Playing cards with pictures of missing Orange County woman Jennifer Kesse are in the hands of criminals.
Tuesday was the 18-month anniversary of the disappearance of Kesse. Her parents and the state of Florida are putting over 87,000 decks of playing cards into the hands of criminals behind bars statewide. The cards feature the picture of Kesse, as well as pictures of other victims of cold cases.
Kesse's parents said they have not given up hope.
“We're not gonna let evil win twice. Evil stole Jennifer from our family, and evil will not rob our family of our right to live. What we're gonna do is we're gonna pass out these decks of cards,” said Joyce Kesse, Jennifer Kesse's mother.
Florida Attorney General Bill Mccollum said the playing cards make perfect sense.
“The best bang for your buck literally -- and we don't have a lot of bucks -- is in the prison system. It's in the jails, it's where the criminals are, and other criminals tend to talk about their crimes, brag to their fellow inmates at some time or another," McCollum said.
State prison is not exactly Las Vegas, but the possibility of a reward gives prisoners a real incentive to check out the cards and pass along tips to investigators.
However, the inmates News 13 talked to said it is not that simple. In jail, there is no privacy.
“In here, you're a snitch if you say anything to anybody," said state prison inmate Donald Belt.
Still, the idea is to get people thinking. The Kesses helped design a local playing card deck that has led to hundreds of tips.
“We're gonna have closure to some cases. We hope it is Jennifer's," said Drew Kesse, Jennifer’s father.
Last fall the Kesses dropped by News 13 to show us another set of playing cards they had made.The cards also had a picture of Jennifer but did not have information about any other cases. So far, there has been no significant tips from those cards.
If you have any information about the Jennifer Kesse case, you are asked to call CrimeLine at (800) 423-TIPS.