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…)

Dyersburg, TN- Missing Mom Karen Johnson Swift’s disappearance is looking more and more like whatever fate the well-liked fitness buff  encountered,  happened very close to her home on Willie Johnson Road.

David Swift, Karen’s estranged husband, has told police Karen left the home at approximately 1:30 am the morning of October 30th after an earlier jaunt to retrieve the couple’s youngest daughter from a planned Halloweenfest  sleepover.

Karen attended a Halloween soiree at THE FARMS golf club earlier in the evening dressed as cat-woman;  her costume was found in her unlocked and abandoned car.

According to the Dyersburg Country Club by laws,  regardless of handicap all attendees  turned into pumpkins by midnight that evening so it is not likely Karen was headed back there.  Reports of her leaving the family residence at that hour are based solely on her husband’s last exchange with her.

Swift filed for divorce from David on October 1oth.   The couple had been divorced and remarried to each other previously.

David, a former Columbia Forest Products employee,  is an independent business owner in the aerosol packaging field and Karen has been developing a horticulture business as “The Yard Lady“.

While Mr. Swift has refused all requests for comment by the media, he is also now refusing to speak to investigators and has referred all inquiries to his recently retained attorney.

Mr. Swift was observed in his driveway after he returned from an interview with DCSO in the first days of the investigation on crutches.

Mr. Swift underwent emergency surgery for a torn patella tendon in April of 2011 but by all accounts has long since recovered from the injury sustained at his daughter’s soccer field.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, sources inside the investigation have confirmed to www.blinkoncrime.com that David Swift refused to allow a search by consent of the couple’s 5 acre property after the first meeting where he allowed officers to look throughout the home for purposes of confirming Karen was not there.

Following discovery in a overgrown area included in the search grid and submission to the state crime lab, the Dyer County Sheriff’s Office (DCSO) prioritized  a pair of jeans and gray zip-up requesting expedited results.

The source goes on to say those items have been identified through test results of mitochondrial DNA to belong to Karen Johnson Swift.  The match was made from a sample comparative from Karen’s mother.

It is believed there are additional items that may belong to Karen that have been recovered- however, the forensic results necessary to confirm her positive association are pending.

During the topical search of the Swift home which did not  include crime scene processing, the Swifts’s two young daughters spent time at the neighbors home.

Jennifer Lamb kept the Swift girls while police were at the Swift home interviewing their father with the intention of locating Ms. Swift.

In a seemingly inexplicable coincidence, both the Lambs and the Swift’s uploaded an image of a rainbow appearing overhead of the two homes spanning over 10 acres, the very day Dave Swift was served his divorce papers.

Marty Lamb, on his way to work at Nucor early Sunday morning, pulled in behind Karen’s white Nissan Murano and “flashed his lights” , only to learn she was not in her car.  With no sign of foul play,  Lamb assumed Swift returned the short distance to her driveway with  no cause for alarm and continued his commute.

DCSO has reported that Karen Swift’s car had a flat tire and has been impounded for crime scene technician processing. What has not been addressed publicly is how the tire came to be flat in the first place.

Karen’s 2004 Murano is equipped with an electronic tire pressure monitoring sensor and she always backed down the nearly 200 foot driveway.   As their was no evidence of a tire blowout, nor could she have been traveling at a high rate of speed,  this editor questions how she could have missed a flat tire getting into the car in a well lit driveway in the first place,  followed by missing the alarm signal and light on her dashboard.  Swift’s car was found across from the home of John Hogshooter at 310 Harness RD.

Hogshooter Not Hogtied

John E. Hogshooter, in court yesterday on aggravated animal cruelty charges stemming from an alleged incident reported  on October 7  by David Swift, was granted bond.

Prior to Mr. Hogshooter’s brief incarceration, his vehicle was impounded and processed for any possible evidence relating to Karen Swift’s disappearance.  Nothing of forensic significance was found and the truck was returned to the former Dyer county Ervin  softball coach.

In contrast to Mr. Swift’s refusal to allow LE to search his adjacent property, Mr. Hogshooter allowed his home and property to be searched voluntarily.

Hogshooter is alleged to have poisoned the Swift family dog as well as an as yet un-named neighbors pet who died as a result.

Within the complaint filed by David Swift,  he states that he watched his dog walk onto the Hogshooter property and upon return, became  ill.

A medication was administered by the Vet to counteract whatever the dog may have ingested and JackBoots was returned to the family the next day.

JackBoots,  dog rescue of the Swift family,  has a scannable chip implant that emits a low level frequency signal detectable by a scanner,  or radio frequency identification (RFID), so it is possible to isolate for investigative purposes.

Doppelneigbor – the blinkipedia

(noun) Neighbor who is a ringer for the neighbor who is a person of interest.

These gentleman’s issues may have infinite degrees of separation- Siberian even, but how uncanny is it that they resemble each other to the point of  fooling CCTV resolution?

Check back to www.blinkoncrime.com for updates

Images courtesy family photos,  processing courtesy of Klaasend

Jacqueline Beaufort contributing editor

Cheryl Brenneke , Jacque Waller’s sister is frantic.  Jacque left Cheryl’s St. Genevieve home on June 1st, on her way to file for divorce following a recent separation from her estranged husband, Clay Waller.  Jacque announced privately to her family a year ago she would be seeking a divorce,  she was reported to be in good spirits, and thrilled to moving  to the St. Genevieve area with the three children she shared with Waller.

I wish that every reader did not have visions of Scott, Drew or Michael Peterson in their heads.  It is what it is.

