Jennifer Kesse Update: Scholarship Started in Missing Florida Woman's Honor, Family Continues Search
NEW YORK (CBS) The family of Jennifer Kesse, who mysteriously disappeared from her Orlando home nearly five years ago, announced a University of Central Florida scholarship in her honor Friday.
PICTURES: Jennifer Kesse Missing
Drew Kesse, Jennifer's father, along with his wife, Joyce, have been tireless advocates for their daughter's case since her disappearance January 24, 2006. Drew spoke with Crimesider Friday and said that The Jennifer Kesse Scholarship will award $1,000 each year to a Florida resident who's a UCF graduate student in criminal justice.
Entrants must have a 3.0 grade point average or better and write a 500-word essay regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the Jennifer Kesse and Tiffany Sessions Missing Persons Act, a law the Kesses helped pass in 2008. It expanded the state's missing child alert system to include anyone up to age 26, and requires that after 90 days, a missing person's DNA be entered into local state and national data bases.
Jennifer, 24, apparently vanished from her Orlando home on January 24, 2006. Her friends became worried when she did not show up at work the next day, and when they didn't get a response, they called her parents.
Her car was recovered days later, just a mile from her home. Surveillance cameras snapped pictures of someone parking Jennifer's car and walking away from it, but the face of the person in the photos is obscured, and he or she has never been identified
Despite numerous searches, and years of work, police have made no arrests in the case. And nearly five years after her disappearance, Drew said, both Florida authorities and the FBI have "given up."
"Our criminal justice system really needs help," he stressed.
Drew hopes Jennifer's scholarship will keep his daughter's life, and story, in the forefront of the public's mind, while challenging those preparing for a career in the criminal justice system.
When asked if he has given up hope, Drew answered, "Not at all. We will continue to search for our daughter."
The Jennifer Kesse Criminal Justice Endowed Scholarship will be awarded to its first recipient in the fall 2011 semester.
Anyone with information on the disappearance of Jennifer Kesse is asked to call the FBI's Tampa office at 866-838-1153.
COMPLETE COVERAGE OF JENNIFER KESSE CASE ON CRIMESIDER
