Orlando, FL- Jennifer Kesse, the newly promoted mortgage process engineering manager for Central Florida Investments, parent company of Westgate Resorts was an upstart.

Recent BOC article coverage can be found here, here and here.

After interviewing with upper management for other advancement roles within the company- her new position was actually created For Her.

Was this a forward and prophetic corporate strategy based on mortgage industry trending data?

Was her promotion a result of Jennifer’s own market analysis and efficiencies recommendations to the suits on the top floor?

Yes and Yes.

At 24 Jennifer Kesse was the youngest new manager among her peers in their respective management roles at CFI.

While she did not have the subordinates they did reporting to her directly, the initiative she was leading and launching was going to save the firm almost $900,000 annually.  The installation and rollout of a new debit system interface allowing timeshare owners to pay fees, mortgages and incidentals by ACH automatically was a corporate priority for Westgate Resorts.

Which is why on the morning of Tuesday January 24, 2006, the day after she returned from a brief trip with her boyfriend Robert Allen when Jenn did not show up to her office in Ocoee there appeared to be immediate concern.

According to Jennifer’s outlook scheduling calendar she did not have an interoffice meeting until the afternoon.

By 11:15 her parents living two hours away in Bradenton were called to see if she had some sort of family emergency.

The exact escalation of events within CFI leading up to the phone call and who made it are being withheld for investigative reasons.

By noon, a trifecta of calamitous and simultaneous events takes place.

Drew, Joyce and Logan Kesse, speeding from Bradenton to Orlando in a respite from paralytic panic reach the property manager of Jenn’s new condo at Mosaic On Millenia and learn her car is not parked in her spot.  She is not inside.

A self-confessed admirer and now CFI lateral management peer, Johnny Campos arrives 4 hours late to the Ocoee office.

The only suspect ever declared to date in Jennifer Kesse’s disappearance is parking her vehicle while captured on 3 separate closed circuit cameras at the Huntingdon Tavern On The Green Condominiums and apartments.  It is less than a few blocks from two large CFI warehouses and within a mile of  several CFI owned properties.

By late afternoon The Kesse’s, Rob Allen and Jennifer’s closest friends were using her condo as a command center to develop immediate and organized searches for her.

Detectives Julius Glenn Gause II and Joel Wright of the Orlando Police Department respond to the scene.

Detective Gause assures the Kesse’s that Jennifer had a fight with her boyfriend Rob Allen, who is now standing in her living room vehemently disagreeing with his investigative assessment.  Who can blame the guy?

Gause’s opinion was reached without ever interviewing a single person who was  not on-scene, and was sure she would be back by tomorrow.

In a mandatory meeting called at the request of Central Florida Investments CEO David Siegel and conducted by Chief Financial Officer Tom Dugan, it was announced that Jennifer Kesse, a respected and valued member of the management team had been reported missing.

Dugan adamantly assured all that the company would encourage  employees to join any organized search efforts to find her.

Jennifer did not return as Gause predicted.

Her car did however, and on January 26^th   her case  was declared a criminal investigation.

The First 48… Months

Upon the classification of Jennifer’s case as a criminal investigation,  J. Glenn Gause told the Kesse’s that his partner  Detective Joel Wright asked what he considered a dumb question during a briefing.

As a result Gause informed- he kicked him off the case and requested new partner Det. Emmett Browning.

While such a move would  obviously be outside of Det. Gause’s authority, it is more likely the pair were reeling from the Internal Affairs investigation that ensued after they knowingly interviewed John Evander Couey after his arrest for the murder of Jessica Lunsford.

Shortly after Couey’s confession to Citrus county detectives was thrown out of court because it violated Couey’s Miranda rights,  Gause and Wright decided to inform their Orlando PD sergeant that they interviewed Couey following his arrest in Citrus County on the chance he might be a suspect in the Regina Armstrong murder because he grew up in Orange County.   They claimed he actually confessed to the Lunsford murder.

