it made him cry. What are you doing? Like he just did that. And I was, it was the only thing that he ever did that, you know, was like nasty. But I'm like, I'm going to call the police. You need to go. What is wrong with you? And he just kind of.
After Kimberly was arrested and outed to the media, Tim and Evan were contacted. They laid low, but Evan did give this statement. I would like to say I really don't want to be contacted about this or associated with this at all. I'm not going to talk to them.
It seemed like Kimberly had made an impression on everyone she met. She would often go to churches and try to make friends. Here's a Mayo Clinic doctor she rented a room from that she met through church. Oh no.
saying that, you know, she was from out of town, she needed a place to stay, there was a bit of a sad story that we heard, and she said that she was a credible person, and she was directed to me somehow, because we have apartments, and so I
I gave her an apartment for a while. Her lifestyle was bizarre. She was very seclusive. She had no furniture in her apartment. She would not allow me to give her furniture, you know, that I came up with that was around or to help her in any way. She would repeatedly... She had a significant amount of paranoia and delusional...
Kimberly refused any furniture and slept in a sleeping bag on the floor in an empty apartment. Kimberly was nuts.
The police interviewed about 20 of her ex-boyfriends and they all had a strange tale to tell. She bragged to one boyfriend that she knew how to dispose a body without being caught. She made another boyfriend take off his pants every time he got home from work so he wouldn't leave the house without her. Another boyfriend said she threatened to cause her own miscarriage by jumping up and down in the middle of their street and punching herself in the stomach.
She beat men with frying pans, heavy ashtrays, and of course her fists. She threatened suicide all the time. And Kimberly is really the type of person that makes me not miss dating. Like at all. Oh, and one more thing. Every boyfriend reported that Kimberly absolutely hated her mother. Well, the media did track down her mother. And yes, you guessed it.
She too was, you know, an interesting character. Don't forget, this is a woman who reported her daughter missing after eight years of not seeing her. But Kimberly's ex-husband confirmed that she did visit when they lived together and Mrs. Kessler knew her daughter was alive. Here's Connie Kessler telling the local news how distraught she is to find out her daughter died.
Connie said Kimberly really lost it when her son Evan was taken from her by his father.
We all know that this is not what happened. My daughter went in search of him. That was the reason she changed her name in the first place, so that she could go back to Virginia to look for Evan. Evan and Tim Edwards were so upset when they caught Kimberly's mother on television telling these lies, Tim contacted the station to make sure they knew the truth. They reported it. It was becoming clear to the police that if you crossed Kimberly Kessler,
She left not only a mark but a deep scar.
I haven't been pet near since I was a kid, but I actually got into the professional with the license like four years ago. I guess that works well if you're moving around a lot. No, you can wait tables or whatever. I have driven tractor and trailer, which I did in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Did I mention I'm one in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Arizona? I also have a real estate license in Arizona. It goes on and on. So I just thought to myself...
I'm going to make money. Well, no, it requires like a special blessing from God. It also requires help. What I noticed in the last 25 years of being on my own, I, especially after my son was taken, I didn't let anybody get really too close to me. I did get into abusive relationships. That was foolish. And then I really kept everybody around me, but never really let too many people get close to me. It is virtually impossible to take care of oneself by yourself.
Notice how this line of questioning started with the cops asking her about cutting hair, and Kimberly cleverly steered the conversation away from that and into the topic that didn't involve Jolene Cummings at all. That's one of my first relationships in Arizona. He was actually, he robbed banks. And I met him, I was working as a...
You know why you're here?
Yes, I'm being accused. You accused me the other night. You were like, where's Jolene at? And I do not know where she is. Kimberly wasn't saying a word about Jolene or where she was. While one patch of detectives was tasked with hunting down anyone who knew Kimberly in the past, the other group tried to figure out where Jolene's body was, retracing her steps on the weekend of her disappearance.
