VA VA - Claudine Gifford, 43, White Stone, 6 July 2014 *GUILTY*

[helpfulcharlie]

Results from Lancaster County General District Court records online as of now. For the records referring to Circuit Court, there is nothing in the Circuit Court records at this time.

1) Misdemeanor Assault (GC14000170-00) - Finalized in General District Court, Guilty, appealed to Circuit Court
2) Public Swearing/Intoxication (GC14000165-00) Guilty, no time sentenced, $250 fine
3) Assault: Malic; Victim Injured (GC14000168-00) Certified To Grand Jury - For final case disposition, see Circuit Court Case Information

General District - choose Lancaster County, search for Kessler: http://epwsgdp1.courts.state.va.us/gdcourts
Circuit Court - choose Lancaster County, search for Kessler: http://ewsocis1.courts.state.va.us/CJISWeb/

 

[helpfulcharlie]

Update: Grand Jury date 10/24/2014.

Case Number:
CR14000111-00
Filed:
09/04/2014
Commenced by:
Indictment
Locality:
COMMONWEALTH OF VA
Defendant:
KESSLER, JAMES TODD
Sex:
Male
Race:
White Caucasian (Non-Hispanic)
DOB:
04/06/****
AKA:
TODD
Address:
MIDLOTHIAN, VA 23113
Charge:
ASSAULT: MALIC; VICTIM INJURED
Code Section:
18.2-51.2
Charge Type:
Felony
Class:
2
Offense Date:
07/19/2014
Arrest Date:
07/23/2014

Hearings


Date
10/24/2014
Time
9:00AM
Type
Grand Jury

 

[helpfulcharlie]

I forgot to mention the other charges, which are more important, because they have already started racking up sentences for him:

GT14000869-00 Eluding Police. Guilty, Sentence 180 days & $1,000 fine, 0 time suspended. Operator lic. suspended 1 year.
GT14000870-00 RD-OP IMPROPER BRAKES-MISD, sentence 1 year & $1,000 fine, 0 time suspended
GT14000871-00 DRIVE W/O LICENSE ENDORSEMENT, Guilty, fine $100
GT14000872-00 64/45 speeding, Guilty, fine $96

 

[OkieGranny]

http://news.fredericksburg.com/newsdesk/2014/09/04/tiki-bar-attack-brings-jail-time/

A man authorities have described as a person of interest in the disappearance of Claudine Jaquier Gifford was sentenced this week to 12 months in jail for assault and battery of a woman outside the same Northern Neck bar near where Gifford was last seen July 6...

Wanda and William Rose testified they were having drinks and dinner July 19 at the Pelicans at the Point beachfront bar at Windmill Point in White Stone when Kessler approached them and asked if the police had questioned them about the missing woman. The Roses, who said they met Kessler and Gifford once briefly at the bar, told him they were not in town when a massive search was taking place. The Roses said Kessler left but then returned and asked, “Do you think I killed her?” Wanda Rose said she told Kessler she had a dream that Gifford was chained and alive in an old house.

The Roses said Kessler slammed down his drink and said, “She’s dead.” Wanda Rose said Kessler returned one more time later and asked, “Do you think I killed her?” She said she told him no. William Rose said when he went to pay his bill, Kessler approached him and, after an exchange of words, grabbed him by the throat and shoved him to the floor.

 

[helpfulcharlie]

Holy crap. Your excerpt speaks volumes. Although the article doesn't jibe with the court records. Online court records show 1 year for the reckless driving and 180 days for eluding, and no sentence for either assault (guilty/appealed to circuit court) or felony assault/malicious wounding (certified to grand jury for 10/24/2014). Online records could be incorrect, or I could be reading something wrong or missing something. Not sure I care other than he's locked up. But it really shows the picture that needs to be shown of what went down at the bar, and who he is.

 

[musicman]

Holy crap. Your excerpt speaks volumes. Although the article doesn't jibe with the court records. Online court records show 1 year for the reckless driving and 180 days for eluding, and no sentence for either assault (guilty/appealed to circuit court) or felony assault/malicious wounding (certified to grand jury for 10/24/2014). Online records could be incorrect, or I could be reading something wrong or missing something. Not sure I care other than he's locked up. But it really shows the picture that needs to be shown of what went down at the bar, and who he is.

Volumes about the witnesses as well.
"Dreams about people in houses"
I wonder who approached who, what was said by whom, and what the motives are.

