GUILTY FL - Joleen Cummings, 34, Nassau Co, 12 May 2018 *ARREST*

[JerseyGirl]

Jury picked in Kimberly Kessler murder trial; Opening statements begin Monday

 

[scdiv]

This killer is a total whackadoo. I hope Joleen's family gets justice.

 

[JaxFlaGal]

Live stream for today's trial: Opening statements begin in Kimberly Kessler murder trial | firstcoastnews.com (courtroom view)

also streaming here LIVE: Opening statements begin in murder trial for Kimberly Kessler (looks like a Zoom meeting with multi-cam views but it may be having some tech issues)

One local NE Florida reporter in the court room today who usually provides good updates: https://twitter.com/schindy

Her first post: "Kessler made a brief appearance before the judge had her removed for being disruptive. Joleen Cummings' mom is seated on the front row."

Background / timeline on case (from the same reporter): What you need to know about Kimberly Kessler's murder trial | firstcoastnews.com

 

[Gardenista]

Looks like Law & Crime is streaming it

 

[Gardenista]

Cathy Russon
@cathyrusson

#KimberlyKessler found GUILTY in the murder of Joleen Cummings. As she has done every day of her trial, the judge had her brought in, asked if she wanted to stay, she said, "No, thank you!", and she was wheeled back out.
@LawCrimeNetwork

 

[JaxFlaGal]

Article (includes video of verdict being read): Kimberly Kessler found guilty of first-degree murder in Nassau County mom Joleen Cummings’ death). According to this video, the jury deliberated for about an hour before notifying the judge that they had reached their verdict.

 

[JnRyan]

Her Charley Project case has been updated with more details of disappearance. Probably the last paragraph on the trial. The jury only deliberated an hour. Most of that is probably involving mandatory admin stuff! I wonder if this killer didn't have other murders in those other states.
Joleen Rebecca Cummings – The Charley Project

Details of Disappearance
Cummings was last seen at her hairstylist job at Tangles Salon in Fernandina Beach, Florida on May 12, 2018. Her shift ended at 5:00 p.m.

She was supposed to meet her ex-husband in Hilliard, Florida the next day to pick up their three children for Mother's Day, which also happened to be her thirty-fourth birthday. She but never arrived to get them, however, and has never been heard from again. Her mother reported her missing on May 14.

The last person known to have seen Cummings was Jennifer Marie Sybert, another stylist at the salon, who had worked there for only about a month. A photo of Sybert is posted with this case summary. When police went to the salon to question Sybert on May 14, they discovered she hadn't shown up for work that day. The home address she'd given the salon owner turned out to be fake.

On May 15, Cummings's car was located in a parking lot on Florida A1A near a Home Depot store in Yulee, Florida. A photo of the vehicle, a beige 2006 Ford Expedition with the Florida license plate number 035KBQ, is posted with this case summary. Surveillance camera footage showed it being parked at that location at 1:17 a.m. on May 13, just seven hours after Cummings would have left work. The driver was not Cummings, but Sybert.

A photo of her is posted with this case summary. On the evening of May 16, she was located sleeping in her own car at a rest area on Interstate 95 in St. Johns County, Florida and charged with grand theft auto, based on the video showing her driving Cummings's car. At the time of her arrest she had injuries on her hands, arms and thighs, and a patch of hair missing from her head.

Authorities learned "Sybert" had been living under a false name, Social Security number and identification. She had taken the name "Jennifer Marie Sybert" from the gravestone of a sixteen-year-old girl who died in a car crash in Germany in 1987 and was buried in Butler, Pennsylvania. Her real name is Kimberly Lee Kessler and she had disappeared from Butler in 2004, but wasn't reported missing until 2012.

A look into her past revealed she had used at least seventeen alias names and lived in thirty-three cities in fourteen different states since 1996, often drawing names from gravestones in the same cemetery in Butler. She was charged with possession of a counterfeit passport, a federal offense.

People who knew Kessler described her as secretive and paranoid. Clients at Tangles Salon stated there was tension between her and Cummings, who didn't like her. Just days before her disappearance, Cummings told a coworker that she believed Kessler was "not the person that she says she is" and that she planned to start digging into her background.

In September 2018, Kessler was charged with first-degree premeditated murder in Cummings's case. Investigators believe Cummings was murdered inside the salon the same night she disappeared.

