I recently had the chance to visit the spot where Jennifer was abducted in Pasco County. I’ve always been a visual person so I wanted to actually go to the site she was taken from as well as the wooded area where her body was found in nearby Hernando County. I had hoped to get a better idea of what could have happened when that school bus pulled away, 25 years ago, leaving the 12-year-old to make her usual 200 yard walk home. The experience I ended up having in a few short hours was chilling to say the least…
ST. JOSEPH
At the time of her abduction, Jenny resided in the small rural community of St. Joseph. Jessamine Rd is a long, winding 2 lane road that intersects Jim Denney, in fact, it’s the ONLY way to gain access. Where the 2 roads come together is marked by a row of mailboxes & a sign that announces “DEAD END”… It’s also the place that Jenny was dropped off at that day & the last known spot that she was seen alive.
The house where Jenny lived with her mom, stepdad & younger sister (the family still resides there today) sits slightly back from the road when taking the fork to the left. I drove until I got to that fork in the road & then turned around (heading west), drove back to the intersection & stopped to collect my thoughts…
THE ABDUCTION…
Seeing the area & forming impressions based on what I had already known actually helped me put together (at least in my mind) a scenario of how Jenny’s abduction may have taken place. Here’s what I think could have happened…
- Since there’s only one direction you can go on Jim Denney from Jessamine, I think Jenny got off the bus & made the right onto Jim Denney, crossing from the right side of the road to the left as her house sat on the left side.
- The Blue pickup was most likely sitting on the shoulder of Jessamine behind the bus, close enough to the intersection to act quickly BUT far enough back that it wouldn’t call much (if any) attention to itself.
- As she walked east toward home, The school bus began to pull away, blue truck crept along the shoulder, possibly using the bus as a cover to remain obscure. Believing he was out of view, he made the turn onto Jim Denney…He’s now positioned behind Jenny. We know though that he was NOT yet completely out of view at this point like he thought, as witnesses on the bus saw the truck in this EXACT position.
- I don’t think that the abductor ever exited the truck…Here’s why: As it would have taken just a few minutes to walk the 200 yards from bus stop to home, Only a small window would exist to carry out the abduction. There’s NO way to sneak up on someone in a vehicle as the road is unpaved & very rough. If he had gotten out & tried to grab her, it would have undoubtly startled her, giving her an opportunity to run… Either home OR to a neighbor’s house. Having grown up in the neighborhood, she’d have had the advantage should she have been alerted in ANY way of impending danger. If she had been able to make the fork to the left, she would have practically been in front of her house & at that point I feel he would have panicked & drove away, fearful of being caught. My opinion is that he got as close as he could, remained inside of the vehicle, engine running & then got her to come to him by speaking to her through the vehicle’s open window. He then made some type of threat, possibly showed OR told her he had a weapon, getting her to enter the truck without a struggle.
If you look at the evidence available, there’s quite a bit that supports the above scenario…The biggest being the lack of evidence at the abduction site. NO signs of a struggle/scuffle & ALL of her belongings went with her…The fact that absolutely NO blood was found at the scene also supports the theory that she was lured into the truck as opposed to being grabbed & forcibly shoved inside OR injured & then carried by her abductor. He would have also wanted her calm & quiet while taking her to the secondary location…That’s going to be where I pick up in Part 3, when I went & investigated the site where Jenny’s body was discovered, 6 days after she had been taken.
**ANYONE WITH ANY INFO ON THE ABDUCTION & MURDER OF JENNIFER ODOM SHOULD CONTACT THE HERNANDO SHERIFF’S OFFICE AT:
Hernando County Sheriff’s Office
(352) 754-6830
unsolved@hernandosheriff.org
Anonymous tips can be e-mailed at: www.HernandoCountyCrimeStoppers.com
OR by phone: 1-866-990-8477
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*NOTE*
I want to be very clear that I am by NO means an Investigator nor am I claiming to be. My hope is to bring some more attention to this case. We now have the gift of social media, making it easier to gain people’s focus, whom may have never heard of Jenny. While I decided to do this, I wanted to make sure that I gave Jennifer’s family & neighbors both respect & privacy. You won’t see ANY photos of homes, vehicles, people OR anything else that could be considered disrespectful.
Finding Florida 