ORLANDO, Fla. – Orlando police on Friday said searchers didn't discover anything of significance in an extensive search for Jennifer Kesse, who was reported missing nearly six years ago.
An investigator said a new lead prompted the search, which took place in a wooded area near 13000 S. International Drive, north of World Center Drive.
"We ask you to please not stop looking for Jennifer," said her father, Drew Kesse. "We wish they did find something."
Jennifer Kesse's mother, Joyce Kesse, said small bones were found, but they're believed to be animal bones.
Video from Local 6 helicopter Sky 6 showed several dozen law enforcement vehicles parked along a roadway in the search area. Orlando police said searchers on horseback and ATVs were involved in the search, which encompassed about 800 acres of dense brush that was under water but recently dried out.
Drew Kesse told Local 6 that police called him at 7:30 a.m. Friday to inform him about the search. He said he's glad that law enforcement isn't giving up on the case.
"It's getting harder every day and people think you can get over something like this and I do think you can get over hardship, but when you don't know what happened and you are still really on day 1 on an abduction of your daughter, it gets worse every day," said Drew Kesse, who traveled to Orlando from Bradenton on Friday.
Kesse, who was 24 years old at the time of her disappearance, was reported missing when she failed to show up for work at Central Florida Investments on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2006.
Kesse had spent a long weekend in St. Croix with her boyfriend and other friends prior to his disappearance, her family said. The day before she failed to report to work, Kesse left her boyfriend's home in South Florida and drove to her workplace. When she left for the day, she said good-bye to her boss.
That evening, she talked on the phone with her father, mother, brother, friends and her boyfriend. That was the last time anyone had seen or heard from Kesse.
According to her family, Kesse had obviously been in her condominium located at Mosaic at Millenia next to the Mall at Millenia in Orlando on Tuesday morning.
She was reported missing later in the day, and numerous searches have been conducted for her over the years.
On Thursday, Jan. 26, 2006, Kesse's car was found abandoned at The Huntington on the Green Condominiums at the corner of Texas Avenue and Americana Boulevard in Orlando, about a mile from where she lived.
A man was captured on video near her car, but the image was not very detailed and he has not been located. Valuables were left in Kesse's car, so police do not believe her disappearance was connected to a robbery or carjacking.
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