After Kessler dropped Cummings's car off, authorities learned, she walked to a nearby gas station, bought a bottle of water, and used an employee's phone to call for a taxi. The gas station employee noted she had several scratches on her face that looked like finger marks, and surveillance footage from the station also showed this. The taxi driver said she spoke to him about religion, and he dropped her off next to Tangles Salon a half mile away and saw her get into her own car.

Police found bloodstains at Tangles Salon, including on two chairs, and on the walls, cabinets and in the sink drain, and on a signboard, a display stand, a vacuum cleaner, a bleach bottle and a mop. Some of the blood was Cummings's, and some was from Kessler. Someone had tried to clean up the scene by mopping blood off the floor.

Police also recovered a bloodstained blue tote bag that Kessler had thrown into the woods. Blood found on Kessler's boots, a sock, a pair of scissors, and in a storage locker Kessler rented all was proved to be from Cummings, and one of Cummings's fingernails was also found inside a bin in the storage unit.

On May 4, over a week before Cummings disappeared, Kessler had searched on her phone about how to tie a tourniquet and how to inject someone with something. She also searched on her phone for the phrase "coworker guilty of murder missing person body not found" and made 457 searches containing Cummings's name over a 48-hour period. Kessler bought large-sized zip ties at a boating supply store on May 5. Police also found a Walmart receipt for 30-gallon trash bags, an electric knife, and a bottle of ammonia.

Based on surveillance video of Kessler depositing a white trash bag and emptying the contents of a trash can in a dumpster near Tangles Salon the weekend of Cummings's disappearance, investigators looked for her body at a landfill in Charlton County, Georgia. They located several items of interest, but not Cummings's body.

In December 2021, three and a half years after Cummings was last seen, Kessler was put on trial for first-degree in her presumed death. The defense argued that Kessler and Cummings got into a fight and the blood evidence was caused by Kessler trying to defnd herself. The jury deliberated for only a little over an hour before convicting her, however. Kessler faces a mandatory term of life in prison at sentence.

Cummings's body has never been found.

 

[Jax49]

Juror: DNA, internet searches & attempt to clean crime scene sealed Kimberly Kessler’s fate

News4JAX on Tuesday spoke with one of the jurors about the murder trial that ended with a conviction of Kimberly Kessler in the death of her salon co-worker Joleen Cummings.

The juror said it was not a hard decision and after she heard critical pieces of evidence, she knew Kessler was guilty.

 

[joe jones]

LIVE: Kimberly Kessler’s sentencing hearing begins in Nassau County court

sentencing

 

[joe jones]

Kimberly Kessler faces life sentence in Joleen Cummings’ killing

 

[joe jones]

she continued to shout statements when brought into court so was taken back to holding cell whilst sentencing hearing continued, she will have the rest of her life in prison to rant and rave to whoever is unfortunately forced to listen to her

 

[joe jones]

‘Never-ending nightmare’: Joleen Cummings’ mother shares family’s grief as killer sentenced to life

lwop

 

[Crim3Obs3sD]

So this is a case that's very important to me because I actually used to work at the Great Clips that KK worked at before she went to Tangles, I was the receptionist. She only worked there a month or two, barely enough time to make a presence but she still managed to do it, she wore a scarf to work almost every day but also wore different wigs (she never wore wig caps or anything though, just the wig almost like a hat) every night after work she would just sit in her car silently and would sometimes say things like she was waiting for her boyfriend or that her boyfriend was abusive and she didn't want to go home (looking back on it I now realize that it was because she lived in her car, yikes) but after a month or two she left because she claimed no one liked her (WE DIDN'T). Once they began searching for the body they actually dredged the lake behind my Great Clips looking for Joleen's body but found nothing. Also I haven't seen anyone in the forum mention this article so I don't know how true it is but I've always been absolutely fixated on it because of not only the wigs (which I have a feeling she wore when she worked with us) but also because of the ponytails, I can't help but think that if they aren't her hair they could be evidence that she's not only killed other women but has taken trophies from them in such a serial killer fashion.

