A Florida woman suspected of playing the hand in the disappearance of her co-worker hairstylist apparently has a history of running away from family and friends, causing them to worry and file a missing persons report on her.
CBS reports that Jennifer Sybert (pictured left), 50, AKA Kimberly Kessler, is currently behind bars after her co-worker Joleen Cummings (pictured right), 34, disappeared on May 13. Kessler apparently once vanished herself from Butler County, Pennsylvania, in 2004. Yet, it took her family eight years before they reported her missing. Apparently Kessler was never the subject of foul play, but reportedly decided she simply wanted to get away from friends and family, and did so without telling them where she was going.
“It’s extremely strange and that’s why it’s making national news at this point.” Trooper Jim Long told WPXI. “We did not expect this was a legit missing person. This person didn’t want to be found.”
Kessler later took on the identity of “Jennifer Sybert” and moved to Jacksonville. Court records indicate that a woman named Jennifer Sybert passed away over 30 years ago in Butler County, Pennsylvania. Kessler reportedly took the lady’s identity as her own.
Just In: Pennsylvania state police on Kimberly Lee Kessler:"She didn’t want to be found and her changing her name and assuming an alias was done so she could keep from being found by family." @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/o9kGdJvCCp
— Paige Kelton (@PaigeANjax) May 23, 2018
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Kessler was the last person to Cummings after the pair worked at the Tangles Hair Salon in Fernandina Beach on May 12. When Cummings failed to pick up her three kids from her former husband, she was reported missing. On May 14, authorities went to the salon to interview Kessler but she left before they could talk to her. Another co-worker told police that Kessler pulled into the parking to report for work, but when she learned police wanted to speak with her, she left.
A Nassau County Sheriff’s Office flier is hung on the door asking anyone who had an appointment or stopped into the salon on Saturday, May 12 to call detectives at 904-548-4005 @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/K1YWCrJaAh
— Brittney Donovan (@brittneyANjax) May 20, 2018
The following day, authorities found Cummings’ SUV abandoned close to a local Home Deport store. Surveillance camera reportedly captured Kessler parking Cummings’ vehicle a little after 1 a.m. on Sunday. Kessler got out of the driver’s side of the SUV but Cummings never emerged. According to an affidavit, Kessler then walked to the nearby Gates gas station, where she got into a taxi cab.
On May 16, police located Kessler sleeping inside a black Kia Soul at a rest area off of Interstate 95 in St. John’s County. She was arrested and charged with grand theft auto, based on the footage of her driving the victim’s car. Police also noted she had scratches on one hand and one eye.
Further, the FBI charged Kessler with possession of a counterfeit passport after they determined she was using a fake social security number.
This is Joleen Jensen Cummings' ex-boyfriend Jason Gee. He is in jail on a violation of probation charge. Records show another ex-girlfriend of Gee's told police he broke her dishes, shattered her phone and slashed her tires then threatened to make her life "miserable" pic.twitter.com/euK9j6SFyn
— Brittney Donovan (@brittneyANjax) May 20, 2018
Days before she was reported missing, Cummings was in a domestic dispute with her ex-boyfriend, Jason Gee. Gee was arrested on a probation violation on May 15 but has not been named a suspect in Cummings’ disappearance.
Anyone with information regarding the case is urged to contact the contact the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office at 904-548-4005 or First Coast Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS.
[Feature Photo: Kimberly Kessler; Joleen Cummings/Nassau County Sheriff’s Office]