Clay Waller, residing at 1121 Woodland Drive in Jackson, MO, was the last person to see Jaque when she arrived to pick up one of their children who had been placed with a babysitter.  According to Cape Girardeau/Bollinger County Major Crimes Task Force, an argument ensued about the impending divorce filing, and Waller says his wife stormed down the street, leaving her blue Honda Pilot in his driveway.

Waller claims that he then left his residence, and when he returned, Jaque and her vehicle were gone.  The Blue Honda Pilot was later found abandoned with a flat tire near Hwy 55 in Jackson.

..” I know She Would Never Leave Her Kids.. They were here reason for living, the reason she stayed in her marriage that long..”

Jacque Waller friend Amy King

Drawing another parallel to the Drew Peterson case,  Clay Waller is a former law enforcement officer.  Waller is a former Sheriff’s deputy with the Cape Girardeau Sheriff’s Office.   Requests for comments from John Jordan, CGSO, have not yet been returned.

Police have recovered and impounded Waller’s red GMC sierra pick up, and the boat they believe may be involved in Jacque’s disappearance he was seen towing the evening of June 1st.

Witnesses near the location of Waller’s residence, speaking on the condition of anonymity to www.blinkoncrime.com, have confirmed that a man matching Clay Waller’s description was seen driving the blue Honda Pilot near Neal Ave after 5PM, with a fishing boat on a trailer at a high rate of speed.  There are unconfirmed that the boat was reported missing at that time, and has since been recovered, submerged, in an undisclosed body of water.  (Editor’s note- there is an additional report it was located in a storage facility)

Police are asking the public to provide any tips that may assist the investigation.

Jason Mateos, Editor, www.blinkoncrime.com, contributed to this report.

Video upload by Klaasend

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Among the community that has banded together *like*no*other* in recent memory,  are weary searchers, volunteers and the families that live without them, for days on end.

The readers and editors of www.blinkoncrime.com commend you today. I have spoken to many of you in the field, and I know that in an active investigation, there is so little to keep you motivated and strong.

Your community is a very spiritual one, as is Holly Bobo’s family. I also know that you are dealing with issues of dissension in your communal congregation if you will, and I wanted you to know the nation is watching and we hold you up this Easter weekend.

To the TBI, assisting LE agencies, and the great and powerful civilians working to find Holly Bobo today, we dedicate one of my favorite works of literature.

It is intensely personal to me.

My Gram, whom I miss dearly, was a career surgical nurse, as is Holly’s chosen study, read it to me when I was little, to the point of her exhaustion I presume..

As a small child learning to read, I would bound into their house and recite it from the framed needlepoint on the wall as if it was a ticket for admission to cross the foyer.

To The Family complicating these efforts: I offer this to you as well, in good faith.

Today can show YOUR faith and commitment like no other.

Ask for guidance today, it is there for you.

The hands of this community are strong and large. Prayers and Strength to Holly and the good folks trying to bring her home.

The House by the Side of the Road

 by Sam Walter Foss

There are hermit souls that live withdrawn In the place of their self-content; There are souls like stars, that dwell apart, In a fellowless firmament; There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths Where highways never ran- But let me live by the side of the road And be a friend to man.

(more…)

Parsons, Tennessee- After exiting her home on Swan Johnson Road in Parsons, Tennessee, 20 year old Holly Bobo was ambushed in the driveway while she approached her car to head to nursing class.

Photo Credit: Personal Image

While there was a furry of erroneous reports early on, Investigators from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation have now confirmed that Holly was not “dragged” through the carport, and her brother Clint did NOT see her accosted.

Clint Bobo, 25, heard what he thought was a mild argument outside at approximately 7:30 am on April 13.  By all accounts, big brother Clint kept a watchful eye on his sister, and today was no different.

Clint went to the window, and saw Holly walking away towards the woods with a man dressed in camouflage.  Both Holly and the unidentified suspect were walking away from the property,and were only seen from the rear. The male individual was between 5’10″ and 6′ tall, approximately 180-200 lbs, dressed in full camo. Clint Bobo erroneously assumed that Holly was in the company of her boyfriend based on his visual observation.

Photo Credit: Personal Image

In approximately 40 minutes, when Clint headed outside to start his day, he noticed Holly’s car in the driveway, and immediately called Holly’s boyfriend, who is not considered a suspect, to inquire what the two were up to. (more…)

Casselberry, FL- James Hataway,  a named suspect in the disappearance of missing Ocoee woman Tracy Ocasio, and formerly missing, now recovered Onda “Chris” George, allegedly threatened a potential witness in the current attempted murder charges against him in Seminole County.

In a motion filed by the prosecution to use the statements as “similar facts evidence”, Francisco Arrellano claims Hataway told him “he would disappear” if he ever crossed him, after Hataway shared a story about a sexual encounter where he choked a woman for arousal.

Shortly after Hataway was arrested on unrelated charges, Mr. Arrellano sent Blink, Editor In Chief, www.blinkoncrime.com a message he received under his myspace name Requiem from a mutual friend and roommate:

Jury selection in James Hataway trial in Seminole County begins next week.

Hataway has not been charged in either the George or Ocasio missing persons cases.  Tyler Watters,  a friend of Hataway and the last known person to see Chris George alive,  is currently facing drug trafficking charges in Orange County.

Onda “Chris” George is awaiting positive identification through the FBI laboratory in Quantico, VA.

Tracy Ocasio, last seen with Jimmy Hataway at The Tap Room, in Orlando, has not been located.

Previous Coverage of All 3 cases:

http://blinkoncrime.com/category/tracy-ocasio/james-hataway/

http://blinkoncrime.com/2010/11/29/chris-george-and-tracy-ocasio-missing-will-new-witnesses-be-the-tell-tale-heart-to-find-them/

Images courtesy of Klaasend