OUT OF ALL of the POIs, Al Kiefer, Jr. is probably the most interesting to me. Not only was he considerably older than the other suspects at the time of Jenny’s murder (He was in his mid 50’s), he was from an affluent family. The Kiefer family, included patriarch Al Kiefer, Sr., his wife Margaret, a daughter named Pam & 2 sons, Al Jr. & Joe. Already long time residents of San Antonio, Florida, Al Senior opened a pharmacy in the heart of downtown in 1953. With a soda fountain & cafe, It quickly rose to popularity in the tight knit community as the place to gather. Kids would flock there after school to get hand made sodas, candy & icecream.
The Kiefer Kids (Joe, Pam & Al Jr.) Early 1960’s ~ source fivay.org
THE PHARMACY DID so well that Al, Sr. & his wife Margaret also opened a sporting goods store & a jewelry store in town. All 3 of the family ran businesses thrived & continued to be well known in the community. As the Kiefer children grew into adults, both Al, Jr. & his brother Joe would follow in their father’s footsteps, each becoming licensed pharmacists.
Kiefer Pharmacy circa 1980 (source fivay.org)
FROM PILLAR TO POI
BY FEBRUARY OF 1993, Al Kiefer, Sr. was 74 years old & long ready to retire. The only thing keeping him from doing so is the task of finding someone to take over the pharmacy as is. It’s quite possible that his younger son, Joe, would have more than likely been that person but unfortunately, he passed away from cancer in 1987. As far as Al Jr. filling his father’s shoes, it seems that it never happened & while I couldn’t find the reason why, it doesn’t appear to have anything to do with the Odom case. Al Jr. did run the family sporting goods store for many years, so maybe he was a bit more comfortable in that role.
WHAT’S THE CONNECTION?Â
AFTER SPENDING DAYS trying to dig up info on Al Kiefer Jr. (who I’ll be referring to as AJ for the remainder of this post), the worst thing I could find on him is a divorce that took place back in 2002, 9 years after Jennifer Odom was killed. On paper, AJ was a middle aged, successful man who was from a well known, affluent family. He was raised in San Antonio, Florida & remained an active member of the community for a number of years after the murder, even after he had been questioned by detectives in relation to the case. While he did eventually relocate to Alaska, he still owns a home in San Antonio & makes frequent trips back to the area. 
LAKE JOVITA
JUNE OF 2013 brought the news of a possible lead in the case. Dozens of law enforcement officers were found at a residence located on Lake Jovita. With them were boats & dive teams that were there to search the bottom of the lake…But what were they looking for? 
Law Enforcement at Lake Jovita Â
INITIALLY THEY WOULD not disclose what they were looking for but a spokesperson for the HCSO eventually stated that they were looking for a vehicle. They would not elaborate further. What stood out was what section of the lake they were searching.
THE HOME WAS & still is owned by AJ Kiefer, although he was not residing in it at the time of the search. Law enforcement spent 2 full days meticulously searching the bottom of the lake, but in the end found nothing. A reporter reached out to AJ via phone at the time of the search to get a statement. AJ, now living in Anchorage, stated that he had last visited the area in April & that he was concerned that the search would bring more negative attention on him. AJ was willing to confirm that he was questioned by authorities in 1993, however, was not comfortable getting into details of the questioning without having an attorney present.  
WHILE THE SEARCH of Lake Jovita was taking place, a neighbor spoke with a reporter about the community hoping that the case would finally be solved. During the interview, she recalled that just a couple of weeks before Jenny’s murder, she saw the girl on the lake taking skiing lessons. An activity that occurred regularly on Lake Jovita. 
STILL TRYING TO find out more about AJ Kiefer, I did the easiest thing I could think of; I jumped on Facebook & looked him up. He wasn’t hard to find. His profile pic jumped out immediately & as soon as I saw it, the possible connection became crystal clear…Â
 
a possible connection?
IT WAS A photo of AJ, on a lake, water skiing. I’m NOT saying that this means that AJ was involved in any way BUT I will say that I was a bit taken aback when I saw that photo. It left a lot of questions for sure. Some of the biggest questions I had were as follows:
• HAD AJ EVER SEEN JENNY ON THE LAKE?
• HAD HE EVER INTERACTED WITH HER?
• WAS HE INVOLVED IN HER LESSONS?
WAS THIS WHY detectives had questioned AJ? Did they asked him these same questions? For now, we’re all left to speculate based on the info that is available. It’s for that very reason that I felt the need to cover his face. He may not have anything at all to do with this crime & if that’s the case, it wouldn’t be fair to throw is face out there…Not that it isn’t easy to find! As far as the rest of the info on him & his family, it’s ALL public record. What I DID do was reach out to Mr. Kiefer to see if he’d be willing to answer some questions. I suppose we’ll all just have to wait & see if he replies.
AS FOR THE upcoming suspects that I’m going to talk about, EVERY one of them is complete garbage & I have absolutely NO problem throwing EVERYTHING about them out there!
**ANYONE WITH ANY INFO ON THE ABDUCTION & MURDER OF JENNIFER ODOM SHOULD CONTACT DETECTIVE GEORGE LOYDGREN WITH THE HERNANDO SHERIFF’S OFFICE AT:
PHONE: (352) 754-6830
OR
EMAIL:Â unsolved@hernandosheriff.org
ANONYMOUS TIPS:
EMAIL: www.HernandoCountyCrimeStoppers.com
OR
PHONE: 1-866-990-8477
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