The case of a missing 34-year-old mother of three from Yulee took a turn when police revealed the only known suspect in the case is a woman who’s been living a double life under a fake identity.
“The address that she gave the owner of the shop where she was supposed to be living was a bogus address,” said Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper says of the suspect, 50-year-old Kimberly Kessler.
Kessler had been going under the fake name “Jennifer Marie Sybert.” She had only worked at Tangles alongside Joleen Cummings around a month or so.
Kessler became a suspect in Cumming’s disappearance in part because of surveillance video. It reportedly showed Cummings’ Ford Expedition at a Home Depot at 1:17 a.m. just hours after Cummings went missing.
“The video showed the driver sit there for a few minutes and then get out,” Leeper said.
Deputies finally found Sybert at a rest stop an hour away in St. John’s County and discovered two things: One, Kessler had been living in her car in various locations, and for the first time, realized “Jennifer Sybert” wasn’t her real name.
Kessler is actually from Butler, Pennsylvania. She was reported missing from there in 2004.
“She has since been charged by the FBI with a Federal Offense of Possession of a Counterfeit Passport,” Leeper said.
Leeper says she also frequented Fernandina Beach, Yulee, the Bartram Park area of Jacksonville and St. John’s County.
Leeper is asking anyone with information on Kessler or this case to contact the Nassau County Sheriff's Office at 904-225-5174 or Crime Stoppers.
Co-owner of Tangles Hair Salon said in a statement:
We are deeply saddened by the information released by NCSO on Tuesday. Joleen was like a daughter to us and we are heart broken over this. She was a loving mother, daughter and friend to many. She was a successful stylist that loved what she did. Our hearts are also broken for her mother, children and the rest of her family. The world is full of evil, but many of us never expect it to hit so close as this has. We have and will continue to pray for her family and for closure for them. We ask that everyone would respect the privacy of her family and of our family during this time.