Jennifer Kesse
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To get this episode of Forensic Tales ad-free, check us out at patreon.com slash Forensic Tales. Forensic Tales discusses topics that some listeners may find disturbing. The contents of this episode may not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised. On Tuesday morning, January 24th, 2006, Drew Kessie received a strange phone call. A call from his daughter's boss. His beautiful and responsible daughter didn't show up for work.

Something is very wrong. The family drives straight to Florida. They break into her apartment. Messy bathroom, wet towels. Jennifer was just there. And now, she's nowhere to be found? This is Forensic Tales, episode number 110. The disappearance of Jennifer Kessie. ♪

Welcome to Forensic Tales. I'm your host, Courtney Fretwell-Ariola.

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Now, let's jump right into this week's case. On the afternoon of Wednesday, January 18th, 2006, 24-year-old Jennifer Kessie made the three-hour drive from her condo in Orlando, Florida, down to her boyfriend's place in Fort Lauderdale. Jennifer and her boyfriend, Rob Allen, had been in a long-distance relationship for the last year.

Even though the three-hour drive that separated them was tough, they were in love. They would make it a priority to see each other every single weekend. That meant that either Jennifer drove out to Fort Lauderdale or Rob made the trek out to Orlando. Once Jennifer arrived at Rob's place, the couple had plans to take a weekend trip to St. Croix the following day.

On Thursday, January 19th, they boarded an early morning plane and made the two-and-a-half-hour flight down to St. Croix. The plan was to spend the weekend with a mutual friend and the friend's family who owned a timeshare property. Jennifer and Rob wanted to celebrate the new year since they weren't able to be together on the actual holiday. It was supposed to be a weekend filled with pool time, drinking, eating, and just good times.

While Jennifer vacationed with Rob, her brother Logan stayed at her condo back in Orlando. He had helped his sister move in and wanted to stay in the city for the weekend. So Jennifer agreed. Logan invited a couple of his friends to stay with him at Jennifer's condo. He invited his best friend Travis and another friend named Matt. Matt just so happened to be one of Jennifer's ex-boyfriends.

When Saturday, January 21st came around, Rob and Jennifer were supposed to get on a plane headed back towards the States, but their flight back home was canceled and they were forced to stay on the island for another day, extending their vacation for one more day.

On Sunday, January 22nd, Jennifer and Rob finally made it back to Miami. A friend picked them up at the airport and drove them back to Rob's house in Fort Lauderdale. It was late, so Jennifer decided to spend the night at Rob's and then make the three-hour drive back to Orlando in the morning.

Before they went to bed that night, Rob took Jennifer's car to the gas station to fill up her tank. This was something that he always did for her so that she wouldn't have to get gas by herself in the early morning. Jennifer's brother Logan and his friends left the condo back in Orlando. But one of his friends, Travis, accidentally left his cell phone. The plan was for Jennifer to return the cell phone once she returned home the following day.

Around 6 o'clock in the morning on Monday, January 23rd, Jennifer left Rob's house and drove her car directly to her job at Westgate Resorts. At the time, she worked as a finance manager for the property. This position was her third promotion in the last year. Jennifer called her mom, Joyce, to talk about her trip on her way into work that day. The drive usually took three hours, and she arrived at work by 9 a.m.,

Jennifer worked a full day. Before ending her workday, she had a quick meeting with her boss and they both walked out to their cars around 6 p.m. They exchanged good nights. Jennifer got in her car and her boss got in his. Once Jennifer got to her condo, she called her parents and her brother Logan to talk a little bit more about her weekend trip. Logan then told Jennifer that his friend accidentally left his cell phone at her place.

Jennifer told him it was no problem. She would just mail the cell phone back to Travis from her works mail room the following day. It was going to be easy since her job had an on-site UPS and FedEx drop-off station. After hanging up with Logan, Jennifer called one of her best friends, Lauren. According to Lauren, Jennifer seemed to be in a quote, funky mood when they talked on the phone together.

To Lauren, it seemed like Jennifer might have been in a bad mood because of the long distance relationship with Rob and it was starting to get to her. So at 9.57 p.m., Jennifer called Rob from her condo's landline. Unfortunately, she got terrible cell phone reception anywhere except the balcony. So Jennifer called Rob while lying in bed using the condo's landline.