A big break came when detectives got some security footage that showed Kimberly taking out two large heavy trash bags and dumping them into a bin behind a wing restaurant near Tangles. These were not just regular salon trash bags. Kimberly had to swing the heavy bags to get them into the shoulder height bin. These bags were filled with something or someone.
heavier than garbage from a hair salon. Can we just go through when you work with her on that Saturday so I can, is there anything you can tell me that she ever taught you about a
I know she's got a husband. I know she had a boyfriend. Did she ever talk about anybody she was scared of? Did she ever say anything that she wanted to run away and get away from at all? I don't remember hearing anything. She would have different conversations sometimes with different clients because different clients, you don't tell every client. You know what I mean? But the one client that... The one... I told you. The one that said she...
She was saying CPS came to her house. She was so on my mind that I caught a little blip of it in between listening to YouTube and the phone ringing. And she, I remember hearing her say she thought her
her ex-husband or her husband was doing to get out of paying child support. That's all I heard. And I don't remember ever hearing about a boyfriend ever. But then again, I don't always really pay attention. And as I told you before, Miss Anne, she really like talked to Miss Anne. Like her and Miss Anne would go out back and they'd smoke cigarettes together. They'd sit out back sometimes for a while and they would even forget that their clients were there. I'd have to go to the back and be like, hey, your clients are here because they would get so involved and talk. So I don't know
as much as, you know, maybe Miss Anne. And honestly, whenever I first started, she would tell me,
You know, I don't even remember what she started telling me some things that I would be like, I'm not the person to ask. I can't give you anything. Did she tell you who she was hanging around with or was she anything that maybe she shouldn't have been seeing? She would just say to me like, you know, the time or two that she'd say, I'm just going home and having a quiet night at home or like, I don't have the kids tonight or, you know, whatever. I'm just going to enjoy this. And I'd be like, you're young. Why don't you go out? She's like, no, I don't need a man in my life. But here she had a boyfriend. I didn't even know that.
Additional footage from a local Walmart showed Kimberly purchasing large trash bags, cleaning supplies, and an electric carving knife. At a fishing and boating store called West Marine, an employee remembered ringing up zip ties for Kimberly before Jolene disappeared. Well, she started immediately to talk to me and she said,
wow, you look really nice. You're really dressed up fancy. But it was not really a particular comment, compliment, I would say it was a little unusual kind of oddish demeanor, the way she said that. And I just said, Oh, thank you. How did it make you feel? I kind of had like a question mark in my mind, like, Whoa, I wonder why she's saying that.
She bought a package of zip ties. Did that strike you as unusual? I thought to myself, why is she buying these here at West Marine? She wasn't coming in to get any other kind of boating or fishing products or anything to go with them. And I thought to myself, why wouldn't she be buying these at Walmart or Home Depot or somewhere? She didn't seem like a fishing person type. Not particularly. I mean, I couldn't really judge her by particularly that way, but...
No, not really.
Do you remember anything about what type of zip ties these were? By zip ties, you mean what we call cable ties or the things that are used to tie something together and you slip it through? Correct. Correct. Do you remember what size? I just remember it was a larger package. I wouldn't say real thick, but it was a long type of a package, maybe. So they were the longer zip ties, not the small ones. Yes. I would say the package that we had them in was like 15 to 18 inches long.
Further security footage from a local gas station showed Kimberly around 1.30 a.m. the evening Jolene disappeared. Kimberly had dropped Jolene's car at a Home Depot at 1.17 a.m., then headed to the gas station where she got friendly with the cashier. She had me call her a taxi. She had you call her a taxi? Yeah. Can you tell me...
what your conversation was with her? - She said something about how she was out with a couple of friends drinking and one of the friend's ex-boyfriends came around. There'd been some kind of problem. She didn't go into detail for it much after that. And to be honest, I don't even know how she got to the store because she had me call her a taxi. And then what, 10, 15 minutes later, she was gone. The taxi came and picked her up, took her, she said somewhere to like a plant fitness.
Over the last few months, while employed at Tangles, Kimberly had been living in her car. She had a membership to Planet Fitness and used the gym to shower and get ready for work. But Kimberly was crazy, so she got into fights with the employees and other patrons regularly. Planet Fitness had enough and revoked her membership.
