"When Joleen Cummings didn't pick up her children on Mother's Day 2018, her family knew something was wrong. They couldn't have imagined the truth: she had already been murdered, dismembered, and thrown in a dumpster—by the new co-worker she had just begun to suspect wasn't who she claimed to be."
In this chilling true crime episode, we investigate the 2018 murder of Joleen Cummings, a 34-year-old mother of three and hairstylist at Tangles Hair Salon in Fernandina Beach, Florida [citation:1][citation:3]. The last person to see her was a co-worker named Jennifer Sybert—who promptly quit her job and fled when police arrived [citation:1][citation:6]. But Jennifer Sybert didn't exist. The real Jennifer Sybert had died as a teenager in Pennsylvania. The woman using her identity was Kimberly Kessler, a fugitive who had been missing from Butler County since 2004 and had lived under at least 18 aliases across 30 cities in 14 states [citation:3][citation:8].
Kessler had been running from the FBI for 25 years [citation:4]. But she made one fatal mistake: she left Joleen's blood all over the salon. Crime scene investigators used Luminol, and the entire salon "lit up"—blood on walls, chairs, cabinets, scissors, mop handles, even a bleach bottle [citation:6][citation:8]. Kessler's internet searches included "how to dismember a body," and surveillance showed her buying an electric carving knife, gloves, and trash bags [citation:2][citation:4]. She was also seen on camera dumping heavy garbage bags into a dumpster behind the salon—bags that were never recovered [citation:6][citation:8].
After a hunger strike that dropped her weight to 74 pounds and bizarre behavior including smearing feces on herself, Kessler was ruled competent for trial [citation:3][citation:6]. The jury deliberated for less than three hours before finding her guilty of first-degree murder [citation:4][citation:7]. She was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Joleen's body has never been found [citation:1][citation:5]. But justice was served. Listener discretion advised.
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