This particular phone call between Jennifer and Rob didn't go so well. They ended up getting into a little bit of an argument. It was the kind of argument that, quote, any husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, any couple might have had. Maybe the long distance was really starting to get to them. During the phone call, Jennifer told Rob she heard someone knock on her front door.

She'd been recently complaining about men harassing her around her condo's complex. At the time, the complex where Jennifer lived was going through a major renovation. The project started earlier that month and converted the units from apartments to condos. Jennifer was one of the first people to purchase one of these condos. This renovation project meant that many construction workers were allowed to live in the vacant units on property.

At the time, the complex only had a handful of permanent residents. Of the 447 units in the complex, only 250 of them were occupied at the time. Jennifer complained to Rob and her parents that the construction workers made her feel uncomfortable and uneasy. She said some of them would just stop and stare at her as she walked by. They wouldn't say anything. They would just stop and stare.

She was so bothered by some of these workers that she would always be on the phone with either her mom or her dad whenever these workers had to come inside of her apartment. She would stay on the phone with them in the doorway of her condo until they left. So when she heard someone knock on her door that night, she thought that maybe it was one of the workers, so she didn't answer it.

Jennifer typically left for work sometime between 7.30 a.m. and 7.45 each day. So her routine would be to leave the condo, walk to her car in the parking lot, and then call Rob as soon as she got to her car. But on Tuesday, January 24th, Jennifer didn't call Rob. In an interview with CNN, Rob said that, quote, Jennifer always woke up before me. She had to go to work before I did.

She every day would either call me just to say good morning, have a great day, or just text me to wish me a great day. Love you. That type of thing. And when I didn't receive it Tuesday morning, I thought it was odd. But I was running a little late for work, so I called her on my way into work and just got her voicemail. End quote. He tried calling her again around 9 a.m., but got her voicemail again.

By 10.30 a.m., Jennifer's employer got concerned when she hadn't shown up yet and missed an important meeting. If Jennifer was going to be just five minutes late to work, she would have called. The CFO of Jennifer's company was good friends with Jennifer's dad, Drew. So when he learned about Jennifer not showing up to work that morning, he picked up the phone and personally called Drew to let him know that Jennifer hadn't shown up yet and she wasn't answering her phones.

So Drew told him that he would call him herself. Jennifer's parents had a rule with Jennifer and her brother Logan. Her parents said, anytime we call, you answer. We don't care what you're doing, you answer the phone. If you don't, no more cell phones, no more cars.

So Drew's thinking, okay, I'm going to call my daughter and she's going to answer. She's going to see my name pop up on her caller ID and she's going to pick up. He calls and the call goes straight to voicemail. Jennifer's mom, Joyce, also tried getting a hold of her by calling the condo landline. She also sent internet messages, but she couldn't reach her either.

Within minutes, Joyce and Drew Kessie knew something was wrong. This was entirely out of character for their daughter. So by 11 o'clock in the morning, they hopped in their car to start the two-hour drive out to Orlando. They also called Jennifer's brother Logan and told him to drop what he was doing and head to Jennifer's condo.

While in the car together, Drew and Joyce started calling Orlando hospitals and jails. Maybe she's been in some sort of accident, but nothing. Next, they called her friends, but no one has heard from her since Monday night. Drew then called the condo's management office to ask if someone could go and check and see if Jennifer's car was parked there. They said no, the parking spot was empty.

So then they asked if someone could go to Jennifer's unit and maybe check to see if she was still inside. But the property manager said he wasn't allowed to do it alone. He said he needed someone else to be with him. So it takes the manager about five to ten minutes to find another employee to go check on Jennifer's unit.

Once they got there, they told Jennifer's dad that everything seemed normal. The condo didn't look disturbed, and there was no one inside. That afternoon, Jennifer's parents arrived in Orlando, along with her brother Logan and his friend Travis. Once they got to Jennifer's condo, the building manager unlocked the unit.

Inside, everything seemed normal. Nothing seemed out of place. They didn't find any blood or signs of a forced entry. Everything inside suggested that Jennifer had been just there. There was makeup all over the bathroom counter. The shirt that she wore to bed the night before was still lying on the bedroom floor. The shower was still wet like she had just used it.

Besides Jennifer, the only missing things that seemed to be missing from the condo were her cell phone keys and purse. So whatever happened to Jennifer happened after she locked her condo. A police officer met Jennifer's family at the condo. Since Jennifer was a 24-year-old adult, the police officer chalked it up to maybe her getting into a fight with her boyfriend. She's going to be back any minute now.

