ORLANDO, Fla. – Drew Kesse, whose daughter Jennifer Kesse has been missing since Jan. 24, 2006, marked the upcoming 16th year since the disappearance in an update to his family’s GoFundMe Wednesday.
In the message, Kesse accused the Orlando Police Department of negligence and said it was incapable of fulfilling an agreement to provide the family with a digital file of Jennifer’s case.
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”Here’s where we are: almost four years ago we came to an agreement with the Orlando Police Department that they would, over the period of four months, generate a digital file of Jennifer’s case and give it to us at their requested cost of $18,000. We paid the price, in full, upfront,” Kesse said.
Instead of an easy transaction, Kesse said that his family has spent the last several years “fighting against the machine that is Orlando politics.”
“Now imagine, over that time, fighting for unredacted copies with the city’s lawyers and trying to have our private investigators find Jennifer from all those files. Then finding out that the lead detective on Jennifer’s case did not write a single report or any document since 2010, 12 years!!!” Kesse said. “We firmly believe the department’s negligence and lack of competency cost Jennifer the chance to be found.”
Although the family has stated they hired a private investigator in hopes they could solve the disappearance themselves, Kesse said in the message that they can’t act independently of law enforcement when it comes to approaching potential suspects “because it would ruin the prosecution’s case.” Kesse said that his team is ready to show any law enforcement agency where to go, who to speak with and what to ask.
OPD issued the following statement to News 6:
“The Orlando Police Department remains committed to finding the answers to the disappearance of Jennifer Kesse. Despite our 16-year commitment, there are some cases that remain difficult to solve. Since our agreement to produce the documents in this matter, we have worked closely with their counsel and have turned over thousands of pages of documents and hours of recordings for their independent team to review and investigate. Our hearts continue to go out to the entire Kesse family, and our detectives will continue to investigate any new leads.”