Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder. Reader discretion is advised.
Joleen Cummings was a single mother of three and a popular cosmetologist in the Fernandina Beach area in Florida until 2018. Cummings reportedly went missing in May of that year, prompting a widespread search for her. While investigating the disappearance, detectives began focusing on one of her co-workers from the Tangles Hair Salon, where both women worked. The subsequent discoveries would prove essential in the case and lead authorities to a killer.
ID’s See No Evil examines Joleen Cummings’ murder case in an episode titled “She’s Fake.” The upcoming episode will premiere on the network this Wednesday, August 7, 2024, at 9 p.m. ET. A synopsis for the same reads, “In Fernandina Beach, Fla., cosmetologist Joleen Cummings goes missing after an appointment, her last at Tangles Salon; CCTV footage shows her car in an isolated parking lot in the middle of the night; a closer look reveals an unlikely suspect.”
Authorities eventually found out who killed Joleen Cummings despite never finding her body. They linked Cummings’ co-worker Jennifer Sybert, who had been faking her true identity, using incriminating surveillance footage. These videos placed Sybert at the crime scene, the salon where both women worked, as she tried to get rid of evidence. The investigation also revealed that Jennifer Sybert’s real name is Kimberly Kessler.
Why did Kimberly Kessler kill Joleen Cummings?
Kimberly Kessler, who had been faking her identity, killed Joleen Cummings because she was growing suspicious of the former. The Florida Times-Union reported that prosecutors assumed Kessler murdered Cummings after the mother-of-three called her fake. Cummings additionally told Kessler that she was going to look her up online. The prosecution’s other theories alleged that Kessler grew competitive and wanted the victim’s clients as they both worked in the same salon.
According to Oxygen, Kessler used the alias Jennifer Sybert when she worked with Cummings at the Tangles Hair Salon in Fernandina Beach. The latter was a single mother when she vanished on May 12, 2018. The following day, she failed to pick up her children from their father’s place. On May 14, Cummings’ mother filed a missing person’s report with the Fernandina Beach Police Department.
The salon’s owner claimed she last saw Joleen Cummings on the evening of May 12. The owner also claimed she was working along with her co-worker, Jennifer Sybert. However, Sybert refused to get involved in the police investigation. She told authorities that she was in the middle of a stalking ordeal because of an ex-boyfriend. Sybert also mentioned she was never close to Cummings and had no idea about her whereabouts.
However, for authorities, Jennifer Sybert was the last person to have seen Joleen Cummings alive. Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper told Oxygen’s Snapped that Sybert “decided she didn’t want to have any part of the police” when they returned with more questions. Moreover, Sybert quit her job at the salon and asked them to send her a check via mail. She told them, “I can’t be involved in any police activity.” For the officers, this became concerning.
Within a day after Joleen Cummings’ disappearance, authorities received a tip about an abandoned vehicle. The car was found in a Home Depot parking lot in Yulee, Florida, and nearby surveillance linked Jennifer Sybert to the location. The footage captured Sybert walking away from the lot towards a gas station.
Detectives eventually discovered key evidence in the Tangles Hair Salon, proving a crime had occurred there. They used Luminol to find significant amounts of blood on the salon’s walls, chairs, cabinets, and sink. Tests confirmed it was Joleen Cummings’ blood, and a search for Jennifer Sybert as the prime suspect began. Authorities arrested initially her on grand theft charges.
More surveillance footage showed Jennifer Sybert discarding several trash bags into a dumpster behind the salon. Additional Walmart security footage captured Sybert buying incriminating items such as cleaning supplies, gloves, and an electric carving knife. Detectives believed she used the knife to “cut Joleen [Cummings] up, stuffed her in those black trash bags, and threw her away like garbage.”
Investigators later found Joleen Cummings’ DNA on the killer’s possessions. They also learned that both women had a fight before Cummings went missing. Nassau County Sheriff’s Sgt. Wayne Herrington claimed, “Joleen basically told her, ‘You’re not who you say you are and I’m going to find out who you are.'” Sybert eventually confessed to the police about about her true identity.
Authorities found out that Jennifer Sybert’s real name was Kimberly Kessler and that she had 18 aliases at the time. Kessler had stolen the identity of a girl named Jennifer Sybert, who died in 1987. The case concluded with Kessler’s 2021 conviction of first-degree murder, for which she received life in prison.
ID’s See No Evil episode on Joleen Cummings’ murder by Kimberly Kessler airs this Wednesday.