But the family disagreed. They knew in their heart of hearts that something was wrong. But the police didn't seem concerned. The saying goes that in an investigation, if the police don't get a solid lead or suspect within the first 48 hours, their chances of solving it reduce by 50%. 50%.

Missing person investigations are no different. Unfortunately, it took the Orlando Police Department several more hours to finally take Jennifer's case seriously, which may have cost the investigation valuable evidence and information.

By nighttime, a full-blown search began to find Jennifer. Dozens of family members and friends gathered at her condo to search for her. Travis and Logan began knocking on every door throughout the complex, asking everyone if they heard or saw Jennifer. They even tried speaking with some of the construction workers, but none seemed to want to help.

Anytime Logan tried talking to any of the construction workers, they said they didn't know anything and they walked away. Others handed out flyers with her photograph on it, but nothing turned up. No one had seen or heard from her. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp.

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Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash tails to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash tails. Jennifer was born Jennifer Joyce Kessie on May 20th, 1981. After attending high school in Vivian Gathier High School in Tampa, Florida, Jennifer attended college at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

In 2003, she graduated with honors with a bachelor's degree in finance. Growing up, Jennifer was incredibly close with her parents and brother, especially with her dad. She was a daddy's girl. She was also highly protective over her younger brother, Logan, who was 21 years old at the time. Those close to her described her as genuine and a straight shooter. She might have been sweet, but she would also tell you if you crossed her.

In an interview with the podcast House of Broken Dreams, Joyce jokingly called Jennifer a bathroom and a car pig. Although Jennifer's entire house might have been spotless, her bathroom and her car were always a mess. She always had makeup all over the bathroom counter. Her clothes would be on the floor. And similar to her car, it was always a mess.

But Jennifer was also a cautious person. If she walked through a dark parking lot at night, she would talk to someone on the phone until she got inside of her car. She even carried pepper spray on her key ring. She watched true crime shows like Law & Order and even talked about what she would do if she were ever to become a crime victim. A couple of months before her disappearance, Jennifer purchased that condo at Mosaic at Millennia in Orlando.

Purchasing that condo was a huge accomplishment for Jennifer because she bought it with her own money, the money she earned working as a finance manager. The Mosaic at Millennia advertised its properties as a luxury complex. It was gated and had a full-time security guard staffed at its main entrance. The place felt safe. That was one of the many reasons that Jennifer chose this place as her new home.

Jennifer's family and the Orlando Police Department continued their search throughout the day on Wednesday, January 25th, but nothing turned up. Even though it looked like Jennifer had slept in her apartment the previous night, the police pursued a different theory. Maybe she was abducted the night before.

Her cell phone pinged a cell phone tower some distance away from her condo during the night, suggesting to them that she might have left.

But Jennifer's parents were suspicious about this theory. They knew their daughter. They knew that she wouldn't just up and go somewhere in the middle of the night without them knowing. Jennifer was the type of person who stayed connected. And they were absolutely right. Because after reexamining the cell phone data, the police learned that they misinterpreted the data. In other words, Jennifer never left her condo that night.

So they were back to square one. Whatever happened to her happened the next day on Tuesday, January 24th. Jennifer's condo became the unofficial command center for the entire investigation. They continued to get the word out about Jennifer's disappearance as quickly as possible. News stations all up and down Florida quickly picked up on the story, but nothing turned up.

Nothing until Thursday, almost 48 hours after Jennifer went missing. Slightly after 8 o'clock in the morning, the police received a tip from a woman who lived in a nearby apartment complex. After seeing Jennifer's car on the news, the caller said she recognized it because a similar vehicle had been sitting abandoned outside of her complex for the last couple of days.

The vehicle was described as a black four-door 2004 Chevy Malibu, Florida license plate number H90KYC. It was Jennifer's. The police went out to the complex, Huntington on the Green, a property 1.1 miles away from Jennifer's.

Even though it was only a mile away, it was a completely different part of town, a part known for high rates of property and violent crimes. A couple who lived in Jennifer's complex told investigators that they saw Jennifer's car swerving out of the complex around 740 the day she disappeared.

They said it looked like someone was fighting to control the car. But the couple said that they didn't know which way the car went after it drove out of the complex and they didn't get a good look to see who was behind the steering wheel. The police and Jennifer's family hope is that it's only a matter of time before they find her. They've already found her car, so they're going to find her next. The first place they checked was inside the car's trunk.

