ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0For nearly 20 years, one question has followed Central Florida: What happened to 24-year-old Jennifer Kesse?<\/p>\n
Her disappearance not only reshaped how missing-person cases are handled in Florida \u2014 it forever changed the lives of the family who never stopped searching.<\/p>\n
Spectrum News 13 spoke with Jennifer\u2019s parents, Drew and Joyce Kesse, who shared their story in their own words: reflecting on 24 years of good memories shared with her daughter, the pain they have endured following her disappearance and the hope they have that one day answers to what happened to their daughter may come.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
Jennifer Keese has been missing for 20 years
\nHer parents, Drew and Joyce Kesse, share their emotional and financial toll of 20 years without answers
\nA quilt made from Jennifer Keese\u2019s favorite clothes keeps her memory close for her family
\nNew technology and AI are giving the family renewed hope that the case can still be solved<\/p>\n
Remembering Jennifer: \u201cIt\u2019s like having her with us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inside their home, Joyce and Drew Kesse carefully unfold a handmade quilt stitched together from Jennifer\u2019s favorite shirts and sweaters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese clothes are Jen\u2019s. They were her favorite clothes,\u201d Joyce said. \u201cIt\u2019s like having Jennifer with us. It\u2019s very comforting. It\u2019s so warm.\u201d<\/p>\n
Each piece holds a memory \u2014 a holiday, a laugh, a moment frozen in time.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s daddy\u2019s little girl. There\u2019s no two questions about it,\u201d Drew said with a smile.<\/p>\n
The couple describes their daughter as driven, joyful and full of life.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe loved music. Loved dancing. She honestly loved life,\u201d they said. \u201cAnd she was happy. And she was in love. And she loved her job.\u201d<\/p>\n
The painful reality: \u201cAmbiguous loss is hell.\u201d<\/p>\n
But those memories sit alongside the weight of nearly two decades of uncertainty. Drew keeps binders filled with business cards, leads and notes \u2014 what he calls their \u201cBible\u201d \u2014 documenting every step of the search.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has taken everything from us,\u201d he said. \u201cAll your money. Most of your friends. Your health. It affects every single part of your life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joyce describes the emotional toll even more bluntly.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwenty years has really taken a toll\u2026 ambiguous loss is hell,\u201d she said. \u201cI miss your laugh. I miss your hugs\u2026 those treasured moments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, they say walking away has never been an option.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a daughter taken by another human being against her will,\u201d Drew said. \u201cWe can\u2019t stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Holding on to hope: \u201cNobody can take that away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the pain, hope remains the driving force.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying everything we know to try and bring her home,\u201d Drew said. \u201cShe\u2019s completely worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The family said they are now working with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and an AI technology company to reexamine surveillance video, photos and thousands of pages of investigative files.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hope we get from technology is really the biggest hope we have,\u201d Drew said. \u201cTechnology has finally caught up with us.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Joyce, hope is simpler and stronger.<\/p>\n
\u201cHope is a very powerful four-letter word,\u201d she said. \u201cNobody can take it away from you.\u201d<\/p>\n
And after 20 years, their message remains clear: \u201cWe\u2019re not going to walk away.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s next<\/p>\n
The Kesse family said they remain committed to working with investigators and believe advancements in technology could finally generate new leads.<\/p>\n
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement sent this statement to Spectrum News 13:<\/p>\n
“January 24,\u00a0 2026, marks the 20-year anniversary since the day Jennifer Kesse was reported missing in Orlando. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) assumed the missing person investigation in 2022. Agents from FDLE\u2019s Cold Case Missing Persons Division have been working diligently on reviewing thousands of documents and following up on new leads that may help find her. The investigation remains active, and FDLE continues to be steadfast in its pursuit of justice in this case.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0For nearly 20 years, one question has followed Central Florida: What happened to 24-year-old Jennifer Kesse?…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2967,274,63156,265,28293,28,2204,115,139,141,140,277,135,278,2032,835,63157],"class_list":{"0":"post-130920","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-app-public-safety","9":"tag-app-top-stories","10":"tag-app-watchdog-investigations","11":"tag-crime","12":"tag-curtis-mccloud","13":"tag-florida","14":"tag-instagram-n13","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-orlando","17":"tag-orlando-headlines","18":"tag-orlando-news","19":"tag-public-safety","20":"tag-tampa","21":"tag-top-stories","22":"tag-trending-topics","23":"tag-vod","24":"tag-watchdog"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}