You have to be next level bat shit to get your membership to Planet Fitness taken away. Trust me on that. I mean, you got to be really, really, really, really nuts. Put it to you that way. They don't cancel those memberships voluntarily. She looked like she had a red mark on her face. It wasn't like much, but it didn't look like someone hit her. Maybe it like, you know, grabbed her by the face or pushed her or something like that. Another thing we forgot to mention.
When she was arrested, Kimberly had a big gash on her face and cuts all over her hands. First, she said she hit a tree and hit her head while she was riding her bike. Then she told cops the gashes were from bed bugs. What else did she say about them being out earlier? Nothing. She went into this really weird conversation about what meth does to your body. Literally, this is what most of our conversation was about.
Soon, a taxi pulled up and Kimberly left the gas station.
Kimberly had the cab driver drop her off near her Kia, which was parked in the same parking lot as a Planet Fitness. The police had confiscated and did a full examination of Kimberly's phone. Some of the searches before and after Jolene's disappearance included...
List of female murderers by country. Florida female murderers and autopsy. Jolene Cummings, I have vanished. No body, no crime. MyDeathSpace.com Now, this is probably, I'm guessing, similar to the search history of many of the people listening to my voice right now. But, you know, beyond that, she also googled Jolene's name 457 times.
Here's Kimberly again.
Is a grand theft auto charge. You knew that, correct? Yes. Okay. Okay. And that was kind of what I was talking with you about the other day. And the reason you're charged with that is because whenever we talked about that, there's video of you dropping her car off at the Home Depot parking lot there in Ulee and walking across and going into the
Gate station and get the taxi cab back down to, they had it listed as Dick's Wings, but it was back down there to where Tangles is, okay? And that's why you're charged with a grand theft auto. And I'm not trying to trick you. I'm not trying to fool you. You're opening up to me and I'm opening up to you, okay? That's the reason you're charged with that. You're not charged with anything else, okay?
Without Jolene's body, the murder weapon, or a confession, they could only charge Kimberly with Grand Theft Auto. Jolene could be anywhere. Kimberly could have her tied up to a tree, hanging upside down for all the police knew. Kimberly was just that crazy. Though they couldn't charge her with anything but Grand Theft Auto just yet,
The evidence was piling up as the police continued their investigation. Something happened to Joey, and we actually sent our crime scene unit out to process Tangles. And there was some evidence there, okay? We have also, and I don't know if you think I've been fooling you, I just want to talk to you and get to know you a little bit, because I think something happened.
What's your name? Well, something that you didn't plan happened. Let me tell you what we did, okay? Because I just want to be honest with you because I think something bad happened that you didn't intend to happen. But we have, you know, take a look at your car. We actually went out and went to your storage unit on the island. And we did that all on a legal basis. We had a search warrant for a mile, okay?
Since she lived in her car and showered at Planet Fitness, Kimberly had a storage unit where she kept her beloved motorcycle and other things she had been carting around with her through her various identities. In the storage unit, the police uncovered traces of Jolene's blood. When they processed Tangles, they found massive amounts of blood all over the salon.
They also found a pair of Kimberly's hair-cutting scissors that were covered in Jolene's blood and DNA. The theory was that Kimberly killed Jolene at Tangles, took her to her storage unit where she dismembered her over the course of 48 hours with the electric carving knife from Walmart, and then she threw her body in the trash behind the salon when she returned to work.
Kimberly had been planning to hurt Jolene for a while. Police also discovered that Kimberly had manipulated her way into obtaining a key for Tangles.
Employees from the restaurant across the street noticed the lights on at the salon very late the night Jolene went missing. Her body's out there somewhere. Let us get her buried properly or whatever, whatever final arrangements they need to take care of. I just want you to think about it for a minute. I've been here for four days on this, you know, 16, 18 hours a day because I'm going to find out where those little boys' mom is. I promise you I'm going to do that.
