http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/jun/14/me-parents-seek-direction-in-arrest/
Parents Seek 'Direction' In Arrest
By VALERIE KALFRIN
The Tampa Tribune
Published: June 14, 2008
For two years, Joyce Kesse has driven "the Jen mobile" - a gold Chevrolet Trailblazer covered with photos of her smiling daughter - around the Bay area to trigger leads in her daughter's disappearance.
Gaither High School graduate Jennifer Kesse was 24 and living in Orlando when she vanished Jan. 24, 2006.
Orlando police found her black 2004 Chevy Malibu in an apartment complex about a mile from her condominium.
Friday, the Kesse family had hopes of new information from the Orlando area, where investigators questioned a man charged Thursday in a 2007 rape in Orange County.
The Orange County Sheriff's Office arrested Clemente Garcia, 20, of Orlando.
In another case, deputies found the body of a missing jogger, Nicole Ganguzza, 26, in an overgrown area of an Orange County park.
A homicide investigation is under way. Friday, the sheriff's office and Orlando police said they do not have anything to link Ganguzza's death with Kesse's disappearance.
However, Orlando homicide Sgt. Roger Brennan said it was too early to tell whether Garcia might be connected with Kesse's case.
"We're not done looking at him," Brennan said, adding that investigators have examined any crime of violence against women in the Orlando area for connections to Kesse.
Joyce Kesse and her husband, Drew, said they would follow the developments closely.
"How can we not hope that it's someone who's finally made a mistake?" Drew Kesse said. "That would give us a direction to go.
"I don't feel like we're going in any direction."
Drew Kesse said a man about 5-foot-3 to 5-foot-5 was spotted dropping off Jennifer's car at the apartment complex the week she disappeared. Since then, the family has fielded dozens of tips through a tip line, Web site and law enforcement agencies.
The family is determined to keep Jennifer's case alive. The TV show "48 Hours" plans to broadcast a segment July 1 on Jennifer's disappearance, Drew Kesse said.
Also in July, Gov. Charlie Crist will sign into law the "Jennifer Kesse-Tiffany Sessions Missing Persons Act," which establishes standards for entering information about missing people into the National Crime Information Center and other databases, as well as obtaining DNA samples from relatives.
"We have undying love for Jennifer, and we will not stop," Drew Kesse said. "Jennifer will come home someday.
"I'm not going to have my daughter in a shallow grave or in water somewhere for the rest of my life. That's just not in the cards."
News Channel 8 reporter Krista Klaus contributed to this report. Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800 or
[email protected].
