BRADENTON — Drew and Joyce Kesse’s lives changed forever on this day four years ago.
Their daughter — and oldest child — was abducted near her Orlando condominium.
Jennifer Kesse, a 24-year-old financial analyst, left her home on Jan 24, 2006, to go to work.
She never made it. There were no signs of struggle at her condo.
Since Jennifer’s disappearance, her parents, who live in Bradenton, have turned their vehicles into mobile billboards with images of Jennifer and phone numbers, hit the national television circuit, and started a Web site flooded with images of her and information about her case.
They’ve done it all in the hopes that someday Jennifer might be found.
Her story has even been featured on the Maury Povich and the Montel Williams shows, which are replayed heavily abroad, according to her father.
“People are aware of Jennifer,” said Drew Kesse. “She’s all over.”
Yet while many people have reached out to the family with words of encouragement, the intense media exposure has come at a price.
There have been countless threats, Drew said, in written form on the guest book at www.jenniferkesse.com and a some by phone.
Pictures of a smiling Jennifer with sandy blonde hair and green eyes have been copied off her family’s Web site and used on dating and adult Web sites.
A man in Ghana heard Jennifer’s story and said he was holding her for $6.2 million.
Another man, Andrew S. Haley, made a video toting himself as the “Catch Me Killer” on YouTube and claimed to kill 16 people, including Jennifer, according to an indictment filed last year in Hall County, Ga. He offered to give clues to see if people could catch him.
Authorities did catch him, but he never killed anyone. He faces charges of making false statements.
“It’s weird crap,” Drew said.
But it hasn’t all been like that.
On their Web site, one person writes, “My heart goes out to your family. I can’t even begin to understand how you feel.”
Others ask questions about Jennifer: “The folks on the forum are starving for information about Jennifer, everyday things, that might seem unimportant to most people. ... Did she have long term goals? What is her favorite color? What is her favorite take out food?”
People in more than 60 countries have contacted the Kesses to say they’ve heard Jennifer’s story, Drew Kesse said.
The threats begin
Things took a sinister turn, however, when someone began making veiled threats on the family’s Web site.
“I know what you drive. I see where you live. I go where you go. ... I hope you’re not in an accident,” read one entry in the guest book, obtained through court documents.
Threat after threat followed. The last being just last week. Drew Kesse said he has removed 100 pages off the Web site from the same person.
“Don’t threaten someone’s family who has been taken and we don’t even know where she is now. Don’t do that to my family,” Kesse said.
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