The confession was not taped and at no time did either detective inform the Citrus investigators or their OPD supervisor of the visit itself- let alone  Couey’s statements.

That is until they learned his original confession in the Lunsford case was inadmissible.

Interviewing an incarcerated man who is represented by an attorney with charges pending in a potentially related case without permission, notes, or a recording by veteran detectives is outrageous.

John Cuoey was 5’4”, 125 lbs with a flag tattoo.  The suspect composite from direct witnesses in the Armstrong case was a man around 40, 6 ft tall with medium build and a mermaid tattoo on the opposite arm.

They were lucky their actions did not derail the prosecution of both cases.  The second alleged confession was also thrown out and reprimands to both detectives remain private in their respective employee records.  Regina Armstrong’s murder in 1985 remains unsolved.

John Evander Couey died of natural causes on death row awaiting execution for the rape and murder of Jessica Lunsford. (more…)

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Orlando, FL-  Judge Perry calls the defense team Liars- Not a good sign. Yesterday, during Chief Judge Perry’s announcement to the jury about the tentative schedule for the remainder of the murder trial against Casey Anthony, defense counsel Cheney Mason objected and asked for a sidebar.

Mason: We don’t have any obligation to put on any evidence at all. and you just told the jurors you expect us to be putting on evidence, and we may or we may not.

Mason went on to request that the Judge instruct the jury that they are not obligated to put on a defense, and claimed Jeff Ashton agreed with him.

       Chief Judge Perry: Then Y’all lied to me.

       Mason:NO. Chief Judge Perry: “Yes the Hell you did…”  If you don’t put on any   evidence, then I will do that.

       Mason: Well, we are, so don’t worry about it.

      Chief Judge Perry: ..” I will take I cannot trust one thing your side says, anymore.

Heh?  I would like to give the benefit of the doubt to his honor, as I did not believe a word this defense had to say going into this trial, let alone 3 weeks later. The State, after establishing what they believe is the origin of the disappearing heart residue on the duct tape came from stickers in the drawer with Caylee’s birth announcements, and re-calling Cindy Anthony for a little light impeachment is headed to the finish line tomorrow.

*Insert defense’s motion for mistrial late today*  Denied.

To those of you, and there are many, screaming from the hilltops.. “Is that all you got?”  “OMG, is this girl gonna walk?”  “What about Dr. Hall?”  “How the Hell is Dominick Casey getting out of testifying?” I say chillax.  This prosecution team is simply resurrecting the F U M B L E R O O S K I.

The State of Florida, has ALWAYS known this case is going to verdict on THE LAST WORD from the prosecution, or the rebuttal portion of the trial. 

 Given the defense’s opening statement, there is no question in my mind, nor should there be in yours, that the ludicrous allegations made on the first day, cannot possibly be brought to bear, and while the prosecutions case in chief was meticulous, it is not the “barn burner” for a reason.

Linda Drane Burdick is going to leave that ball on the field for a spell.  Ashton will surreptitiously pick it up and head to the end zone unchallenged. 

 After all, that play did originate at the Orange Bowl.

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Orlando, FL-  I know I should really write in chronological order for y’all that are just reading the days events.     I just can’t.

In the first day of the trial of the State of Florida v. Casey Anthony I went through  a “Steel Magnolias” equivalent of tissues the first half, and proceeded to sharpen our Henkels in the afternoon for reasons I cannot explain.

Linda Drane Burdick, in her smart and gas-can-red suit, riveted the jurors, the public, and even the defendant, Casey Anthony.

Ms. Anthony shook her head no at all the places she does not want you to look.  Ms. Anthony cried on cue.

Very upsetting this business of your daughter’s skull in a bog where you left it, with the intention of never seeing it again, and all the nastiness that comes with such an imposition.

In a most level and calculated fashion,  Burdick took us through the timeline with resolve.  While none of us ever really wanted to get to the “end”, we did, and she is right, there is no other that had access to the evidence in this case.

