Butler woman suspected in Florida murder allegedly asked cellmate about hiding bodies

A Butler County woman missing for more than a decade who turned up in Florida as a homicide suspect last year might have been stalking a childhood friend in Pennsylvania via Facebook, according to a report from First Coast News.

The details of Kimberly Kessler’s life include nearly 20 aliases used across the country, outlandish claims about her childhood and upbringing and bizarre jailhouse behavior.

The latest evidence released in the Florida murder case include a cellmate reporting that Kessler was “very inquisitive” about how another inmate charged with murder had hid the body and an alleged marriage proposal to a cousin of a high school friend in order to get custody of her son, according to Action News Jax.

Kessler was reported missing from Butler County in 2004. She surfaced Nassau County, Fla., last year under the name Jennifer Sybert as a suspect in the disappearance and death of Joleen Cummings.

Kessler was allegedly the last one to see Cummings, 34, at the Tangles Hair Salon, where they both worked on May 12, according to News4Jax. Kessler – who authorities now say used at least 18 aliases across 33 cities since 1996 – was charged with Cummings’ murder in September.

Kim McCall told First Coast News she grew up with Kessler and the two would ride horses together. She found out from a detective that Kessler had been communicating with her cousin on Facebook under the name Mia Stone.

“The detective told him that she was stalking him under several different profiles on Facebook,” McCall told the TV station. She said the detective told them to Google “Jennifer Sybert.”

“I said, ‘You don’t remember? We used to ride horses. That was my friend from elementary school,’” McCall said.

The woman told Action News Jax that Kessler drove from Florida to Texas to propose to her cousin, David Trempus. He told the TV station that “she was kind of weird,” and she proposed the marriage deal, as “it would be easier with two people living in a household to get custody of my son.”

The interview came several weeks after the release of dozens of pages of court documents, some of which News4Jax reports detailed bloodstains found in the salon where both women worked – including on two chairs, a wall, a wooden display stand and a vacuum cleaner.

Cummings was reported missing by her ex-husband two days after she was last seen when she failed to pick up the couple’s three children, authorities said. Her SUV was found the next day, and Kessler was charged with grand theft auto May 16, News4Jax reported at the time.

Cummings body has never been found.

According to Action News Jax, the court documents detailed statements from several inmates who have had contact with Kessler since her arrest.

Her cellmate reported that Kessler was “very inquisitive” about how another inmate charged with murder had hid the body, the TV station reported.