Suspect Kimberly Kessler: Newly released documents shed light on what may have happened to Joleen Cummings

I'm pretty interested/invested in the case as well because this happened just a few months after I moved here. We actually opened a hair salon right around the same time and looked at purchasing items from Tangles when they were closing. Of course, the news was hovering outside like hawks. But they said the investigators said there was evidence of a lot of blood that had been cleaned up when the salon was searched. Now that the case is over I feel comfortable saying that publically. I know they announced the blood details in 2019, but I still have a hard time disclosing important information on a case like this. I am so glad she was put away for life without parole.

I honestly agree that Jolene probably is a serial killer. I would love if we could find where her 15+ identities were and see if there are similar cold cases where she went through. I am sure that info is out there, I just haven't found it yet.

 

[Crim3Obs3sD]

Great video for some more info on Kessler: Kimberly Kessler’s trail of faces, names ... and deaths?

 

[Camassia]

I would really like to know what other cities she was living in, and when.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Kimberly Kessler leaves Nassau jail to begin prison sentence, sheriff gives staff cake, ice cream

 

[Crim3Obs3sD]

I would really like to know what other cities she was living in, and when.

I put together a list on Google. Let me see if I can make it public. I know weird, but maybe someone else cbs use the information. I was able to find her name (Kimberly Marie Kessler) on an address search and it gave historical physical addresses

 

[Crim3Obs3sD]

I would really like to know what other cities she was living in, and when.

Google Maps. Not sure how accurate this list is but like I said I spent a half hour searching google and watching videos to put it together. Maybe someone who has more time could pit a timeline together/check the accuracy of the locations.

 

[Crim3Obs3sD]

I found an older post on this thread by Gardener1850, on Jun 4, 2018 that had more info about Aliases...figured I'd repost to get it rather than digging through the thread again. Maybe someone could connect Kessler to crimes in those other areas. Idk my gut just tells me she has to be connected to others...but then is she really that smart? Her crime and coverup just seemed so messy.


Sybert's aliases

• Kimberly L. Kessler
• Christina Melissa (Malissa) Brook
• Christina Young
• Pamela Kleiber
• Melissa McKernan
• Melissa Losy
• Jennifer Marie Sybert
• Mia Stone
• Jenn Lee Sybert Allen
• Jennifer Seibring
• Jennifer Marie Allen
• Marie Sybert Stone
• Christa Brooks
• Pam Cleaver
• Pamela Kleiver
• Pamela Jean Kleiber
• Jenn Siever Allen

Cities/states lived

• • Tampa
  • Tallahassee
  • St. Augustine
  • Fernandina Beach
  • Clearwater Beach
  • St. Petersburg
  • Oviedo
  • Boca Raton
  • Leesburg
  • Jacksonville
  • Lakeland
  • Butler, Pa.
  • Phoenix
  • Virginia Beach, Va.
  • Portsmouth, Va.
  • Wilmington, N.C.
  • Arden, N.C.
  • Baytown, Texas
  • Rochester, Minn.
  • Smithfield, N.C.
  • Little Rock, Ark.
  • Mission, Kan.
  • Overland Park, Kan.
  • Nashville, Tenn.
  • Dublin, Ohio
  • St. Louis
  • Minneapolis
  • Asheville, N.C.
  • Arden, N.C.
  • Waco, Texas
  • Aurora, Col.
  • Pittsburgh
  • Vermont

 

[Taralharris03]

I'm pretty interested/invested in the case as well because this happened just a few months after I moved here. We actually opened a hair salon right around the same time and looked at purchasing items from Tangles when they were closing. Of course, the news was hovering outside like hawks. But they said the investigators said there was evidence of a lot of blood that had been cleaned up when the salon was searched. Now that the case is over I feel comfortable saying that publically. I know they announced the blood details in 2019, but I still have a hard time disclosing important information on a case like this. I am so glad she was put away for life without parole.

I honestly agree that Jolene probably is a serial killer. I would love if we could find where her 15+ identities were and see if there are similar cold cases where she went through. I am sure that info is out there, I just haven't found it yet.

Joleen is the victim, not a serial killer. Now, Kimberly Kessler is another story. I've been trying to figure out how to get people around the country involved in this case, because I am convinced that when this evil monster killed my cousin it wasn't her first time. Who moves that many times and changes their name that often for no reason? I am posting in hopes that anyone who has lived in any areas she was known to live, takes a close look at her photos/aliases to see if there could be more victims.