The parents of a woman who went missing nearly 20 years ago are hoping an AI enhanced picture of a suspect’s ear could crack the case.
Drew and Joyce Kesse last saw their daughter, Jennifer, 20 years ago this Christmas.
Weeks later, they were told she had failed to show up for work after the festive break.
Among the few clues was her car found abandoned a mile from her home in Orlando, Florida.
A suspect was spotted on CCTV walking away from the black 2004 Chevrolet Malibu after parking it at an apartment block, according to the FBI.
The footage was too grainy to identify them, and they also have their face obscured by a gate.
But Mr Kesse, 68, believes AI may finally help uncover the individual by enhancing their ear.
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He said: “We have film of a person who dropped Jennifer’s car off and walked away. On that film… it was a 35-year-old camera… very grainy.
“NASA enhanced the film… the best it’s going to get we’re told. However, AI has come along and we have the side of this person’s head.
“(I hope) We can clarify the ear in a picture through AI. An ear is just as good as eyes or fingerprints or DNA, so we have great hopes. We do have an AI company that we are working with. FDLE [Florida Department of Law Enforcement] have everything.
“They’re working their magic and we hope that magic comes… and if we can enhance that picture, this is going to go so fast because we will find that person.”
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‘I knew something was wrong right then’
Mr Kesse told Sky News he first got a call from one of Jennifer’s work colleagues on 24 January 2006.
“He asked: ‘Is everything okay with Jen? She didn’t show up for a meeting and that’s very unlike her, and she didn’t call’,” Mr Kesse said.
“I said… I’ll give her a call and see what’s up because she always answers. That was the only rule in our house that if mum or dad call, you pick the phone up.
“So for the first time since she got her car licence, I gave her a call and it went directly to voicemail, not four rings then voicemail, directly to voicemail.
“I knew something was wrong right then.”
The DNA evidence
The Kesses hold out hope for another key piece of evidence – one they spent decades chasing.
The missing person case was first handled by the Orlando Police Department, but the family became frustrated at the lack of progress, accusing police of failing to investigate properly.
So in 2019 Mr Kesse sued them and chased them through the courts to access thousands of pages of case files.
These were then passed over to the FDLE, which took on the case in 2022. It found DNA that was taken from the car that had never been tested in the almost two decades the police held it.
Mr Kesse said: “When the FDLE took it on they started going through everything and basically they came across a couple of pieces of evidence that had not been tested.
“Nineteen years later, we are looking for additional DNA that could probably help us.”
The FDLE has also narrowed down their persons of interest shortlist.
‘We have hope’
Mrs Kesse, 68, who was working as a nurse at the time, says they will never give up the search.
While her husband believes she is dead, she maintains small hope she could still be alive.
Asked what it would mean to finally know what happened, she told Sky News: “It would end almost 20 years of ambiguous loss. You have good days, you have bad days, and we’re not the only people in the world who have suffered having a loved one stolen from them by a person who thinks it’s okay to steal people. It’s not.
“Finding Jennifer would be filling part of our hearts.”
Pointing towards cases of people being found years after disappearing, she said: “I personally keep that hope because of the fact that someone was found alive years later.
“I hope and pray that we will find Jennifer alive but I’m a realist and statistically, that’s not going to be the outcome.”
Mr Kesse added: “I don’t think she’s alive, I think she fought. So we just need to find her. We don’t believe anyone should go missing and not be found in this world.”
Mrs Kesse said: “We still continue to pass out business cards that are a version of her missing persons flyer at gas stations. Wherever we go, we leave them on the counters, because we want everyone in the world to know that she is still missing.
“For 20 years, we want people to know that every single day we have done something to try and find Jennifer, for 20 years, and we’re not going to stop.
“We do celebrate her life, she is talked about daily.”
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Sky News has approached the Orlando Police Department and FDLE for a response.
Anyone with information on the disappearance of Jennifer Kesse can visit findjenniferkesse.com.
