If you remember Bedtime Story #3 where my mother in law Miss Mable was attacked in her home and left for dead, because of that I was introduced to a great and caring organization called the Justice Coalition here in Jacksonville.
The Justice Coalition advocates for the victims of violent crime and they were tremendous allies for our family helping us navigate the justice system.
The executive director of the JC was a Godly woman by the name of Ann Dugger. After Miss Mable’s case was over and her attacker was sentenced to life in prison without parole, Miss Ann asked me to join her board of directors of the JC which I did.
By being on the board I found myself working very close with Miss Ann and trying to help the families of some of the most violent murder cases in Jacksonville from 2009 until 2019.
There are some I don’t care to think about because they involve children but the one I’d like to share now is the story of a young mother of three…. and her name was Jolene Cummings.
Jolene was a pretty blonde girl who was a hair dresser in Fernandina Beach a community just north of Jacksonville and only two exits from the Georgie line.
Jolene was outgoing and everyone that met her liked her. She was a divorced mother of three children that she adored and would never leave.
In May of 2018 Jolene failed to pickup her children after work and that wasn’t like her.
To speed this story up there was another girl who had just started working at the same hair salon as Jolene and her name was Kimberly Kessler.
It’s thought that Kessler and Jolene may have had an argument that night that lead to Kessler murdering Jolene.
When the police investigated the crime scene which was the salon they found that someone had attempted to clean up blood and hide what may have been a struggle and an eventual murder.
They went looking for Kessler as the video cameras in the area of the salon clearly showed her dumping plastic bags into a dumpster.
When they found Kessler we were told she had something like 16 or more drivers license or ID’s of women on her who are known dead or missing from around the country.
One day I get a call from Miss Ann and she asks me to drive her and Joleen’s mother out to a dump where at 9:00 am that morning the FBI and the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office are conducting a search to see if they can find Jolene’s body as Kessler is not cooperating with the authorities on her whereabouts.
It was a hot day and the poor FBI agents had to wear tyvek suites and masks to keep them from breathing toxic waste.
Anyway after probably 20 or more law enforcement officers had been searching in that dump all day the only thing they found of interest was a fingernail… and when they did the DNA test it in fact was Jolene’s.
Well fast forward and Jolene’s body still hasn’t been found but Kessler was brought to trial and I sat with Joleen’s mom and Miss Ann in court when they wheeled that animal out in front of us.
We were no more than maybe 10 feet away from her and she started screaming things at the judge and at the attorneys and the judge ordered the bailiff to take her out of his courtroom…. When they took her out in front of us again you could feel the evil coming off of her.
She’s like the female version of Ted Bundy… I’ve never been around someone that evil and she maybe the most prolific female mass murderer in the history of our country…. But we’ll never know.
She’s killed so many unfortunately she’s gotten good at it and no one can find the bodies…. To this day all that’s been found of Joleen is that one fingernail.
I never have felt the way I did when Kessler was so close to me and screaming … to be that close to someone who has killed maybe 20 or 30 women is something I’ll never forget.
The Justice Coalition advocates for the victims of violent crime and they were tremendous allies for our family helping us navigate the justice system.
The executive director of the JC was a Godly woman by the name of Ann Dugger. After Miss Mable’s case was over and her attacker was sentenced to life in prison without parole, Miss Ann asked me to join her board of directors of the JC which I did.
By being on the board I found myself working very close with Miss Ann and trying to help the families of some of the most violent murder cases in Jacksonville from 2009 until 2019.
There are some I don’t care to think about because they involve children but the one I’d like to share now is the story of a young mother of three…. and her name was Jolene Cummings.
Jolene was a pretty blonde girl who was a hair dresser in Fernandina Beach a community just north of Jacksonville and only two exits from the Georgie line.
Jolene was outgoing and everyone that met her liked her. She was a divorced mother of three children that she adored and would never leave.
In May of 2018 Jolene failed to pickup her children after work and that wasn’t like her.
To speed this story up there was another girl who had just started working at the same hair salon as Jolene and her name was Kimberly Kessler.
It’s thought that Kessler and Jolene may have had an argument that night that lead to Kessler murdering Jolene.
When the police investigated the crime scene which was the salon they found that someone had attempted to clean up blood and hide what may have been a struggle and an eventual murder.
They went looking for Kessler as the video cameras in the area of the salon clearly showed her dumping plastic bags into a dumpster.
When they found Kessler we were told she had something like 16 or more drivers license or ID’s of women on her who are known dead or missing from around the country.
One day I get a call from Miss Ann and she asks me to drive her and Joleen’s mother out to a dump where at 9:00 am that morning the FBI and the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office are conducting a search to see if they can find Jolene’s body as Kessler is not cooperating with the authorities on her whereabouts.
It was a hot day and the poor FBI agents had to wear tyvek suites and masks to keep them from breathing toxic waste.
Anyway after probably 20 or more law enforcement officers had been searching in that dump all day the only thing they found of interest was a fingernail… and when they did the DNA test it in fact was Jolene’s.
Well fast forward and Jolene’s body still hasn’t been found but Kessler was brought to trial and I sat with Joleen’s mom and Miss Ann in court when they wheeled that animal out in front of us.
We were no more than maybe 10 feet away from her and she started screaming things at the judge and at the attorneys and the judge ordered the bailiff to take her out of his courtroom…. When they took her out in front of us again you could feel the evil coming off of her.
She’s like the female version of Ted Bundy… I’ve never been around someone that evil and she maybe the most prolific female mass murderer in the history of our country…. But we’ll never know.
She’s killed so many unfortunately she’s gotten good at it and no one can find the bodies…. To this day all that’s been found of Joleen is that one fingernail.
I never have felt the way I did when Kessler was so close to me and screaming … to be that close to someone who has killed maybe 20 or 30 women is something I’ll never forget.
