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

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I just got off the phone with a detective in Pasco County. The entire case was given to Hernando because no one knows where she was killed. Even though the kidnapping happened in Pasco there is "no proof that she was killed in Pasco County." There is no proof that she was even killed in Hernando County, but because she was found there the assumption has been made. Nelson has retired and no one knows who the new detective is. I will have to ask another friend that works there if he knows. Might take a day or two for that. I'm working on getting as much detail as I can .
 
becca said:
I just got off the phone with a detective in Pasco County. The entire case was given to Hernando because no one knows where she was killed. Even though the kidnapping happened in Pasco there is "no proof that she was killed in Pasco County." There is no proof that she was even killed in Hernando County, but because she was found there the assumption has been made. Nelson has retired and no one knows who the new detective is. I will have to ask another friend that works there if he knows. Might take a day or two for that. I'm working on getting as much detail as I can .
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Post 56 has a link to the new task force and Dect Boylan is on the case. It aired Oct 28, image that!
 
Renewed interest in the case began here at WS Cold Cases in early October 2010...
Media aired the renewed interest video in late October 2010...Yes, "Imagine that!"

Who are these "couples searching for scrap metal" in very rural areas?

Respectfully Snipped:

On Thursday, February 25, 1993, a man and a woman searching an abandoned orange grove in southeast Hernando County, FL, found Jennifer.
(Spring Lake, FL)
Jennifer was nude, left wearing only two rings and a gold necklace with two charms. Jennifer's clothes, including the red sweater and Hooters jacket, have not been found. According to the Hernando County Sheriff's Office, Jennifer was killed, probably shortly after she was kidnapped, from a blow to the head.

Approximately two years later on Thursday, January 5, 1995, a couple hunting for scrap metal in a rural area of Hernando County discovered Jennifer's missing bookbag and clarinet case. The bag and case were found in heavy brush near a dirt road 12 miles west of the area where Jennifer's body was located in 1993 (Powell Rd and 41?)
and approximately 20 miles from her home in Pasco County.

Suspect vehicle is a mid to full size, older model pick-up truck, medium to dark blue (faded) in color, with pipes and/or ladders in back, rectangular side mirrors, trailer hitch with wires hanging, and silver bumber in back (not chrome).
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I'm confused...What was found behind Oak Hill Hospital, Brooksville?
Her purse? Her clothes? Is this quote incorrect?
 
The rural Hernando area that they refer to is behind Oak Hill Hospital. That is where the couple were searching a (unofficial dump site) to find scrap metal and they came across the case and bookbag. Her cloths and purse and boots have never been found. I know it is confusing when they don't describe areas in the same verbiage.
 
Beatrice said:
Renewed interest in the case began here at WS Cold Cases in early October 2010...
Media aired the renewed interest video in late October 2010...Yes, "Imagine that!"

Who are these "couples searching for scrap metal" in very rural areas?

Respectfully Snipped:



I'm confused...What was found behind Oak Hill Hospital, Brooksville?
Her purse? Her clothes? Is this quote incorrect?
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Powell Rd and 41 is considered Spring Lake, where Oak Hill is is considered Spring Hill or Brooksville. Two very different areas.
Her bookbag and clarinet case were found by Oak Hill.
 
JULY 14, 1995: The FBI finds a fingerprint inside Jennifer's book bag. Authorities later say the fingerprint does not belong to Jennifer, her family or the couple who discovered the bag. They find no matches with fingerprints in state and federal criminal databases.
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I see I'm getting things confused...sorry!

Fingerprint found in book bag...knap sack?
Clothes, purse...not found..yet.

And this is what the eyewitness from Zephyrhills (video) describes.
White jacket, muti-colored leather purse. :waitasec:
 
Bern said:
the video showed a home with a pool, but the article said, she walked past the orange grove and past her grandmother house but never made it.
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Where was her grandmother's house? On that same road or where the bus left her off? And did her grandmother or someone see her walk past gm house?
 
I have been following the idea that this was someone she knew but I'm not sure anymore. I cannot find any local cases simular to this one and this perp IMO would not have stopped with one killing. Also, if the fingerprint is his then he has not been caught either so he may still be out there.
 
I am assuming they have DNA in Jennifer's case, but I remember reading that it rained all day Monday and lots of evidence was washed away. They have the one print but unless it is the killers and they run the print they are not going to get a hit, if he hasn't been arrested. I agree they don't stop. So maybe he is dead, or he just hasn't gotten caught and that is why they can't match anything to him. He could have moved out of the country too. There is the chance someone else picked up the book bag when it was in the dump and just put it back, not realizing it was her's . Then along come another couple and they do realize it is evidence in her case and find the case too. There is that possibility that it is not the killers print. So unless they have DNA even if he offends again, they can't cross match it. If someone like Joseph Smith comes along and the MO is similar they check it out. I guess he ruled out or we would have heard by now. I started out thinking it had to be someone she knew, but now I realize that it could have been a total stranger, he could have used a ruse to get her into that truck, by hitting her with it, just hard enough to make her fall and then tell her he was going to run her up to the house or her grandma. That would work. She was a smart girl and she wouldn't fall for some lame tactic to get her into the truck.
 
