http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-bk-missingwoman012606,0,3904869.story?coll=orl-home-headlines
The trail bypassed the complex's only entrance and led to a stretch of fence separating the public sidewalk from its private grounds. Once the 6-year-old bloodhound entered the grounds, the dog picked up the scent inside the fence and went directly to a staircase leading to Kesse's second-floor condominium.
Orlando police homicide detectives would not speculate on who abandoned Kesse's Chevrolet Malibu near the intersection of Americana and Texas Avenue and then walked or ran back to her home.
"Obviously, we get more concerned as time passes but we certainly are going to keep our hopes up," said Sgt. Barbara Jones, the department spokeswoman.
Missing persons cases are relatively common in Central Florida with more than 3,000 listed at least briefly each year in Orange County alone.
An impromptu search for the 24-year-old financial analyst began Tuesday when she failed to go to work at Central Florida Investments or answer her cell phone.
Extremely responsible since childhood, her uncharacteristic absence alarmed family members in Bradenton and more than a dozen former classmates at the University of Central Florida. By Tuesday night, they began distributing posters asking the public to help find the 5-feet, 8-inch tall, 135-pound blonde with green eyes.
"She's got the whole package. She's just one of those girls you go to for anything," said friend and college roommate Jenny Peppers. "She's got street smarts and book smarts. She's a very bright girl."
The last time anyone heard from Kesse was about 10 p.m. Monday when she called Rob Allen, her boyfriend who lives in Fort Lauderdale, her friends and police said.
Allen, 29, and Kesse met last year when she and several of her friends went to the Tiki Bar, a popular meeting place in downtown Orlando's nightclub district, said Cari McKibben, who roomed with Kesse for five years.
This afternoon, Allen, McKibben, Peppers and about 20 of Kesse's relatives and friends from as far away as Boston gathered at her condominium to wait for news from police. Many were UCF 2003 graduates, who described her with the same terms of determination, intelligence and ambition that had followed her since elementary school in Tampa when she received all A's on her report card.
At Gaither High School in Hillsborough County, where she belonged to the Fellowships of Christian Students, Spanish Honors Society and graduated in 1999, Principal Brenda Grasso told the
St. Petersburg Times newspaper, "She left us with a very high GPA. ... What an awful shame.''
Today's investigation in Orlando included searches of storage closets in the 3-story building where she lives and a search of scrub pines and brush at the back of the property. Another search was conducted at Huntington on the Green condominiums, where the missing Chevy Malibu was found parked between a white Dodge pickup and a Jeep Cherokee.
Crime scene technicians picked through a nearby dumpster and photographed a gym-style bag along with several pieces of discarded furniture. Afterwards, Kesse's car was carried away by a flatbed tow truck for a forensic inspection of its interior and body.
Homicide detectives Emmett Browning and Glenn Gause returned to the complex late this afternoon to inspect a security camera system with a view of the spot where Kesse's car had been parked. They did not say if there is film of who abandoned the car.