Before the police opened up the trunk, they brought Jennifer's boyfriend Rob to the scene. Even though he was three hours away in Fort Lauderdale, investigators always consider the boyfriend as a possible suspect when someone goes missing. So they brought him to the car to watch as other officers opened the trunk to see if he would react to what was inside. Police officers opened the trunk

And nothing. No Jennifer. When investigators searched the car, everything seemed to be in place. They even found a DVD player that Rob had bought for Jennifer sitting right there in the back seat, suggesting to them that the motive here for taking the car wasn't a robbery and it wasn't a carjacking. They also found a pair of Jennifer sandals on the front passenger seat floor.

According to Jennifer's family, she wore sandals while walking from her condo to her car because she didn't want to scuff the heels that she wore for work. They also found a car cell phone charger and a broken mail key in the center console.

Missing from the car were Jennifer's iPod, her work briefcase, wallet with her Florida driver's license, purse, cell phone, Travis's forgotten cell phone that she intended to return that day, as well as brown work heels and her house keys.

Now, the location of Jennifer's car is significant. I mentioned a few minutes ago that the complex was only about one mile away from Jennifer's. This is only a two to five minute drive or maybe a 15 minute walk. That's all. Someone could have harmed Jennifer, taken her car and then walked away within only about a half an hour or even less.

The investigators noted in their report that Jennifer's car was spotless and neat when they found it there. On the surface, this detail seems small, right? Okay, her car is spotless and it's neat. But if you remember, I mentioned how Joyce, Jennifer's mom, described her daughter as a bathroom and a car pig.

Since Jennifer was a teenager, she kept a messy bathroom and she kept a messy car. That was just something Jennifer did. Her house might be spotless, but her car was always a mess. So why was Jennifer's car all of a sudden so neat and so clean?

Investigators did a full forensic sweep of the car. They were looking for any traces of blood or fingerprints, but the car was wiped completely clean. The only latent fingerprint that turned up inside of the car ended up belonging to Jennifer herself.

Next, forensic techs combed the car for DNA. Techs vacuumed everything to collect trace evidence from the car's seats and floors, and they sent everything they collected to the forensic lab. This included possible drops of blood that may have fallen, any hair from anyone who's been inside the car, fibers of clothing, and even skin cells. They collected everything

Anything that the person who abandoned the car might have left behind. But the vacuum samples came back inconclusive. The only thing they found was a small DNA fiber. Now you're probably thinking, only a tiny DNA fiber? This is huge. We've got DNA evidence here.

Well, before we get too excited, the DNA fiber that they collected was only a partial sample. The fiber didn't contain enough DNA for a profile or enough for it to be entered into a CODIS database search for a possible match.

Our ability to test DNA has tremendously improved over the years, especially since 2006. But even with these advancements in DNA, we're still faced with some serious, serious obstacles, especially when it comes to analyzing and testing low amounts of DNA.

When investigators encounter a crime scene, they have to decide whether or not to proceed with testing low amounts of DNA. Unfortunately, the smaller the sample, the more it may be diluted and therefore the less reliable results the test will produce.

This decision is sometimes called the, quote, stop testing approach. Now, this approach simply begs the question, how do you know that you have too little sample to obtain reliable results? In other words, how small is small DNA?

So this partial DNA fiber, which is how it's described, might be too small to produce any actual reliable results in Jennifer's case. Besides Jennifer's fingerprint and that small DNA fiber, the police didn't find any other significant evidence inside of the car. Whoever drove it, dumped it at the Huntington of the Green apartment complex, did so without leaving behind a trace of first aid.

Detectives brought in search dogs to try and pick up Jennifer's scent. If someone transported her body in the car, maybe the dogs can pick up where she went after that. One of the dogs tracked a scent that led from the car back to her condo. This path suggested to the police that maybe someone walked back to Jennifer's place after dumping the car. But other than that, the dogs didn't find anything else.

After discovering Jennifer's abandoned Chevy Malibu, investigators got their hands on the complex's surveillance cameras. Although Jennifer's complex didn't have any cameras, the Huntington on the Green complex did. What they found provided the next big break in the case.

The complex had two cameras near the pool area. One camera aimed at the direction where someone dumped Jennifer's car, and a second camera faced the Texas Avenue exit of the complex. This camera was located on the roof of the pool house.