 

[TravelingBug]

http://news.fredericksburg.com/newsdesk/2014/09/04/tiki-bar-attack-brings-jail-time/

Uh, yikes!

The Roses said Kessler slammed down his drink and said, “She’s dead.” Wanda Rose said Kessler returned one more time later and asked, “Do you think I killed her?” She said she told him no. William Rose said when he went to pay his bill, Kessler approached him and, after an exchange of words, grabbed him by the throat and shoved him to the floor.

 

[TravelingBug]

Kessler approached them and asked if the police had questioned them about the missing woman. The Roses, who said they met Kessler and Gifford once briefly at the bar, told him they were not in town when a massive search was taking place. The Roses said Kessler left but then returned and asked, “Do you think I killed her?” Wanda Rose said she told Kessler she had a dream that Gifford was chained and alive in an old house.

But what the heck is up with the whole exchange?

He approaches people he'd only supposedly met once briefly before at the bar, and randomly asks if they were questioned by police? Was the one night they met briefly the night she was last seen? Otherwise why would he even think to ask people he only had met once briefly before? Was he surveying the entire town or something?

They say they were out of town when the search was taking place, but what the heck does that have to do with if police questioned them?! That seems like such an odd answer :thinking: Besides, surely they were questioning people at times before and after the search...

And if TK apparently had some reason to think they may have been questioned, then surely LE would have, right? Since it seems really bizarre if TK is just willy nilly approaching people to ask if police questioned them...and like a surefire way to get everyone suspecting you, too!

Then, despite saying they were out of town when the search happen (which still, glaringly to me seems to not have answered the question!) TK comes back and asks if they think he killed her?!

Is he TRYING to get people to think he did something? (Which it doesn't seem like they'd need help thinking anyway, but...) Why would he be asking anyone that, but especially people he essentially doesn't know? Was he going around trying to plant seeds confirming what many must already have thought? Was he trying to get people to fight him or something if he didn't like their replies? So, so odd...

And then there's HER answer to the question. She's dreamed about her? And in that much detail? Heck, she'd only met CJG once briefly supposedly also.

That's...weird. :silenced:

Plus you'd think if some crazy angry guy you basically don't know came in and asked such strange questions and was also doing some volatile type things, at that point don't you think you disengage and DON'T answer questions like if you think he killed his GF?

AND this whole odd exchange, with a couple he supposedly only had met once briefly, he's managed to HAPPEN to talk to someone who just HAPPENED to have dreamed about CJG? Seriously?!

 

[musicman]

But what the heck is up with the whole exchange?

He approaches people he'd only supposedly met once briefly before at the bar, and randomly asks if they were questioned by police? Was the one night they met briefly the night she was last seen? Otherwise why would he even think to ask people he only had met once briefly before? Was he surveying the entire town or something?

They say they were out of town when the search was taking place, but what the heck does that have to do with if police questioned them?! That seems like such an odd answer :thinking: Besides, surely they were questioning people at times before and after the search...

And if TK apparently had some reason to think they may have been questioned, then surely LE would have, right? Since it seems really bizarre if TK is just willy nilly approaching people to ask if police questioned them...and like a surefire way to get everyone suspecting you, too!

Then, despite saying they were out of town when the search happen (which still, glaringly to me seems to not have answered the question!) TK comes back and asks if they think he killed her?!

Is he TRYING to get people to think he did something? (Which it doesn't seem like they'd need help thinking anyway, but...) Why would he be asking anyone that, but especially people he essentially doesn't know? Was he going around trying to plant seeds confirming what many must already have thought? Was he trying to get people to fight him or something if he didn't like their replies? So, so odd...

And then there's HER answer to the question. She's dreamed about her? And in that much detail? Heck, she'd only met CJG once briefly supposedly also.

That's...weird. :silenced:

Plus you'd think if some crazy angry guy you basically don't know came in and asked such strange questions and was also doing some volatile type things, at that point don't you think you disengage and DON'T answer questions like if you think he killed his GF?

AND this whole odd exchange, with a couple he supposedly only had met once briefly, he's managed to HAPPEN to talk to someone who just HAPPENED to have dreamed about CJG? Seriously?!

Who filed the complaint, whose husband was defending his wife, who stands to benefit from a conviction?

Why would a husband have to defend his wife from a man they had only met once?

This is a side show to a sad event but the source could have been the cause as well.

