Butler County native found guilty in 2018 murder of colleague in Florida

YULEE, Fla — A Butler County native charged in a Florida murder was found guilty of first-degree murder.

On Thursday afternoon, a jury in Nassau County, Fla. found Kimberly Kessler, the woman on trial for the 2018 death of her coworker Joleen Cummings, guilty of first-degree murder. Cummings and Kessler worked together at a Nassau County hair salon called Tangles.

The 34-year-old mother of three was reported missing by her mother Anne Johnson on May 14, 2018.

Kessler was the sole suspect in Cummings’ death, though her body has never been found.

The verdict came shortly after Judge James H. Daniel gave them the case.

The jury listened for hours as both the prosecution and the defense gave their closing arguments earlier Thursday morning.

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Kessler also faced a grand theft auto charge after investigators said Kessler was seen on a surveillance video parking Cummings’ vehicle around 1:17 a.m. on May 13, 2018 at a Home Depot parking lot in Yulee. She was also found guilty on that charge.

The trial began on Monday.

The prosecution team led its case by focusing on what happened the last day Cummings was seen alive: May 12, 2018. A number of witnesses were able to take the stand, without any interruption from Kessler.

That’s because Kessler was wheeled into the courtroom, and just seconds later, was wheeled back out after one of her routine outbursts. She was overheard saying, " I refused unjust counsel” and “Jordan Beard is Joleen’s cousin” — which is not a true statement. Beard is actually a part of the legal team representing Kessler.

The judge said Kessler was welcome back into the courtroom if she asked, but he was not willing to let her interrupt court proceedings.

Following opening statements from the prosecution and defense, the prosecution began by calling Detective Harrington to the stand.

Harrington is the sergeant of the Criminal Investigations Division with the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office. He is also the lead detective on the Kessler murder case.

He told the jury the investigative team interviewed Jason Cummings, Joleen’s ex-husband, Anne Johnson, Joleen’s mother, Jason Gee, Cummings boyfriend, the babysitter (who was not named) and Vicki Simmons, the owner of Tangles Hair Salon.

The defense team conducted a cross-examination to point out that Harrington knew the stepfather of Joleen Cummings. Cummings’ stepfather is a long-time employee of the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office. Harrington also told the defense, on the stand, that he knew Anne Johnson as well.

Defense asked Harrington if NCSO handled the case more urgently because of the relationship to Cummings’ family, but Harrington said there is an urgency with all missing persons cases.

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The next four witnesses that were called to the stand were clients at Tangles. Three of them were regular clients of Cummings, and one had their hair cut by Kessler.

What they all had in common was that they were all served by Cummings on May 12, 2018, the last day Cummings was seen alive.

Each witness told the jury that Kimberly Kessler, known in the salon by her alias Jennifer Sybert, and Joleen Cummings, were the only ones working in the salon that day.

While none of them said they noticed anything unusual about Cummings, one of the witnesses said she noticed Kessler “pacing a lot” and that she was “not able to stay still” during her visit to the salon on May 12th.”

Two of the witnesses told the jury that Cummings would often talk about her three kids. Cummings told the two witnesses that her kids decorated flower pots for Johnson, their grandmother.

When Johnson took the stand, it was evident she was trying to remain strong for her daughter and her family. But, three years later, the grief of losing her daughter Joleen continues to weigh heavily on her.

Johnson teared up, telling the jury that Joleen would never disappear without saying anything to her kids.

Even though they were divorced at the time of her disappearance, Cummings’ ex-husband, Jason, told jurors he still loved Cummings and that she was a great mother.

“I took a week off of work. And I drove on every road in Nassau County. ... just looking for anything. Seeing if I can see her car, just ... I promised my kids I’d try to find their mom,” Jason told the jury.

[ Photos: Mugshots of Kimberly Kessler, woman accused in murder of Nassau County mom Joleen Cummings ]

During the second day of testimony in the Kimberly Kessler Trial—the prosecution primarily focused on helping the jury to understand what steps were taken during the investigative process to find Joleen Cummings—and what items were found.

The witnesses called to the stand by the prosecution were strictly technical.

Each of them played a role in collecting evidence, analyzing the evidence, or searching for evidence in Cummings’ disappearance.

The Tangles Hair Salon and Storage on Saddler facility were two of the focal points in today’s testimony.

Sergeant Mark Murphy, with the Criminal Investigation Division of the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office, was the first person the prosecution called to the stand.

The jury was shown several pictures, from Murphy’s visits to Tangles. He visited the salon several times.

Sergeant Murphy explained that the evidence markers, seen in the pictures, were placed where “reddish-brown” stains were found—which includes the calendar at the reception desk, and the stylist chair. Those stains were tested and came back “presumptive positive” for blood.

Luminol, a substance used to detect blood you can’t see with the human eye, was also used throughout the salon.

Jean Blundell, a Senior Crime Lab Analyst with FDLE was also called to the stand.

She told the jury she photographed and searched a storage unit that belonged to Kessler at the Storage on Saddler facility.

Blundell said black combat boots and a spray bottle were found, each with “reddish-brown” stains.

The crime analyst said both items were tested for blood and came back positive.

By mid-afternoon—Detective Harrington was called back to the stand again for the second day in a row.

He recalled the thorough steps taken to look for evidence in Cummings’ disappearance in 2018, including the search of wooded areas, beaches and the Chesser landfill in Georgia.

Harrington told the jury the FBI command post was at the top of the hill of the landfill.

Harington went on to explain how search crews looked and worked through all of it.

It should be noted, that even with the tireless search efforts—Joleen Cummings’ body has never been found.

Kimberly Kessler was also not a part of day 2 of the trial, she has escorted out again after one of her routine outbursts.

The defense asked the judge for another mental competency review for Kessler. The judge denied the request because he said there’s no need to have the same behavior from Kessler analyzed, again.

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They had two kids together. Joleen had another child from a previous relationship.

Vicki Simmons said Kessler had only started working at Tangles in February 2018, and did not show up for work on May 15, 2018, the first day the salon was open after Cummings’ disappearance.

Simons told the jury that when she walked into the salon on May 15, she noticed an odd smell. She said there was also a plant right beside the reception desk that was totally different and that all of the lights were off.

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Sergeant Mark F. Murdock, with the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office, walked the jury through a video he had watched from the closing of Tangles at 5:00 p.m., May 12, 2018, through the morning of May 15, 2018.

Tangles did not have a security system, only a fake camera above the desk to act as a deterrent, according to Jim Simmons, the husband of Vicki Simmons and co-owner of Tangles.

Jim said employees knew the camera was not real.

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The camera footage Murdock referred to is from a nearby business, Dick’s Wings, which is located near Tangles, in the same strip mall. Sergeant Murdock was assigned to Investigations Division as a detective.

While the video clip played, he told the jury that Kessler “appeared on video about four times; was seen dumping a white bag at first, then kitchen-sized trash can and then a blue bin into a grassy area.”

Detective Harrington was also called back to the stand in the afternoon to talk through surveillance video from a local Walmart, where Kimberly Kessler was captured at a checkout buying an electronic knife, black garbage bags, gloves and ammonia.