As she sat in jail,
more charges were added to the Grand Theft Auto. She was charged with holding a false passport for Jennifer Seibert's identity theft. With the overwhelming blood, evidence, and video footage, Kimberly would soon face a jury for the murder of Jolene Cummings. They say everything and everyone crazy resides in Florida, my home state. Well, Florida didn't really see true crazy.
Until Kimberly Kessler showed up in the Nassau County Court.
Introducing Virginia Lottery Rewards, an all-new way to experience the Virginia Lottery and get rewarded. Join today by going to valottery.com slash rewards or downloading the Lottery app. Log in or sign up today to earn 100 points instantly. Kimberly Kessler had been on the run her entire life under 17 different aliases before she landed herself a hairdressing job at the Tangle Salon in Yulee, Florida.
Wherever the hell that is. Ah, it's right by the Florida-Georgia border. Not surprising. Anyway, it was there that she developed a beef with her co-worker, Jolene Cummings. Now, Kimberly was being charged with Jolene's murder. At a press conference, Jolene's mother made one last cry for help from the public. As it got close to day nine that I reported my daughter missing...
Sunday was a special day, not only for Mother's Day, but it was her birthday. She was born on Mother's Day. God gave me this special blessing after my firstborn infant son, Richard, was buried. We are all heartbroken. My daughter was a loving mother to her children, her children for her life. I need you, the news, the public,
to help assist the law enforcement agencies to be their ears, to be their eyes. Someone out there, someone out there knows something. I beg you, I beg you as a mother to please keep coming forward with any information that you have, no matter how small. Help with any possible leads that could help locate my daughter.
For her, my three grandchildren who miss her so much. The FBI searched through the Chesser landfill and tried to find the trash bags they thought contained Jolene's body parts. They sent out dogs and horses as well as teams of experts to try to find her remains. They found nothing. In jail, Kimberly started to unravel.
At first, she talked openly with other inmates about her life and crimes. But after a year of incarceration, she began obsessing over her defense lawyer. She was convinced that he was Jolene's cousin and would explode at every hearing. Spoiler alert, the lawyer was not Jolene's cousin. But I probably didn't have to tell you that. We may want to put her on mute while we finish this, Judge.
Jordan Beard is Johnson's nephew. Jordan Beard is Jolene Cummings' cousin. Jordan Beard is Jolene Cummings' cousin.
Jordan Beard is Jolene's cousin. Jordan Beard is Jolene Cummings' cousin. Jordan Beard is Jolene's cousin. And I refuse this assigned counsel. Kessler screamed about her attorney every chance she got, but the judge still deemed her fit to stand trial.
In jail, inmates reported that Kimberly would often pretend to talk on the phone, but no one would be on the other line. The only person who would talk with her was her mom. Hello. I didn't get to say goodbye. It disconnected me. No, I figured you could call me anytime. I was just calling me until they actually forced me to hang up, but I don't really want to, you know, make them mad.
I haven't even done anything wrong and they treat me pretty bad. So they bail me out under my name that I'm going under, which is Jennifer Marie Cybert. And then eventually everything's all going to come together. But, you know, it's my real name, Kim Kessler. But just, you know, go about it. You know, jump through the hoops. Okay, wait, you can bail you out under Jennifer? Yeah, because that's what they arrested me under. They don't, until the FBI corrects it, it's going to be Jennifer. So.
Yes, I-- oh my god, they're not going to-- they don't correct. They will. You just put the money up for Jennifer Marie Cybers. I gave you my social, I gave you my date of birth, I gave you the name, my name, which is, you know, my alias or whatever. So, that I've been living under for 19 years. You're all set.
"Oh my god, are you warm? Are you sleeping all right? Did they give you a blanket?" "No, of course not. It's terrible. I'm in jail." Bail for Kimberly was originally set at $500,000. Needless to say, her mother, the mother that had waited eight years to report her missing, didn't pay for her bail either. As the trial date drew closer, Kimberly began starving herself.
When she was arrested, Kimberly was a "plump" woman, put it that way. But she went on a hunger strike for months and lost nearly 60 pounds. Do a Google search, she's unrecognizable. She was in and out of the hospital due to her extreme weight loss. She also began fighting with the staff in the jail. She would scream and yell into the night. I'm sure the other inmates really appreciated that.
