FL FL - Jennifer Odom, 12, Blanton, 19 Feb 1993

[Skully]

On mapquest there is a park at 4th ave and 4th st on one side. So there wouldnt be alot of homes to look at but Pasco Property appraisor is online. It may not be the same owner now however.

The Property appraiser will list everyone who ever owned the home and what date it is sold. So you could figure it I guess. I just haven't looked into this yet, only because I don't see how JM saw into the truck to see her purse on the seat. I can understand the sweater but I know from experience that memories are volatile and suggestive. I also don't know why the killer would double back if he was from Zephyrhills.

 

[IWannaKnow]

The Property appraiser will list everyone who ever owned the home and what date it is sold. So you could figure it I guess. I just haven't looked into this yet, only because I don't see how JM saw into the truck to see her purse on the seat. I can understand the sweater but I know from experience that memories are volatile and suggestive. I also don't know why the killer would double back if he was from Zephyrhills.

But, I thought I heard him say that he saw a bookbag on the seat. He says he saw "On my way to work, back in February 19, 1993, I saw this pickup truck coming into Zephyrhills from the west....to her right, on the seat was a multi-color bag, I believe it was leather patchwork but I'm not sure, against the door was a white jacket" and "he came down the alleyway, uh, and pulled into there" (pointing to left of alley). I listened to that several times to make sure that is exactly what he said, and it is. So, he doesn't directly say book bag, only patchwork leather. If he means her purse, I don't see how he could see that from the street either. If he means her bookbag, that I could see leaned against the door with her white sweatshirt draped over it.

As to why double back to Zephyrhills, what if they accquired Jennifer for someone who lived in Zephyrhills or that was where they killed her? You generally wouldn't dispose of the body right next to the crime scene....unless you are Casey Anthony. :angel:

 

[CN2Souls]

But, I thought I heard him say that he saw a book-bag on the seat. He says he saw "On my way to work, back in February 19, 1993, I saw this pickup truck coming into Zephyr hills from the west....to her right, on the seat was a multi-color bag, I believe it was leather patchwork but I'm not sure, against the door was a white jacket" and "he came down the alleyway, uh, and pulled into there" (pointing to left of alley). I listened to that several times to make sure that is exactly what he said, and it is. So, he doesn't directly say book bag, only patchwork leather. If he means her purse, I don't see how he could see that from the street either. If he means her book-bag, that I could see leaned against the door with her white sweatshirt draped over it.

As to why double back to Zephyr hills, what if they acquired Jennifer for someone who lived in Zephyr hills or that was where they killed her? You generally wouldn't dispose of the body right next to the crime scene....unless you are Casey Anthony. :angel:

Respectfully bolded by me...

I wonder about the description of the book-bag / backpack??

Because her Book-bag/backpack was 93% turquoise and the bottom golden leather with a 1 1/2 inch wide small band of multi color ribbon and from one moving into another moving vehicle to see what he said....
Hmmmmmm:waitasec:

 

[IWannaKnow]

Respectfully bolded by me...

I wonder about the description of the book-bag / backpack??

Because her Book-bag/backpack was 93% turquoise and the bottom golden leather with a 1 1/2 inch wide small band of multi color ribbon and from one moving into another moving vehicle to see what he said....
Hmmmmmm:waitasec:

I thought the same thing CN2Souls. Either one could be considered "patchwork", especially by an older man not familiar with young girls clothing. I don't see how he could see her purse, but the bookbag - yeah, I could see that. I sure would like to know where he worked.....was he walking to work or driving? Did he see Jennifer when he was standing on the sidewalk or was he in a vehicle (which would make it even more improbable that he saw her.....he would be driving and Jennifer would be on the other side of the other vehicle :waitasec? He would have a good view of the driver, but not Jennifer IMO. Nor her bookbag/purse/whatever on the other side of her....

They left alot out of that video.

 

[IWannaKnow]

Is that a Jansport bag? That is what I think that tag is.

 

[CN2Souls]

Is that a Jansport bag? That is what I think that tag is.

You are 100% correct on this, reason I know is, back around that time I had the same bag, and when I saw it I went to my attic to look and see if it was still there (yes I hoard a little):blushing: and it wasn't there, but I have picture of me with it on my shoulder, (I use backpacks as purses sometimes)

 

[Skully]

I think JM thought the purse was patchwork but I could be mistaken...none of these items were ever found.

 

[myzzy]

trying to find old news articles of Jennifer Odom in 1993 is proving to be very tough but i ran across a rootweb site that seem to have several of them.