 

[Hannahsmith]

From today's Rappahannock Record:

Judge certifies felony charge against Kessler

byAudrey Thomasson

LANCASTER—The man named “a person of interest” in the July 6 disappearance of Claudine Gifford appeared in Lancaster County General District last week on unrelated charges.

James Todd Kessler, 53, was in court on charges he assaulted William and Wanda Rose at Pelicans at the Point, the same tiki bar where Gifford was last seen with him two weeks earlier. No charges related to Gifford’s disappearance have been filed against Kessler.

During a preliminary hearing on a felony charge of aggravated malicious wounding, Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Cunningham questioned the couple about the incident. The Roses testified they were eating dinner away from the crowded bar area when Kessler approached and told them police were asking people “about the missing girl that’s in the newspaper.”

After Kessler identified himself as the missing woman’s boyfriend, Wanda Rose told him she dreamed that Gifford had a chain around her neck and was being held in a basement somewhere.

“(Kessler) slammed his fist on the counter and said, ‘She’s dead,’” Wanda Rose testified.

Kessler left the couple, but returned later “...and asked my husband ‘Do you think I killed her?’My husband said ‘No,’” she testified.

Delivering his testimony from a wheelchair, William Rose described how Kessler attacked him while he was waiting to pay his dinner bill at the bar.

“Kessler came up to me and said, ‘You want to go for it? Yeah, let’s go for it.’ I answered, ‘I don’t know what your problem is.’ He grabbed me by the throat and swung me to the floor and stood on top of me.”

Under cross examination, William Rose denied defense attorney Jim Breeden’s description that the two men were “fighting.”

“It wasn’t a fight. It was a one-sided affair,” he said. “He shoved me down...he fell on top of me.”

Restaurant security guard Adam Rowe testified he saw the men “tussling” on the ground by the bar and ran over and pulledKessler away. While he didn’t see how it began, he told both men to leave.

Kessler was detained while he paid his bill to give the Roses time to get to their car, said Rowe. But before the couple reached the parking lot, Kessler launched a second attack, “...completely blindsiding them.”

Testimony described how Kessler sprinted across the property, slammed into Wanda Rose and proceeded to grab William Rose, slamming him to the concrete then hitting and kicking him repeatedly.

The security guard said when he rushed over and pulled Kessler away, Kessler took a swing at him and hit Wanda Rose.

William Rose’s injuries included two fractures to his femur and extensive bruising, leaving him temporarily in a wheelchair and unable to return to his job as a contractor.

Wanda Rose tearfully described the blood coming from her husband’s head wound after the second attack. “My husband just laid there on the ground not moving. I thought my husband was dead...I don’t know why he did this to us,” she said.

Lancaster sheriff’s deputy Irving Brittingham said when he arrived, Kessler was handcuffed to a bench. “He was very inebriated... and belligerent. He was yelling he wanted papers taken out on Adam Rowe.” After ignoring warnings to calm down, he placed Kessler under arrest for public drunkenness.

The defense did not present a case.

Judge Gordon Wilkins said there was enough evidence to certify the felony charge to a grand jury meeting on October 24. “It’s unusual to see someone lie in wait,” he said.

After the public drunkenness charge was combined with a separate incident involving operating a motorcycle without proper license and eluding police, Judge Wilkins found Kessler guilty and sentenced him to a total of 18 months in jail, fines and court costs totaling $2,713, and 12-month suspension of his driver’s license.

He also found Kessler guilty of misdemeanor assault and battery of Wanda Rose, which defense attorneys Breeden and Jeff Mathews immediately appealed to Circuit Court. Additional fines and jail time are pending the appeal.

Kessler remains in Lancaster jail.

No one has been charged in connection to the missing person case. In the days following Gifford’s disappearance, law enforcement and volunteers conducted several searches of the Windmill Point area and around Kessler properties on Cox’s Farm Road and Hunton Lane. Search warrants were sealed at the request of the sheriff’s department.

The chief investigator on the case, Lt. Tim Self, is back in the office after three weeks away. However, Capt. Marty Shirilla said there is nothing new to report on the missingperson case.

 

[OkieGranny]

From your link:

Seven weeks before her disappearance, Claudine went to North Carolina for a two-week stay to help a friend recovering from surgery, Page reported. However, while returning to Virginia, her minivan broke down and she called Page for help. Page was sitting in a Kilmarnock restaurant when she took the call. When she offered to wire $100, Kessler, who was also in the restaurant, came over and interrupted the conversation, insisting he would wire her $200 and then drive down to pick up Claudine, said Page. Since the women had only met him briefly once before, they declined his offer. But he refused to listen and left for North Carolina. After Claudine returned with him, they started dating, said Page....