Someone had asked how LE knows that Jennifer made it past her Grandmother’s house, Did we ever get an answer on that??
 
I read through the articles again, but it doesn't say she past her Grandma's house that day. Normally she does, but that day, no one knows how far she made it up that road. My guess, she didn't get far, this was a fast kidnapping.
 
Hello all,
I read Jennifer's whole thread yesterday and tried to get up to speed with her case. Thank you Bern for taking an interest in her and bringing her case back to life here. I was very excited to see that a video was just released. What is the feeling about Mr. JM from Zephyrhills? He says LE has had no interest in his story, but he sounded compelling to me and nothing has really broken in 17 years.....what could be the harm? Do you think the TV station filmed him just for giggles/ratings or do you think they wanted to get his story out? So, I guess I'm saying has anyone considered digging in to the theory that he could have seen her in Zephyrhills that night? I'm new to Jennifer and do not want to cause waves but would like to be helpful somewhere, rather than just debating opinions with people in the main forum. :angel:

I posted the RSO pages for Zephyrhills in the visions thread in the JR, hoping that some of you who have had visions might go peruse the pictures and see if anyone rings any bells with you.....

Hoping we can find some justice for Jennifer.
 
I don't know a lot about the CODIS database, except that it was started in 1990 and it wasn't until 1998 that all the sex offenders were being put into it as they were arrested or charged. My question is, in 1993 could a convicted SO be able to have missed the system, meaning is there a chance, if he didn't get caught again after 1993 his DNA may not be in the system? Like a mistake, but it hasn't been caught?
 
Bern said:
I don't know a lot about the CODIS database, except that it was started in 1990 and it wasn't until 1998 that all the sex offenders were being put into it as they were arrested or charged. My question is, in 1993 could a convicted SO be able to have missed the system, meaning is there a chance, if he didn't get caught again after 1993 his DNA may not be in the system? Like a mistake, but it hasn't been caught?
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Yes, I could see that there where SO's not put into it before 1998. It's only been recently that they have started puting anyone that is arrested for a felony charge's dna in the system. I dont think they have dna though on this case. they did however find a fingerprint and it should have been registered with ncic's database, if it is the perps finger print. I am concerned that it was preserved in the bookbag for some time and could be from other students at school the day she disappeared or even someone else that came across the bookbag (or even possibly discarded the bookbag to protect the killer).
 
...

From watching the video.
​
I would speculate perhaps she got no more then a quarter of the way of her walk home after getting off the bus.

She was taking from there, and taken to the spot she was found.

The vehicle used may have been stolen from another county, state.
It may have been used just for this crime, and within a short time, was dis-guarded/returned somewhere.

If he used his personal vehicle it could have been/he could have been identified.

...
​
I believe he had seen her somewhere, and was watching her in his own vehicle so not to draw attention to himself. But on the day of the crime had another vehicle that others would notice perhaps, but not be able to identify the driver, which has been proven already by the witnesses reports.

The place he took her too, was pre selected and not chosen at random i believe. And being on a Friday, he may not had to work that Saturday and Sunday. Or asked to have one or the other off.

Someone perhaps , whom had a job around the area she was found.
A type of worker, that would have known about that area.

THE ABOVE ALL MOO AND SPECULATION ON MY PART. NOTHING POSTED AS FACT UNLESS OTHERWISE KNOWN TO BE.
​
 
Bern knows the name of Jennifer's school...
It is south in Wesley Chapel. Near the Zephyrhills witness. (10 miles)
Both locations are off of SR 54.

Jennifer Odom could have been stalked from her school, the school busstop, or the bus was followed to Dade City by this predator/murderer. I wonder if Jennifer was the first off in that area. Her two friends got off the bus after Jennifer. Bus would be going from east to west.

The fastest way to go back south would be Rt. 301...10 miles distance from Dade City & Zephyhills. Directly connected. The Zephyrhills witness is right by SR 54 and 301. :waitasec:
 
The video showed the intersection of two streets, 4th Ave and 4th St. in Zephyrhills. Mr. JM lives on 8th, and if you study the map, you will see that to cross the hwy, you have to go over 3rd st, and he stated that he saw her while going to work, so all that seems to fit my very gullible brain (if he worked swing shift, or night shift). They showed a house in the video, and he stated the truck drove down an alleyway......what do you think the chances are of figuring out which house that is and who owned it in '93? I know he said the cops already looked at it but what else is there to work with really? And as Beatrice pointed out in the previous post, it all lines up....
 
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.
 
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