Camera number one captured someone parking Jennifer's car around 12 o'clock noon on the day she went missing. Unfortunately, the quality of the video is very poor and is only recorded in black and white. It's impossible to see the person inside of the car, but you can watch as they park it in a visitor spot next to the pool.

Then, the person sits inside of Jennifer's car for approximately 32 seconds before getting out. What was this person doing in this 32-second time frame? Wiping down the steering wheel and center console to eliminate forensic evidence? Destroying other valuable evidence inside the car? After sitting in there for 32 seconds, this same individual is captured on camera number two.

the camera that faced the Texas Avenue exit near the complex's pool. The image captured on camera number two is the biggest key to finding out what happened to Jennifer. Camera number two captured an individual walking past a tall wrought iron fence around the pool. Every two to three seconds, the camera snaps a black and white image. It's not a continuous film.

In every single shot, this person's face is perfectly obscured by the fence. They take a step, his face is hidden. Three seconds later, the camera snaps again, their face is covered again. This continues for about 10 to 11 seconds until this individual moves off camera, going south where they make a right on Downing Street.

This individual seems to be walking with a purpose and never once looked back at Jennifer's car. Somehow, the fence blocked this person's face every three seconds. Even though this person doesn't attempt to conceal their face, it's a terrible coincidence. One journalist called this individual, quote, the luckiest person of interest ever, end quote.

When Orlando investigators watched the surveillance tapes, they couldn't tell whether this person was either male or female. When I watch it, the first thought that I have personally is that it's a male. It looks like they're dressed in a workman type clothes. Maybe they're a painter or some sort of other construction worker. They're wearing what looks to be a dark colored high top sneaker or work boot.

And what's on top of this person's head is hard to make out. Maybe their hair is tied up in some sort of bun or short ponytail. It's possible that the hair is stuffed underneath some sort of hat. Because the camera only snaps a shot every three seconds and the quality is pitiful, the details of this person's characteristics are extremely hard to distinguish.

However, what is clear is that the person seen in these surveillance videos is somehow, someway involved in Jennifer's disappearance. Twelve days later, the Orlando police released the images to the public.

They printed still images from the video and posted them around the Orlando area, hoping someone would recognize them. They could recognize their clothes, their stature. Someone out there knows who this individual is. It would be another few months before the entire video was released to the media, with the same hope that someone would call in a tip.

The Orlando police did a forensic workup of the video. Their experts concluded that the individual's height was somewhere between 5'3 and 5'5, with notably large feet for their height. They concluded this by measuring objects around the individual and then comparing them back to the person. The FBI also had a forensic expert take a look at the video, and they came up with the same height estimate.

Now, I want to stop there for a second because this height estimate is important. Jennifer was described as being 5'7", 5'8", and 130 pounds. This estimate means that the prime suspect in her disappearance could be anywhere from 4 to 5 inches shorter than Jennifer.

I also want to mention that this individual has a small body frame. This is a relatively small person. So this begs the important question, we may be looking for more than one suspect. We might also be looking for a female. Maybe the person seen in the surveillance camera was only the person in charge of getting rid of her car and that there are others involved in her disappearance.

Of course, if Jennifer was abducted by surprise, which seems likely, a person who is five to four inches shorter than her can absolutely overpower her. The theory that Jennifer was caught off guard when she was kidnapped is supported by the evidence found inside of her condo.

Remember, the evidence suggested that she got ready and left her condo for work that morning. She had recently used the shower. There was a wet towel in the bathroom and she locked her condo. As she locked the front door, it's entirely possible that someone attacked her from behind and she had no chance at fighting back.

But who could have kidnapped her? In broad daylight, right outside of her condo, the same condo complex that sold its units based on this claim that they were this luxury, protected, gated community with a 24-7 security guard. In May of 2007, Jennifer's company offered up a $1 million reward in the case. The stipulation to cash out on this $1 million reward? Jennifer had to be alive.

The company gave the person or persons responsible for her disappearance until July 4th to turn her over safe and sound. They hoped that Jennifer was still alive somewhere. Maybe she was being held against her will. Maybe she was sex trafficked. So offering this large reward of $1 million could absolutely persuade someone to release her.

Everyone sat on pins and needles and waited in this big anticipation. But July 4th came and July 4th went. Nothing. No one came forward claiming that $1 million reward. Over the next three years, the search to find Jennifer intensified. Her family and friends were desperate to identify that mystery person seen on the surveillance tape.

