The 68-year-old homeowner at 1644 South Central Avenue was gone for a few weeks between mid-October and mid-November. Sometime during that span, thieves broke into the house, stole jewelry, tools, family keepsakes and documents, a large sum of rare coins, including Liberty dollars from the 19th century and currency from different countries, and a 2021 Honda CR-V with a Blue Book value of $40,000. The total value of the thefts were estimated at $65,000.
They left a note on a whiteboard in the kitchen: “Sorry,” the note read, “but homeless and struggling Thank you so much and sorry for your loss God Bless.”
The thieves appeared to have taken their time, and their note conflicted with unnecessary, seemingly malicious abandon: they also broke, damaged or soiled different parts of the house, shattering a window, breaking a door, and leaving empty beer cans and bottles on the kitchen counter in an added indignity of the thieves’ impunity: they partied as they pillaged. More than mere homeless people down on their luck, it suggested the arrogance of professional thieves who’d done this before, and got a kick out of it.
And they had: When the Flagler Beach Police Department finally arrested Jesann L. Willis, 35, and Rickley Joshua Senning, 32, the couple was found to be originally from Gaithestburg, Md., and to have gone on a six-state spree of robberies, armed robberies, criminal mischief, grand thefts and other crimes, and to have had a sinister and violent past: Senning had a a few years ago been convicted of assaulting and kidnapping a circuit judge in 2014. She was his ex-girlfriend. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but seven of those years were a suspended sentence. He was involved in another kidnapping just last October in Maryland.
But they weren’t so professional as to make sure not to leave calling cards behind other than their sarcastic note. Fingerprints were lifted from a champagne glass and coffee cups. Those would prove to be key in the investigation. If Willis and Senning imagined they could get away with it because they were targeting a small town, they hadn’t figured on Flagler Beach Police detective Rosanna Vinci–the Florida Police Chief Association’s reigning Officer of the Year in small departments in the state–or Records Clerk Susie Buttner, who together broke the case.
The ransacking of the house on Central Avenue took place in the fall. The police department’s canvas of the neighborhood turned up a resident who said he witnessed a couple between 20 and 30 years old walk west from the rear of the South Central Avenue house. All he could say was that he thought they were white. There were no surveillance cameras. Vinci was assigned the case on Nov. 15. A check with law enforcement about any notable licence plate reader hits turned up nothing. Since the Honda was not reported stolen until well after the theft, it would not have triggered a hit.
On the other hand, Flagler Beach police did, as a result of an LPR hit, locate a stolen 2008 Ford E350 out of Virginia. It had been parked in the 500 block of South Oceanshore Boulevard. Vinci was assigned that case, too. It was Buttner who connected the two cases, according to Flagler Beach Police Chief Matt Doughney. The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office took the vehicle for processing.
On Nov. 24, Vinci spoke with the homeowner, who reported receiving several turnpike violations from Delaware to New York and New Jersey, essentially tracing the route the thieves took with the Honda. Vinci tracked down images of the car from the turnpike authorities. Willis and Senning had attempted to outsmart authorities: they’d located an unassigned tag in the house and replaced the Honda’s tag with the other one. It didn’t stop the investigation from identifying them as they racked up $421 in turnpike violations.
The stolen tag was entered into the stolen vehicle databases across the country, and before long–at 2:34 p.m . on Nov. 24–a license plate reader reported a delayed hit on the tag in Illinois. On Nov. 30, a detective from the Monroeville Police Department contacted Vinci and said the tag was linked to several armed robberies in Pennsylvania, including in Monroeville. But the thieves had not been identified. Willis and Senning were identified as armed and dangerous in subsequent be-on-the-lookout advisories that went nationwide. Meanwhile the Sheriff’s Office’s crime scene investigator and fingerprint analyst had been working on evidence, yielding both fingerprints and images from the stolen vehicvle that had been found on South Oceanshore Boulevard.
Vinci was able to detect a name from an Ohio driver’s license in some of the images: that of Willis. At that point she didn’t know if Willis was a victim or a perpetrator. She ran her name through law enforcement databases. Willis turned up. A lot, So did another name in the same arrest reports: that of Senning. It was becoming almost obvious that the couple worked in tandem. Senning had a warrant out for armed robbery.
In a Dec. 1 conversation with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office in Maryland, Vinci learned that detectives there were searching for the couple in connection with the robberies of a bank and a convenient store. The same afternoon the Volusia County Sheriff’s Jamie Ziehl, a fingerprint analyst who also reviewed evidence, had matched evidence at the South Oceanshore house with prints, identifying both Willis and Senning. The case was made. The home owner of course knew nothing of the two.
Vinci was able to reconstruct the couple’s spree. It began on Nov. 2 in Rockville Md., then at Mary Washington University, where the Ford truck was stolen. The truck was recovered in Flagler Beach four days later. The burglary at the house took place sometime between Nov. 6 and 8. By Nov. 9, the Honda was picked up running tolls on the New Jersey Turnpike.
The couple was arrested the evening of Dec. 2 in Washington, D.C. By then the investigation had involved detectives, investigator and law enforcement agents from Georgia,
Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
By the morning of Dec. 8, Doughney, the Flagler Beach police chief said in a release, the suspects had “confessed to all crimes committed in Flagler Beach, and have additionally confessed to” three armed robberies, numerous armed robberies to jewelry stores, convenience stores, gas stations and hotels in various states on the East Coast, and may yet face additional charges.
