Missing in Florida: Families seek help finding loved ones, answers to puzzling cold cases

Questions like what happened to Jennifer Kesse, Carole Baskin's ex-husband, Don Lewis, and others who have gone missing in Florida — such as Joshua Simmons, Sandra Yeomans, and Bonnie and Jeremy Dages — brought families and law enforcement together in Tampa for some of Florida's most puzzling cold cases.

Indianapolis resident Mary Jones flew to Florida on a little over a week's notice after she heard about Thursday's Missing in Florida Day event.

The second annual event was put on by the Florida Sheriff’s Association Cold Case Commission and the University of South Florida and aimed at connecting anyone with missing loved ones to law enforcement resources while raising awareness about the impact any small shred of information from tipsters in the public could have on a long-dormant cold case.

From the archive: OPINION: A missing daughter, a parent's agony

Jones has been searching for her brother, Michael Bradford Farrington, ever since he went missing in Memphis in 2013 at the age of 42. She was among many families at the event who shared their stories with law enforcement and the public with the hope of finding answers.

"He was my little brother," she said. "We miss him, and we love him. We used to write stories together. He would draw, and I would write the story. We always went on trips together, we would always do things together. So it's been a real big hole in my life, and I can't find him."

"We've been looking for him ever since, and we found an address in Florida," Jones said. "When we called they told us about this event, so I flew down here to file a report down here because if he is here maybe we can locate him."

Kesse family advocates for missing people

Drew and Joyce Kesse, of Bradenton, were one of five Southwest Florida families who delivered impassioned speeches about experiences with law enforcement, imparted tips, delivered words of encouragement, and shared personal stories about their loved ones.

Their daughter, Jennifer, disappeared in Orlando in 2006 and was never found. The Kesse's expressed frustration with officers who handled her case and eventually hired an attorney to sue the city or Orlando and Orlando Police Department for public records that prove nothing had been done in their daughter's case for over a decade.

They argued that the records should be publicly available because the case was no longer active. The Kesse's paid $18,000 for the records.

"We just wanted to see what they were doing, it was 15 years, and we had nothing," Drew said. "We got our hands on the files. We found out nothing had been written for 12 years. That hurt."

Their advocacy led to the Florida legislature passing the Jennifer Kesse and Tiffany Sessions Missing Persons Act in 2008, which requires that law enforcement adopt written policies and procedures for investigating missing persons.

"If you want to look at what not to do in a missing person's case, you can take a look at Jennifer's case," Drew said. "We fight every single day trying to find our daughter. Good has come of it. We actually spearheaded three laws that we passed because they're needed. We can't sit by and not be the largest advocate for our daughter, and in turn for all missing people. They need help."

Don Lewis missing in Tampa

The question of what happened to Carole Baskin's second husband, Don Lewis, is at the heart of a cold case highlighted during the Netflix series "Tiger King." His daughter, Donna Pettis, has been searching for answers since he went missing in Tampa in 1997.

Lewis founded Wildlife on Easy Street, which was renamed under Baskin's leadership to Big Cat Rescue after his disappearance.

The Tiger King show spawned theories that Lewis could have been murdered by his former wife, Baskin, although she has publicly denied the accusation and sued Netflix over her portrayal on the show. That lawsuit was voluntarily dropped.

More: Sarasota's Big Cat Habitat says guests are confusing them with Carole Baskin's closing place

"We are hopeful that a grand jury will be convened, however, this is a 'no body' case," Pettis said. "No body cases can be successful, but this would be an enormous undertaking. It would require massive man-hours. It would draw immense media attention. And ultimately, if the case were lost, it would be a humiliating defeat."

"Our hopes of justice may never come to fruition," she said.

Pettis said the show publicizing her father's disappearance led her to relive the trauma but was thankful that it rekindled the investigation into his disappearance after the cold case sat dormant for years.

"The last time I saw my father was Father's Day 1997," she said. "He asked that I come Sunday because she wouldn't be there. I didn't realize this would be the last time I saw my dad. Two months later our lives were devastated by the loss of their father. But time marches on, and eventually that loss doesn't consume your every moment of every day. In 2020 we had to relive this trauma, but time is marching on again."

"Although the recent investigation by the sheriff's office hasn't been able to bring an indictment, it has given us answers, and for that we're grateful," she said.

Florida residents missing, but not forgotten

Three other Southwest Florida families asked for help finding information about their loved ones in front of an audience, including relatives of little-known missing locals like Joshua Simmons, Sandra Yeomans, and Bonnie and Jeremy Dages.

Simmons disappeared just last year in Tampa. He was on his way to pick up his two kids after paying some bills but he never made it to them. He spoke to his mother, Hattie Crespo, on the phone not long before going missing.

"The day he went missing I was in Atlanta, taking care of my aunt, he called me," Crespo said. "He said, 'Momma I'm going to call you back later, we'll talk this evening. I'm getting ready to go in to pay my bill.' And I never, never, heard another word from my baby. I pray. Everything just seems so unreal."

Iris Morton and Roxanne Burgess were so young when their sister, Sandra Yeomans, disappeared near her family home in Thonotosassa in 1974 that they can't remember what she looked like, and to this day, not even a single photo of her has been found.

"As stories have been told to me I would have been the last one to see her, but if she walked through this door today, I wouldn't know what she looks like," Morton said.

Joe Dages spoke about his sister Bonnie and her son Jeremy, who went missing in Brandon in 1993. Bonnie was 18, and Jeremy was just 1.

"The probable reality is that they were dead a long time ago," Dages said. "But what we want to do is be able to bring their bodies home, bury them, and have a place to mourn them. A small semblance of closure."

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Florida cold cases: Families seek help finding missing loved ones