Sometimes she would take a dump in her cell and throw the feces all over the walls at the corrections officers. It was reported that Kimberly cost the taxpayers an additional $215,000 because of her medical costs, suicide watch, transportation, and food. She made jail worse than a living hell for everyone in the building. Imagine making jail worse.
Kimberly also acted out at all the hearings. All of them. Here's how a typical one went. Okay, so today appears that today will be the last day that the state will be presenting evidence and the defense will be afforded the opportunity to present evidence today. So I want to make sure you're aware of that. I want to stay here in court and serve your right.
Jordan
It took almost two years for Kimberly's murder trial and deuterocychotic behavior at hearings and repeated outbursts about Jolene's relatives to
She was not allowed to be present for a single day of it. Instead, she stayed in her cell on suicide watch, planning when she could throw the next fist full of feces. This was now Kimberly's life. Not surprisingly, Kimberly Kessler was convicted of the first-degree murder of Jolene Cummings. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Sheriff Leeper, who had worked diligently on the investigation, said this to the media. I don't for one second believe that Kimberly Kessler, or whatever name she's going by today, I don't believe this is her first murder. I don't at all. After Kimberly was taken from the jail to her new permanent home, the staff celebrated with ice cream and cake that read, "...incarceration, relocation, celebration."
They posted a picture of all the correctional officers smiling with their forks filled with cake. Good riddance. Justice has been served. Everything that came through me was through Jolene. Jolene was here. Regardless of the life sentence, Jolene's mother had one last request for Kimberly. Where are the remains of my daughter? Give us some closure.
I'm asking you from one mother to another. But her request would be forever fruitless. Kimberly Kessler was locked away and they tossed away the proverbial key. Now the only person she'll be ranting at is herself. Kimberly Kessler is a true psychopathic narcissist. Not the kind of narcissist you may be thinking. Not the kind that spends too much time on Twitter waiting for replies.
from some clever post they wrote. Not that kind of narcissist, but the real kind. Kimberly Kessler is a case study on what happens when mental illness meets pure evil. She is a selfish, delusional liar with no regard for human life, not even her own. Jolene Cummings was the ultimate victim. She didn't know who she was dealing with. She thought this Jennifer chick was just a little off.
And you know, she's a hairdresser, so she's curious. Everybody knows hairdressers are curious. Jolene had a good instinct when everyone else at the salon was oblivious to the signs. But that suspicious instinct would prove deadly. What's the saying? Curiosity killed the cat? There's a reason that saying exists. I like to think that Jolene fought.
She didn't back down when Kimberly lunged at her with a pair of scissors. Kimberly kicked and punched and scratched and screamed, but in the end, she lost. Kimberly was bigger, stronger, and much crazier than anyone could have ever suspected. Who would have thought that this chubby, oddball hairdresser in yoga pants could be capable of such a heinous affair? Maybe. One day, Jolene's body collapsed.
will be found. But there's still hope. However, for now, her family and her children can finally rest knowing that her killer will be locked up forever and nobody, not a single human being on Earth gives a shit whether Kimberly lives or dies in that cell.
All right, that does it. Thank you for joining us. If you haven't checked out Plus, swordandscale.com slash plus is where to go. Until next time, stay safe. Hello, Sword and Scale podcast. I am a listener for a very long time, actually. I think I've been listening to the show for almost four years. And I have to say that the things that people say about the host,
are insanely hilarious. I mean, I've seen all the hate that has transpired with this podcast for a very long time, and I just really don't understand why is it that people talk so much shit? Like, what's going on? Is it just fat women on the internet trying to fucking...
I don't know. They don't have anything else to do other than talk shit about a podcast. It's insane. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you guys that you guys are actually pretty great and it's one of the podcasts that I've listened to for a very long time and you guys are always really, really good. So thank you and fuck the haters. Seriously. They don't have anything better to do. I feel so sorry for them.
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