During the two weeks with her family, Kessler called Claudine incessantly, insisting she return to Lancaster, even “threatening to blackmail her” with her daughter in order to get her to return, Richard said. “He even started calling and texting me.”

Richard said he and Kessler got into a heated argument over the constant calls and what Richard felt was Kessler’s interference in the couple working on their marriage. “She was only with Kessler maybe a month,” said Richard. “We were married 16 years.”

But what the heck is up with the whole exchange?

He approaches people he'd only supposedly met once briefly before at the bar, and randomly asks if they were questioned by police? Was the one night they met briefly the night she was last seen? Otherwise why would he even think to ask people he only had met once briefly before? Was he surveying the entire town or something?

They say they were out of town when the search was taking place, but what the heck does that have to do with if police questioned them?! That seems like such an odd answer :thinking: Besides, surely they were questioning people at times before and after the search...

And if TK apparently had some reason to think they may have been questioned, then surely LE would have, right? Since it seems really bizarre if TK is just willy nilly approaching people to ask if police questioned them...and like a surefire way to get everyone suspecting you, too!

Then, despite saying they were out of town when the search happen (which still, glaringly to me seems to not have answered the question!) TK comes back and asks if they think he killed her?!

Is he TRYING to get people to think he did something? (Which it doesn't seem like they'd need help thinking anyway, but...) Why would he be asking anyone that, but especially people he essentially doesn't know? Was he going around trying to plant seeds confirming what many must already have thought? Was he trying to get people to fight him or something if he didn't like their replies? So, so odd...

And then there's HER answer to the question. She's dreamed about her? And in that much detail? Heck, she'd only met CJG once briefly supposedly also.

That's...weird. :silenced:

Plus you'd think if some crazy angry guy you basically don't know came in and asked such strange questions and was also doing some volatile type things, at that point don't you think you disengage and DON'T answer questions like if you think he killed his GF?

AND this whole odd exchange, with a couple he supposedly only had met once briefly, he's managed to HAPPEN to talk to someone who just HAPPENED to have dreamed about CJG? Seriously?!

Sorry to quote my own post, but I wanted to bring that information forward because I see interesting parallels between Kessler's reported behavior toward Claudine and his behavior toward this couple.

IMO, this guy has control issues, a need to bend people to his will. Aggressive tendencies and poor impulse control, both exacerbated by alcohol.

As for the woman's "dream" remark... you know, she could have been BS'ing him, not realizing she was poking a hornet's nest with a stick. There are people who get a kick out of such things, saying something outrageous just to provoke a response. Usually no one winds up with a broken femur over it. And they weren't in some dark alley; they were in a public place with other people around. In hindsight, Kessler's over-the-top reaction might have been predictable, but in that moment she apparently didn't perceive the danger.

In hindsight, yes, she would have been smarter to keep her mouth shut, but this is an area with a very small population, everyone knows everyone else's business, and she was probably very well aware of Claudine's disappearance and Kessler's (alleged) role in it. Maybe she thought the dream remark would elicit a telling response. Maybe she was just having a little fun at his expense.

I really don't know what her motivation was, just pointing out the possibility that she didn't necessarily have this dream she described. Or maybe she did. Heck if I know. :dunno:

 

[Hannahsmith]

Why isn't this case receiving the same attention as the Hannah Graham disappearance? Both are devastating for the families and scary to the local community. In Hannah's case there is a lot of media attention and action/communication by local law enforcement. Why isn't this happening for Claudine? Is it because they believe the perpetrator is in custody? How would the public know that? Law enforcement has not said that. Based on their lack of communication should the public assume that a kidnapper, and perhaps a murderer, is on the loose in the Northern Neck? Where is the media for Claudine's case? Even the Washington Post is reporting on Hannah's case. It's unfortunate that these Virginia cases are being handled so differently. Hannah's is being handled professionally and, at this point in time, it appears there's a better chance that her disappearance will be solved. Wish the same was true for Claudine. I hope and pray that both women come home alive soon.

