Joleen Cummings: FBI to give update on landfill search Monday

FBI agents searched a landfill for 12 hours Sunday trying to find evidence in the case of missing Nassau County mom Joleen Cummings.

They plan to comb through 2,700 tons of debris in an effort to find a white trash bag and other garbage thrown out right around the time Cummings disappeared in May.

Deputies said surveillance video showed the suspect in her disappearance, Kimberly Kessler, throwing away the trash in a dumpster near Tangles Hair Salon, where they both worked.

Trash from the dumpster was taken to the Chesser Island landfill in Folkston, Georgia.

Agents are now searching an area approximately the size of a football field to find the load of trash.

“They know which dumpster was used, (from) which location and therefore what code of businesses they will be looking for in order to recover this white bag,” Action News Jax Law & Safety Expert Dale Carson said.

Carson is a former FBI agent. He said search groups will be looking at information on pieces of trash including business names and dates.

He says labels and other pieces of information will let agents know if the trash from Nassau County was dumped nearby.

"It lets them know the specific location in the dump where they are likely to find the material they are searching for. It’s a treasure hunt," he said. “It’s likely if they find the location, they find that bag, they’re going to acquire the evidence they’re desperately in search of.”

Agents plan to search the landfill for 12 hours straight for seven days.

Carson said if they find the trash bag they’re looking for, any evidence inside will likely be viable.

“If it’s in a bag and if it’s material directly connected to a homicide, it’s likely to be protected. It’s buried so it’s not going to be washed away,” he said.

The FBI is expected to give an update on the search on Monday. Follow @ActionNewsJax on Twitter for the very latest information from the news conference.

Cox Media Group