In 2009, the investigation took a giant step forward. With a fresh set of eyes on the case, an Orlando detective sat down and interviewed a housekeeper who worked at Jennifer's complex at the time of her disappearance.

They showed the housekeeper a picture of the guy seen walking away from Jennifer's car during this interview. And right away, this woman recognized the man. She recognized his walk, his clothing, even his hairstyle. His name? Chino. Chino lived at Jennifer's complex and worked there as a maintenance worker at the time of her disappearance.

Orlando detectives learned that he also had been inside of Jennifer's condo at least several times while she lived there, completing miscellaneous work orders. Tracking down Chino was easy because in 2009, he was serving time in prison for a statutory rape conviction of a teenage girl, a crime he committed two years after Jennifer's disappearance.

Orlando police went to interview Chino in prison, and he was cooperative with the police. But he denied having anything to do with Jennifer's disappearance. He even agreed to take a polygraph test, which he passed.

One thing I want to mention here is that Chino is 5'9". He's much taller than the FBI's assessment of the person seen in the surveillance footage. So even though this housekeeper said that the man had the same walk, had the same clothes, even same hairstyle as Chino, his height wasn't a match.

So without any solid evidence against Chino except this tip from the housekeeper, the Orlando police backed down, at least for now. By 2010, the Orlando police moved the lead detective assigned to Jennifer's case off the entire investigation. Although the department maintained that Jennifer's case was active and open, Jennifer's family disagreed.

With the lead detective reassigned, they had no idea who was investigating their daughter's case. And they were frustrated. It had been four years since her disappearance. We still don't know who the guy is in the surveillance video. And we're still no closer to figuring out what happened to Jennifer.

Every time the family asked the police for the case to be considered cold, they wouldn't do it. Instead, they kept saying that it was an active investigation. I know you're probably wondering, well, why did the family want the case to be considered cold?

Well, when a case is considered cold, they can dump a lot more resources into the investigation. They can get different resources than when a case is deemed open or active. If a case is open, then the police department is investigating it. They're the sole owners of that investigation. And in many cases, they're

The department doesn't even need to disclose any information to the victim's family. They have entire control over everything. So when a case is then labeled as cold, it basically opens up the net and the family can become much more involved in the investigation. The family can start to bring in their own experts, maybe a private investigator, something like that.

But the Orlando police here, they wouldn't budge. They stuck their foot in the ground and said, no, Jennifer's case is an open and active investigation. We are handling it. We are investigating it. It is not a cold case, even though arguably no one in the department was actually working on the case. In 2016, the state of Florida officially declared Jennifer Kessie dead.

For 10 years, there hasn't been a single sighting of Jennifer anywhere. No activity on her cell phone or bank accounts. Nothing since the day she disappeared right in front of her condo. After the state declared Jennifer dead, the Kessie family did something enormous. They sued the Orlando Police Department to get access to her case files.

In their lawsuit, they wanted the case files. The family wanted to take over the investigation because they no longer trusted the police. At the time, Orlando had a new police chief. He told the Kessies to give his department six months to find any new leads in the case. If after six months, nothing turned up, he would agree to turn over the case files.

And after six months, that's exactly what the police chief did. The Orlando police turned over 16,000 pages of documents, 67 hours of video and audio recordings, and thousands of pictures to the Kessie family. Under the agreement, the Orlando police would no longer be able to investigate Jennifer's case. The only people who could investigate it would be Jennifer's family and their private team.

Joyce and Drew Kesey hired private investigator Michael Toretta to help review the case file. A former federal agent turned private investigator, Michael Toretta and the Keseys started reviewing the over 16,000 pages of documents in the investigation. They looked for anything the Orlando police might have missed over the years.

The family and private investigator believe that the Orlando police missed critical information early in the investigation. A handful of former residents said that the place that Jennifer lived, referring to the condo complex, former residents said that it seemed safe, at least at first.

But when the construction workers started to live on the property during this renovation project, things changed. Many of these residents, especially female residents, no longer felt safe there. One woman said that she thought some of the construction workers went inside of her apartment when she wasn't home and that some of them went through her underwear drawer.

Another woman said she once caught a peeping Tom on her balcony. A guy was basically jerking off and watching as she changed clothes one night. The family also carefully studied the 130 to 140 photographs the police took of Jennifer's car.

When Michael Toretta and his team looked at the photographs, they found evidence suggesting a violent struggle happened on the front hood of Jennifer's car.

