Jan. 24, 2006 is a day that would change one Orlando family’s life forever. It was the last time Drew and Joyce Kesse would hear from their 24-year-old daughter, Jennifer.
The young woman with so much going for her, seemingly vanished without a trace from her Orlando condo. Nearly 15 years later, the Kesse family and investigators are no closer to finding out what happened to her.
In all that time there have been no arrests, no suspects have ever been named and Jennifer has never been found.
Recently the CBS show, “48 Hours Investigates,” dedicated the hour to revisiting the Kesse case in hopes of sparking some new clues.
News 6 anchors Matt Austin and Ginger Gadsden spoke with Drew Kesse for this weeks edition of Florida’s Fourth Estate.
Drew Kesse revealed a theory many had not heard before. He said his daughter may have been taken by human sex traffickers.
Kesse says it’s a theory he thinks about because whoever took Jennifer only took her and not a single item of her personal belongings.
Keeping Jennifer’s name and story in the public eye is important for her family. They hope someone who knows something will eventually come forward with information to solve the case.
Drew Kesse says he is grateful “48 Hours” is keeping the story alive, but he says he wanted to clarify some confusion about some construction workers who were renovating the condo complex where Jennifer lived.
He said those workers were not staying across the hall from Jennifer’s condo.
“No one ever lived in the condo across from Jennifer,” Kesse explained. “The condo across from Jennifer was the only condo where the door was actually unlocked.”
He said some workers did live in another building across the way from Jennifer’s complex.
Kesse said he wanted to clarify that piece of information in case someone remembered something about that particular detail. It also explains why police would not have immediately spoken with the workers if they lived across the hall.
News 6 investigator Louis Bolden, who has been covering the Kesse case from day one, also joined Matt and Ginger on the podcast this week.
You can hear what he has to say about covering this high profile case and why doing follow up stories on unsolved cases is so important in the most recent episode of Florida’s Fourth Estate.
Florida’s Fourth Estate looks at everything from swampy politics to a fragile environment and even the crazy headlines that make Florida the craziest state in the Union.
Ginger Gadsden and Matt Austin use decades of experience as journalists to dissect the headlines that impact Florida. Each week they have a guest host who helps give an irreverent look at the issues impacting the Sunshine State. Big influencers, like Attorney John Morgan, renowned Florida journalists and the scientists protecting Florida’s ecosystem, can often be found as guests.
Look for new episodes every Friday on iTunes, Sticher or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
Listen to the full episode of Florida’s Fourth Estate on iTunes here or on Sticher here.