It gives the correct loctions where she got off bus and was found.

near the stop at Jim Denney and Jessamine roads in the rural East Pasco community

and her remains

The body was discovered Thursday morning on a horse-riding trail among groves of orange and pine trees near Spring Lake in Hernando County, about 10 miles from where she disappeared about 3 p.m. Friday

the inital report of her missing, the parents going public, the remains being found, the funeral

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=barthle&id=I02872

DEPUTIES SEARCH FOR GIRL Series: TIMES DIGEST
St. Petersburg Times; St. Petersburg; Feb 20, 1993;

Pasco County deputies were searching Friday night for a 12-year-old girl who didn't come home from school. Jennifer Renee Odom, of Jim Denny Road in the St. Joseph area of East Pasco, got off the school bus with friends about 3 p.m. at Jessamine Road, said sheriff's spokesman Jon Powers.

`I JUST WANT JENNY HOME'
St. Petersburg Times; St. Petersburg; Feb 25, 1993; SALLY HICKS;RICK GERSHMAN;

Full Text:
Copyright Times Publishing Co. Feb 25, 1993

Two weeks before she disappeared without a trace from her bus stop, Jennifer Renee Odom had a long talk with her mom about strangers.

If someone bothers you, drop your books, drop your clarinet and run, Renee Converse recalled telling her 12-year-old daughter. That's one thing that sticks in Mrs. Converse's mind about Jennifer's vanishing: "There aren't any books."

MISSING GIRL FOUND DEAD IN HERNANDO COUNTY
St. Petersburg Times; St. Petersburg; Feb 26, 1993; Sally Hicks; Wes Platt; Larry Dougherty; Nancy Weil;

In the days after Jennifer Renee Odom disappeared, her parents kept looking out their front window, hoping to see the 12-year-old walking home down Jim Denney Road.

JENNIFER DIED OF HEAD WOUND
St. Petersburg Times; St. Petersburg; Feb 27, 1993; Chuch Murphy; Victoria White; Bill Stevens; Sally Hicks; Wes Platt; Robert Rogers;

Jennifer Odom's body lay for an extended period of time in the stand of pine trees where she was found Thursday, and she died of a head wound, sheriff's officials said Friday.

OBITUARIES Series: OBITUARIES
St. Petersburg Times; St. Petersburg; Mar 4, 1993;

ODOM, JENNIFER RENEE, 12, of St. Joseph, died in February 1993. She was a lifelong resident of St. Joseph. She was a student at Thomas E. Weightman Middle School and a member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church, the Future Farmers of America and the American Waterskiers Association.

JENNIFER'S LIFE TREASURES WILL GO WITH HER
St. Petersburg Times; St. Petersburg; Mar 5, 1993; Sally Hicks

Jennifer Renee Odom's aunt and grandmother approached a table beside the slain girl's casket and placed a basket on it, a last gift to the girl whose life will never reach beyond the seventh grade.

On one side, the table held the treasures and trinkets from Jennifer's life: a "best friend" charm on a gold chain, a doll in a lace-trimmed dress, a troll with orange hair, a pair of earrings in the shape of bare feet, a satin jacket from Weightman Middle School and the basket with her name painted in blue.

HUNDREDS OF MOURNERS GATHER TO SAY, `OH, JENNY, GOODBYE'
St. Petersburg Times; St. Petersburg; Mar 6, 1993; Sally Hicks;

It was a day of clear, cool sunshine that dappled orange groves and glinted on cattle ponds. It was a day when a 12-year-old girl should have been sitting in class, waiting to get outside, looking forward to the weekend, laughing with friends.

It was the day to bury Jennifer Renee Odom.

 

[Astrella613]

Quote, St. Petersburg Times:

Two weeks before she disappeared without a trace from her bus stop, Jennifer Renee Odom had a long talk with her mom about strangers.



I wonder what prompted this talk. Could have someone been watching her or was it just a routine talk?

 

[Skully]

I JUST WANT JENNY HOME'
St. Petersburg Times; St. Petersburg; Feb 25, 1993; SALLY HICKS;RICK GERSHMAN;

Full Text:
Copyright Times Publishing Co. Feb 25, 1993

Two weeks before she disappeared without a trace from her bus stop, Jennifer Renee Odom had a long talk with her mom about strangers.

If someone bothers you, drop your books, drop your clarinet and run, Renee Converse recalled telling her 12-year-old daughter. That's one thing that sticks in Mrs. Converse's mind about Jennifer's vanishing: "There aren't any books."

bbm

This is why I think he tricked her or hit her with the truck to get her to get in by herself and toss everything in the truck with her. Him accidentally hitting her would make sense, because he had a good excuse to tell her she needed to get in and he would take her up to the house for help or to make sure she was okay. Joseph Smith used a ploy to get Carla Brucha into that car that day in the parking lot. I think this guy did the same thing.