In an interview with Fox News, Jennifer's father, Drew, said, quote, It looked like someone was thrown down on top of the hood, arms spread out and then dragged back almost like off the hood to the point where you can almost see fingers scribbling down the hood. End quote.

Toretta went on to tell Fox News, quote, the photos look suspicious and show what appears to be a hand mark going across the hood. We hope that by showing the public these photos, someone will come forward with information they've been holding on to for all these years, end quote.

In another photograph, the Kessies believe they see a boot print on the rug near the car's gas pedal. Bigger shoe prints than Jennifer's feet. Although the Orlando police took these photographs, they did not mention the hood or the boot print in their official reports. These are simply observations that the Kessie family has made since getting their hands on these photographs.

Throughout the family and Michael Toretta's investigation, the name Chino has come up many times, along with a few other construction workers seen around Jennifer's complex at the time of her disappearance. The Kessie family has long believed that a construction worker on Jennifer's property may be responsible for what happened. However, no one has been arrested or suspected other than Chino.

Some even speculate that one of the 10 workers who lived in a unit directly across from hers might be responsible. Who were the workers who refused to speak with Jennifer's brother? We have no idea. We have no idea because sadly, the apartment complex didn't keep a list of names and there are no official records of who worked there during this renovation project.

Now, a popular theory is that she got up and got ready to go to work that day, like she did every single morning. Then, as she's locking her front door, she's attacked by someone from behind. Sometime after that, someone dumped her car down the street and wiped it clean of any forensic evidence. But what happened with Jennifer's body remains unknown.

Her case remains unsolved, a tragic mystery. When this episode of my show airs, Jennifer Kessie has been missing for 16 long years. Yet, even after all of these years, the closest to Jennifer remain hopeful that they'll get some answers someday. How can forensic science help solve the mystery of what happened to Jennifer Kessie?

One idea is the use of new technology to enhance the surveillance camera footage. Although the FBI and NASA tried to enhance the photo back in 2006, new technology can always retest the footage. Another idea is to test the small DNA fiber the police recovered from Jennifer's car, the sample that came back inconclusive.

Then there are ways outside of forensic science that can help solve this case. Information. Someone out there knows something. Someone out there saw something. Someone out there knows exactly what happened to Jennifer Kessie. It only takes one person to come forward with information so that this family can finally get that small piece of justice they desperately deserve.

And you can help. Go to our website, ForensicTales.com. I'm going to be posting still images of this individual seen walking away from Jennifer's car. I'm also going to post the entire video so that you can check it out for yourself. The key to solving this whole case is in that video. And one day soon, we are going to find them.

Anyone with information on Jennifer Kessie's whereabouts is urged to visit the Find Jennifer Kessie Facebook page or contact the FBI. I'll post a link to the family's Facebook in the show notes and to our website, ForensicTales.com. To share your thoughts on the Jennifer Kessie story, be sure to follow the show on Instagram and Facebook. What do you think happened to her?

To find out what I think about the case, sign up to become a patron at patreon.com slash forensic tales. After each episode, I release a bonus episode where I share my personal thoughts and opinions about the case. This is where I get the opportunity to say what I think happened to Jennifer Kessie. To check out those photos and the video, be sure to head to our website, forensic tales.com.

Don't forget to subscribe to Forensic Tales so you don't miss an episode. We release a new episode every Monday. If you love the show, consider leaving us a positive review or tell friends and family about us. You can also help support the show through Patreon. Thank you so much for joining me this week. Please join me next week. We'll have a brand new case and a brand new story to talk about.

Until then, remember, not all stories have happy endings. Forensic Tales is a Rockefeller Audio production. The show is written and produced by me, Courtney Fretwell-Ariola. For a small monthly contribution, you can help create new compelling cases for the show, help fund research, and assist with production and editing costs.

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To learn about how you can support the show, head over to our Patreon page, patreon.com slash Forensic Tales, or simply click the support link in the show notes. You can also support the show by leaving a positive review or spreading the good word about us.

Forensic Tales is a podcast made possible by our Patreon producers, Tony A, Nicole L, David B, Paula G, Selena C, Nicole G, Christine B, Christina M, and Karen D. If you'd like to become a producer of the show, head over to our Patreon page or send me an email at Courtney at ForensicTales.com to find out how you can become involved.

For a complete list of sources used in this episode, please visit ForensicTales.com. Thank you so much for listening. Your support means the world to me. I'll see you next week. Until then, remember, not all stories have happy endings.