New evidence connected to Kimberly Kessler released

New evidence was released Thursday, against the only suspect accused in connection to the death of a Nassau County mother, shows her wearing all black, going into a convenience store at the time the woman went missing.

Kimberly Kessler is accused in the disappearance of Jolene Cummings.

Investigators believe Cummings is dead even though they haven't found her body.

The surveillance video showed Joleen Cumming’s vehicle driving by Vystar near a Gate gas station in Yulee.

Minutes later, Kimberly Kessler is seen on video walking into the convenience store around 1:20 in the morning on May 13.

It’s the same day that investigators said Cummings never showed up to meet her ex-husband and pick up her three children.

Kessler was decked out in all black and Action News Jax law and safety expert Dale Carson said it’s odd in this situation.

“What’s unusual is for somebody to go missing and somebody connected with it to be dressed all in black,” Carson said.

In an interview with an investigator, the clerk said that she told him she had been out with friends that night and she asked him to call her a cab.

“She said something about how she was out with a couple of friends drinking and one of the friend’s ex boyfriends came around there have been some kind of problems she didn’t go into much detail after that,” the clerk said.

Carson said he believes Kessler was trying to paint a story of what happened that night.

“Now she’s saying I’m not involved, I’m really kind of a victim and a witness, but something happened and I don’t know anything about it,” Carson said.

The clerk also claimed to have seen a red fingermark on her cheekbone.

“It didn’t look like someone hit her, maybe grabbed her by the face or pushed her or something like that,” the clerk said.

Her demeanor was described to investigators as irritable, as he said she waited for a taxi. “She looked anxious, like she kind of thought something, but she didn’t want me to leave her alone either,” the clerk said.

The cab driver told an investigator that she was dropped off in a parking lot next to Woody’s.

Deputies said two days later, Cummings' abandoned Ford Expedition was found in the parking lot of Home Depot, about 2 miles away from where the cab driver dropped Kessler off.

The cab driver also told an investigator that she seemed like a nice woman and she was questioning him about his religion and if he went to church.

Carson said detectives are more than likely looking for the black clothing that Kessler was wearing that night.

Cox Media Group