Thanks for posting these article and statements.

Until two or three weeks ago, two neighbor children got off at the same time as Jennifer. But the family recently moved away, and each girl had to walk home alone. Mrs. Converse and her husband, who works at the Pasco County garbage incinerator, both were at work, but the children were instructed to call Mrs. Converse so she knew they arrived safely.

BBM

This stills points to someone knowing his time frame of opportunity. He knew she was getting off that bus by herself and waited, knowing her sister comes home later and both parents worked. So he may have been sitting there in another car prior to this day watching, or he knew the other girls moved away. The article also states the kids stated they saw a blue pickup truck or a flatbed truck. We also have some saying there were pipes and a ladder in the back. They mention in the article that there were trucks around because of the workers in the groves in the area. Was this guy a worker in the groves? The ladder for picking fruit, or the pipes for irrigation of the groves?

Either she knew him, well enough to get into a truck for a ride up to the house, or he did something to get her into the truck without a fight or screams, like an accident of bumping her with the truck.

 

[IWannaKnow]

I originally put this in the PL thread, but felt it belongs here so I moved it. It relates to where Jennifer's body was found and a post stating it was found at a grove in Brooksville.

I think from studying the video of 10/28 that they found her body a good distance south of Boyett's Grove. And this location is supported by a news article which stated she was about 1/4 mile south of Powell Rd. Boyette's Grove is north of Powell Rd.

Between Mountain Lake Rd and Appalachian Dr. you will see two trails fading off into the woods, running west - reference point.

I believe this place is where her body was found, but I could be wrong. I have been before. I don't understand the horse trail part though. I do not see any obvious horse ranches around, but this trail does seem to run right into a house. Dunno if it was there in 1993, but who would want to build their home where a crime victim was found? :waitasec: The video didn't show any real buildings around the area, but they gave such a small view it is hard to tell.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...d=lRNMb3L9sDoTjxKf-8rrCw&cbp=12,24.71,,0,2.92

At least this spot, IMO, matches where they showed the sheriffs vehicles parked by the side of the road in the video....There is approx 1 to 1 1/2 miles between this spot and Boyettes. Someone please let me know if I am wrong. Thanks.

ETA: Here is the video, for ease of comparison. The shot is at 1:07.
http://video.tbo.com/m/34922790/odom-investigation-continues.htm

This is a real estate listing for the other side of Appalachian Dr. You can see the back side of the grove where Jennifer was found. Note the house was built in 2004, so I'm assuming that entire subdivision was not there in '93, but I do not know that for sure. I could be only this house.

http://www.realtor.com/property-detail/3462-Appalachian-Dr_Brooksville_FL_34602_32fa0504?source=web

The oldest property I found was built in 1997, four years after Jennifer was killed.

 

[IWannaKnow]

I also want to bring this out of the articles found by myzzy (huge THANK YOU for those!):

Late Friday, deputies in Citrus County were investigating a report from C**** T*****, who was sitting in her mobile home near the Withlacoochee Forest, that a man in a blue pickup had slowly driven past her house and tried to entice her 2 1/2-year-old daughter to him. As soon as I opened the door, he was gone.

The woman told deputies the incident happened about 2 p.m., but she did not call deputies until a neighbor convinced her an hour later that the truck and the man might be related to Jennifer's case. The truck had a Pasco license tag with 71V as its last three digits.

Tucker said the driver was a white man in his late 20s or early 30s with slick black hair, sideburns that curled toward his cheeks and a long silver earring.

This whole thing is confusing to me. Was it the Friday Jennifer disappeared? If so, they didn't even know she was gone at 3:00, I don't think she had even gotten off the bus at that point. So how would CT's neighbor have known? This must have been the following week....yes? I don't know if a perp would abduct a girl, kill and dispose of her almost immediately, then try again the next week, get interrupted and just say "ok, that was enough, I can quit now"....that is not my understanding of how these killers work. Unless Jennifer was specifically being targeted by someone she knew. Which could explain why she got into the truck with out dropping her books and clarinet and running as her mother instructed her to do. The fact that all her things have been found, except the bookbag and purse and those were specifically not found on Jim Denney or Jessimine Rd, points to a person Jennifer knew and trusted IMHO. If she were abducted against her will, I think she would have followed everyones advice and dropped her things, which should have been found by searchers on her road, not in dump sites several miles away. Hope that made sense. :crazy:

 

[Skully]

I had an idea that would help with remembering things in cold cases. I thought about a gathering, a celebration of that person's life on the anniversary of the day they went missing. I believe things don't take place in a vacumn, someone saw something, or told somebody something, but it is out there, like the stars, just beyond our reach; looking at us every night.