 

[helpfulcharlie]

I think it's because they believe the perp is in custody, yes. Most people I have talked with in Lancaster County and surrounding areas seem to buy that he's responsible. Even without Sheriff Crockett releasing a lot of his evidence. The timeline of events, the story discrepancies, the post-incident behavior, all of that speaks volumes to the plain-spoken folk that live down that way. Local media hasn't presented any alternate theories of the crime, even though it might hype the story and drive ratings. I think that it's good that he had the psychotic breaks that he had, because sitting in jail keeps him from lashing out at anyone else, and gives LE time to pursue his case at a relaxed pace. I believe he killed her. Whether her body is submerged or in a wooded area, there is a lot of water and woods in the area, and he is an outdoorsman, so she could be anywhere. They may have to rely on whatever evidence they have recovered from his home and car to resolve this case permanently. People should know by now, the old adage of no body, no conviction no longer applies in Virginia. All it takes is enough blood to presume murder. Let's hope they have that in Lancaster County.

 

[helpfulcharlie]

Other factors include a relative lack of ties to the community, the fact that it's a much smaller community than Charlottesville, the fact that she's not a young college student, the fact that there was not an extended time she was truly considered "missing" -- my feeling is that pretty early on some people were speculating that he had done her harm. Naturally Hannah's case is going to generate a lot more community support and sympathy. But I will be following this one until the day it's resolved.

 

[msteach]

The media's well documented bias for what has been referred to as "damsels in distress" syndrome. Perky, young, college age, petite, blonde (mostly), and upper middle class young white women is where they focus their coverage.

 

[helpfulcharlie]

Update from Lancaster County Sheriff's Office FB:

The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office Investigations division would like to update the public on the current status of the disappearance of Cluadine Gifford.
The investigation into the disappearance of Cluadine Gifford is still ongoing. We are receiving tips and information daily and all investigators are following up that information. We are currently awaiting results from the Virginia Department of Forensics Science in Richmond. With the amount of evidence submitted it will take some time but we have not stopped.
We appreciate all of the information being received and encourage others who haven't called that might have something to please call. Sometimes the smallest bit of information can be extremely helpful. If you can think back to the weekend of July 6th there may be something that you remember. Again the smallest thing can sometimes be the most helpful.

 

[Hannahsmith]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...e05ae2-436f-11e4-b437-1a7368204804_story.html

Charged with abduction. They're forging ahead.

 

[Hannahsmith]

Someone on FB posted this about Hannah Graham's disappearance. Ditto for Claudine Gifford. It doesn't matter how young or old the victim is....justice must be served in each and every case.

I don’t know Hannah Graham, but I don't have to know her in order to be concerned, to feel her absence or to desperately want her safe return. Because she represents each and every one of us and the parent who watches proudly but heartbroken as their child sets off to school to start that next stage of their adult life feels the pain.

Hannah Graham represents every single missing person in this country and in every corner of the world. She represents every soul that has been unjustly shaken from the path meant to travel, she has been interrupted from the good life she had every right to experience, ripped from reality and destroying her future. She has been robbed of the life she needed to live based on the love and caring and meticulous dedication in which her parents must have groomed their little girl to become, to believe in the good over the evil, to be confident yet careful, to recognize her real friends in life.

I pray intensely each day for this evil to stop and for all those missing souls yet to be found, I hope this girl is found alive. But I also imagine her looking down at all of us from a much better place, and she is smiling that beautiful smile because of the outpour of caring human beings wishing her found and she is laughing looking down at that miserable coward running like a chicken lost around a maze because she knows God is fair and his time will come.

Enough of you sick predators that continue to poison our world and put our kid’s life’s through such dark insecurities and suffering. Enough!

To that animal, that monster: If you have her, let her go. If you know where she is, set her free. If you’ve hurt her, may you feel her pain a thousand times worse in every cell of your poisoned mind and body.

If you think it's over and that you got away with it think again. Because the whole world is eyes wide open in search of you and the whole world will continue to follow you in every way imaginable until the end of your existence, to your last, slow, foul fumes of your expiring ashes... You are running out of time and you know it. You have nowhere left to hide, you won’t last long and your mistake will be your curse until the very end of your existence in this life and the beginning of your suffering in hell. Run coward run; run until you fall into your own self digged tomb.

The creator is just and you will pay in the worse imaginable punishment for what you have done and for the pain you are causing the parents and an entire community and beyond.

Hannah, don't give up. Your soul will come home. Your smile is our light of hope. You didn’t deserve this. No child does.

 

[helpfulcharlie]

I wonder if they have any ideas whatsoever regarding specific tracts of land/water to search. I don't know how much time JTK had between the incident and LE involvement.

 

[musicman]

As a side story, what do Claudine's husband and her best friend from work have in common? It could affect the search effort.