Nassau Sheriff: Evidence indicates missing mother is not alive, suspect in custody on related charge

More than a week after 34-year-old Joleen Cummings was reported missing, the Nassau County Sheriff's Office says they have evidence to believe she is no longer alive- but a suspect is in custody in connection to the disappearance.

WOKV has been following this investigation since NCSO released information about this case last Monday, May 14th. Cummings had been last seen Saturday, May 12th, at her work at Tangles Salon on East State Road 200 in Fernandina Beach. She was supposed to pick up her children from her ex-husband the next day, Mother’s Day, but didn’t show.

“My daughter was a loving mother to her children. Her children were her life,” says Cummings’ mother Anne Johnson.

On Tuesday, May 15th, the Sheriff’s Office found Cummings’ vehicle in the parking lot at Home Depot in Yulee. They processed it and searched the area for surveillance video- which they found. Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper says the video shows Cummings’ vehicle being parked in the lot at 1:17AM Sunday, May 13th.

“We were hoping to see Joleen get out of that vehicle. But who do you think it was? The Tangles hair stylist who was supposedly the last person to see Joleen,” Leeper says.

Leeper says that person, who identified herself as Jennifer Sybert, had only been working at the salon about a month. When NCSO went to question her, she had not shown up for work. NCSO then determined Sybert’s name, address, and social security number were all fake.

Leeper says they ultimately tracked her down at the I-95 northbound rest stop in St. Johns County. She was apparently living in her car in various places. Leeper says they have determined Sybert’s real identity is Kimberly Kessler, from Butler, PA, and she is a suspect in Cummings’ disappearance.

We have confirmed with Leeper that Kessler was actually reported missing out of Pennsylvania in 2004, when she was 35 years old. The disappearance was considered to be under suspicious circumstances, but there is no further information available at this time.

Kessler has now been arrested in St. Johns County for auto theft in connection to her driving and parking Cummings’ vehicle, and she has since been transported to Nassau County. Leeper says Kessler has also been charged by the FBI with possession of a counterfeit passport. Leeper says more charges could be coming, as their investigation moves forward.

He says investigators have evidence that indicates Cummings is no longer alive, but he declined to discuss the nature of that evidence at this time. He says the NCSO is still actively investigating in an effort to locate Cummings.

“Someone out there knows something. I beg you, I beg you- as a mother- to please keep coming forward with any information that you have, no matter how small,” Johnson says.

NCSO previously said Cummings' ex-boyfriend was a person of interest in the disappearance, because a few days prior he had showed up at her home and tried to stay there. A neighbor reported the situation became loud and disruptive, when Cummings wouldn't let him stay. That man eluded deputies for several days, but was ultimately caught hiding under some cardboard boxes in a home in Hilliard on May 15th, according to Leeper. He is still being held on a charge of violating probation.

Kessler was known to frequent Fernandina Beach, Yulee, Bartram Park, and St. Johns County, according to Leeper. If you have any information about Cummings, Kessler, or anything you believe is connected to the case, they’re asking  you to come forward. You can call NCSO at 904-548-4005 or Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS.

A vigil is also taking place at the Journey Church in Yulee at 7PM Tuesday, with Johnson asking for prayers that the family get closure.