At this gathering, it would be casual, with food, much from the day or year of date they went missing. I would invite all the people closest to her/him, from school, or on the bus, or work, or neighbors, even if they moved, invite them to celebrate her life. I would have people who helped to look them them. You get the idea. All around this room with food and drinks and music and friends and family are pictures of the victim. The pictures show what they did in life, soccer, tennis, biking, anything that would have a story behind it. Lastly a tape recorder on a table and pen and journal book.

I would then ask my guests if any of them have a memory of these things to please tell the story you love the best about this person or event, or write it down in the journal book at the table for the victims family.

I think that someone may recall an event or a person that may lead to a break in a cold case. Many times someone will say something and it will trigger another memory. So if you are sitting around just thinking of the day the person went missing, like giving a statement, you may not think of something important that happened a month before. But if you are in a relaxed atmosphere, with friends talking about trips or camping or dances, anything you all did together, something may just pop into you head and it could be that one thing. If not, you gave the victims family a chance to know about wonderful stories you may never have heard about or funny things they did or said. I would want people to remember me by more than my death. I looked at her photos and read the articles about her and she was amazing. No way at that age would I have accomplished what she did at 12. Still haven't.

 

[:+:MrTT:+:]

...
Still looking for the unsolved mysteries episode for this case.

Anyone having it on DVD, or have a link to it please post.

thanks in advance
​

 

[Skully]

I just got a E-alert from LE that they are looking for a car that hit a person on a bike with the side view mirror. They passed the guy and hit him again with the mirror, I guess they turned around and came back. It made me think that Jennifer could have been hit with a extended side view mirror with that truck. I didn't know if my theory was plausible or not, just based on the one incident I knew about.

 

[Skully]

...
Still looking for the unsolved mysteries episode for this case.

Anyone having it on DVD, or have a link to it please post.

thanks in advance
​

Okay I found the CD and you have to buy it now, it is a boxed set of Unsolved Mysteries episodes of psychics and NM is in this CD. So if you want to contact me I will give you the info or anyone else here.

 

[Skully]

November is almost gone and Thanksgiving is just around the corner. The holidays are the toughest times for lots of people, but if you have a loved one missing or taken from you by murder, these days can be some of the worst. I want to take the time to remember Jennifer's family during these holidays and let them know that the people here at Websleuths really do care and want justice for Jenny and her family. I know it won't bring her back or make up for all the holidays and lost birthdays and all the things she would have done in a lifetime, but justice helps us heal. So again if anyone reads here and has even a small bit of information, no matter how small you think it is, call Hernando Sheriff's office or email them. You can be anonymous if you want to be. I know you are out there, I know you have that one piece that LE needs to give Jenny and her family justice. This February will mark the 17 year anniversary of her murder and that is way too long to keep a family waiting for answers.

Give Jenny and her family something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Let them be thankful that another little girl isn't in danger because a killer has been caught. Be a hero.

 

[Beatrice]

Coincidence? You & I live in this area of Florida.....
I truly believe justice will come for Jennifer Odom!

It is an absolute pleasure to know you!

 

[Skully]

Coincidence? You & I live in this area of Florida.....
I truly believe justice will come for Jennifer Odom!

It is an absolute pleasure to know you!

Thank you for such a nice complement. I am glad I know you too and I agree Jenny will get justice.

 

[Skully]

I am reading "The Confession" By John Grisham. The serial killer in this story, is a child rapist and murder, who stalked a 16 yr old cheerleader. She never sees him, as he goes to the games, and each time he goes, he wears different cloths, different caps, and sits in a different area of the bleachers. The season ends, so he follows her to a mall one day. He waits outside a parking lot in a old-beat-up stolen truck, stolen plates until he sees her come out of a mall this day. He simply pulls up beside her car as she is getting into it, has a gun, points it at her and tells her to get in. She does. He rapes her and then strangles her with a belt. Now I know this is fiction, but John Grisham researches his story lines and he studies how killers get there victims. In this story, the killer says it was easy, once they see the gun, they don't fight, they just get in. I know we kicked around the idea that she knew this guy, but the more I think about it, it is possible to get a person to just comply. He could have threatened to wait for her sister if she didn't get in.

Anyway, once again, I still feel that there is a person out there who knows what happened and I bet you think about it a lot. I have to wonder if you remember valentines day just before she went missing? Was there something that triggered him to do this?