Asking this jury to find a verdict of guilty is going to be like asking who wants ice cream on the way back home.

Enter famed Mayberry Attorney Barney Fife,  I mean self-proclaimed  “Juanie Cochran”  , Jose Baez after lunch with his clients proclamation that Caylee Marie Anthony died on June 16, 2008 while both Casey and George were present, by an accidental drowning in the above-ground swimming pool.

That was just the start of the delusion for public consumption.  If you did not raise your glass and look at the bottom in the light, you were not paying close enough attention.  Am I really hearing this?  Is there something in my water?

Kronk was kronked again, and accused of hiding Caylee’s remains from some unknown place, but ending up in the Suburban junkmess; and motivation for a reward as opposed to relieving himself was the reason he came upon her tiny skull.

Through her attorney, Casey Anthony did exactly what I have said she would do.  She blamed George for not reporting Caylee’s death and Cindy for leaving the ladder up to the pool , and wept while Baez told us all that Casey was sexually abused from the age of 8.

Masterfully and Mercifully,  Jeff Ashton laid down the hammer in response.  George Anthony was called as the States first witness. (more…)

When you have a family that both refuses to cooperate with Law Enforcement in a productive way, and in this editor’s opinion, outright obfuscates efforts to investigate the location of a victim and the circumstances to which Caylee Anthony became same,  we are forced to look at what I will term, available objective  data .

Analyzing data in conjunction with the verifiable evidence in this case, allows us, and eventually jurors, to better sift through the ever-changing accounts of those closest to Casey Anthony, without adding metaphorical dryer sheets to cover the smell.
As all www.blinkoncrime readers have known since my earliest coverage of this case, I have long stated it is my belief that the concern for Caylee’s welfare and whereabouts started with the Anthony’s backyard renovations the week of Cindy Anthony’s vacation over the fourth of July.

In fact, one might interpret Cindy Anthony hits her panic button during this time.

I have also written extensively that I believe that the defense team is going to intimate, if not outright accuse, George Anthony of culpability in the death of his own beloved granddaughter.
On Friday afternoon, following the conclusion of the last defense motions presumably prior to trial (insert laugh track) the state released additional video evidence to the defense.   As we brace ourselves to see video of Caylee with her Mother and Tony Lazarro having lunch, should we also prepare to see Cindy and George shopping for those backyard improvement supplies?

Or… Other?

Cindy Anthony’s bank records show 3 separate charges to The Home Depot posted June 30th.  As the purchases were made on Cindy’s check card, we can’t be sure if the purchases are made on June 29, June 30th or a combination of both.

Will we see the purchase of new gas cans, concrete mix, weed barrier, or something else?
Cindy or George Anthony began furiously calling her daughter’s cell phone, in the wee hours of July 1 at 1:43am.
Calls to Casey from the Anthony landline are made to her at 1:43, 1:51, 1:52, 2:02, 6:56, 7:33, and 7:50 AM.

Casey does not answer her cell phone, but she DOES check her voice mail after every one of them, and attempts unsuccessfully to reach someone at the Anthony home at 7:54 AM, possibly due to a busy signal.  This pattern of calls suggests an emergency of some kind, not Cindy checking if Casey was going to finally bring Caylee over as Cindy had requested.  In fact, there is a small break in the action, pun intended, when a different number is dialed from the Anthony home:

In no interview, in no deposition, will you find either Anthony disclosing the obvious plumbing nightmare necessitating 2 calls to Rainaldi Plumbing 4 minutes after their listed hours of operation in the yellow pages, and the subsequent service call resulting in a $283.96 bill.  Ironically, the check number, out of sequence, follows one Casey Anthony wrote on her Mom’s account in December

Spoiler Alert: The only reference to any plumbing emergency appears in one of Cindy’s letters to Casey, but two years after the July 1, 2008 incident.

..” I don’t know if Jeanene told you, about the water pipe we had broke on Friday, we had water from the pipe outside of Caylee’s room, leek into her room, mostly in her play corner- carpet was soaked and walls were damp.  Everything is drying out but the carpet smells bad. (I better watch how I describe it they may take it for discovery). It’s amazing how even clean water can smell rancid after it sits for a while.  Fortunately one of our church friends was able to come out and fix the pipe…”

Facing a capital murder charge, and already convicted of economic felony, it begs the question:

Why would a member of Jose Baez defense team, Jeanene Barrett, need to relay information to Casey about a broken pipe leaking into her deceased child’s room?

If you are thinking this is more “Anthony Code Speak”, you are not alone.  According to a blue print of the Anthony home, there is no plumbing on the outside wall of Caylee’s bedroom that would leak into the corner, the right lower corner or her “play corner” which abuts the outside wall.

As the bulk of “pipe bursts” or “breaks” go in Florida temperatures, in general they occur only through freezing, extreme temperatures, or water pressure stress (build up) of some kind. The source of the emergency plumbing call to Rainaldi on July 1st, 2008 is not known, but what is known, is that it gives new meaning to the signature of Casey’s inmate correspondence “FLUSH”.

What has always bothered me was what could have been found in either the backyard or now as we know, in the plumbing that would send Cindy Anthony into a clear and obvious panic, mobilizing Lee to track down his sister, and attempt to track down Caylee through her friends AFTER speaking with Casey.

George and Cindy Anthony’s versions of June 15th and June 16th 2008 have evolved it seems, after every new release of discovery.  Specifically, George’s account of the last time he saw Caylee and what she was wearing.  They have gone to painstaking lengths to establish that at least Caylee was home the evening of the 15th, and very much alive the morning of the 16th.

So where is the blue “dress” she wore to the Mount Dora Nursing home on Father’s Day, June 15th, 2008? It would seem to me if I wanted to establish an alibis, or timeline, that clothing would be critically important.

Is that what Casey meant when she uttered to Tracy Mclaughlin and Rob Dick that OCSO had no idea what they were doing and they had not even found her clothes yet?  Was she talking about Caylee’s clothes, or Mama’s?

Madeline Tanner, contributing editor

Images by Klaasend

 2. He ommitted entirely 2 jobs he was working at the time of his resume and interview for Andrews International, on June 17th, 2008.

3. He has a propensity for shall we say, ladies that require service fees, and that non-existant credit card he did not have according to Cindy’s deposition, at the time of George’s deposition had a nearly $11,000 balance.

4. He purchased a handgun while Casey was on bond.

5. His attempted suicide could be construed as “guilt driven”.

To be honest there is plenty more where that came from, but I doubt the defense in this case even got this far considering they are attempting to add witnesses four months late, whose allegations were cleared by OCSO in the first place.

At the March 3rd motion hearing, where George alledged he was an agent of the State, he faced Casey from the witness stand.

Casey, full glare ahead and adorned in her her gas can red sweater with the henkel silver jacket on top, and George in his “will someone take me seriously” lavender.

He flat out testified he will even “not show up” to court if it would help his “baby”, Casey Anthony.

Jose Baez: ..”Now if I gave this hypotthetical, if I told you not showing up to court next Wednesday, and I am not telling you to not come to court, it would save your daughter’s life, would you show up to court?

George Anthony: “..If you asked me to stay away from the proceedings, if it was going to save my daughter’s life I would not be here..”

Late this afternoon, as I was prepared to ask again where in the world is George’s counsel, finally, George Anthony’s Attorney, Mark Lippman, fired back:

In the statement, Lippman said, “George Anthony had nothing to do with the death of Caylee Marie Anthony. He has been investigated, deposed, examined and cross examined by both the prosecution and the defense, and neither the defense team nor the state of Florida have maintained that he is at fault in any way.”

I will sum it up this way. George has a better shot at drinking a 5th, than pleading the 5th in the criminal trial against his daughter.