For all their violence it was a sensational exaggeration when Doughney, in his release to media, compared the couple to a “Modern Day ‘Bonnie & Clyde'”–Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow–who, with their gang in Depression-era America, murdered at least 13 people, nine of them law enforcement officers, as they robbed their way through the Central United States. A 1967 movie starring Warren Beatty, rich in historical inaccuracies, glamorized the couple’s remorseless and often cowardly murder spree that a crime reporter for the Daily news more accurately referred to as “a pair of human rats with no more decent traits than any rat would have.”
Locally, and if they ever make it this far south before other convictions and prisons claim them, Willis and Senning face charges comparatively lighter than those they do further north: a second-degree felony charge of burglary, and three third-degree felony charges of grand theft and criminal mischief. The case’s local significance may end up having more to do with the detailed investigative skills behind it, which led to its clearance, than its disposition in court.
“This entire case is a prime example of Law Enforcement professionals, both sworn and civilian, from multiple agencies, in multiple states, focused on catching criminals,” Doughney said in the release. “Simply put, this case is about ‘Working Hard, Working Smart and Working Together’ and I couldn’t be prouder of this collaborative effort.”
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Mythoughts says
Great work FB Police Rosanna and Susie you both deserve a promotion or raise over this case solving. This shows everyone you can run but you can’t hide and eventually the laws wins and no one is above the law.
Jeremiah says
So jesann nuzum Willis was the one he kidnapped in October and the made bond and kidnapped her again this is her husband Jeremiah nuzum
Timothy Patrick Welch says
Great article…
Our local law enforcement continue to standout perhaps the best in America.
Jeremiah says
So the fact the they didn’t fact check anymore about the kidnapping in October was in fact my wife jesann Willis nuzum this is her husband Jeremiah nuzum
A.j says
Good job police. Will these robbers stay in jail? Me being thre guy I am, I don’t think they will stay in jail. They being white in a white society, you know my conclusion. I’m glad they were caught. I fear they will be released again to rob again.
LetsBeReal says
Color has nothing to do with staying in jail or not. Just look at New York’s Bail Reform Law. They are being released black, white, yellow, whatever. Stop making racists comments.
A.j says
When white people stop making racist statements I will continue. I will not be lying. White people taught us racism. Now you want me to stop. I have a right to speak for now. Knowing the white man that right may be taken away.
LetsBeReal says
You are right A.j. Joe Biden has made several racial comments about African Americans. I thought maybe you were better then this.
Corn and Taters says
Waa any of the Flagler Beach couples belongings recovered? Was the vehicle recovered?
Jeremiah says
Jesann Willis Nuzum was kidnapped back in October he went to jail but was able to make bond because Montgomery County police let him out on bond so he went and kidnapped her a second time so she was a hostage of his she feared for her life the lives of her six kid’s and family so no they didn’t get there story or facts right jesann has no CRIMINAL HISTORY AT ALL TRAFFIC TICKETS IS WHATS ON HER RECORD 240 860 4778 I HAVE ACTUAL DOCKUMENTATION OF ALL THESE EVENTS
MeToo says
pffft…modern day Bonnie & Clyde…really?
Stephanie Willis says
NO, you guys don’t understand the full story she was kidnapped by him, I am her daughter the last time I saw her was when Rickely threaten to shot all of us and she was able to get him out the house, she was protecting us and then was stuck with him, he had her hostage with a gun, then he was arrested but then these stupid police let him out on a $550 dollar bond and she was kidnapped again at gun point and threaten that she would kill me and my 5 siblings and my uncles and aunt Jessica, and when her name popped up that because of traffic tickets like my stepdad just said text him, he has the information or look it up yourselves instead of being lazy and commenting on my mom when you don’t know wtf happend
Palm Coast Citizen says
Could we follow-up on the whole kidnapping thing and these comments by Jeremiah? The only reason it’s so intriguing is the note. Inquiring minds would like to know!
Jesann Willis says
Hello, My name is Jesann Willis. You wrote about me. I want you to know that I was being held hostage during the span of these crimes and that I feared for my life. Rickely Senning threatened my life, my families lives, and the lives of many others. Any place he took me inside of, he forced my to do things and I was told before hand that if I had made one wrong move then he was going to kill the people there and then beat me afterwards. He is a dangerous man and I am a kind hearted spirit. I have never been in any trouble. I have been a mother and a hard worker since the age of 18. I have six beautiful children that need me home. Rickely Senning took me away from my children and caused me to lose my job. I was the General Manager at Maidpro. I was in client’s homes every day and never stole anything. I am not a thief. I have been a preschool teacher, ran my own childcare, the manager at a home professional cleaning service for two years, as well as member of three churches over a span of 9 years and was a Sunday school teacher. I have always been a good person. Rickely Senning has a lengthy criminal history and worshipped the devil. He also, physically, sexually, mentally, emotionally, and psychologically abused me through the span of these three months. When he was arrested in Rockville, MD in October, the night before my family had reported that he damaged parts of our home and threatened my family with a gun and took me hostage. When I was questioned about it I denied it because they questioned me in front of him. I was scared. They let him out on a $550 bond and never mentioned the kidnapping accusations. I am facing terrible charges in many States because of this man and this is not fair to me nor to my family. I give you my permission to make an article based on my email but please do not disclose my email address. I ask that you please do not twist my words at all. I give you permission, also to send this to any of your reporter friends and media friends. I want everyone to know the truth on how our “justice system” failed my whole family.
Thank you sir,
Jesann Willis AKA Not his “Bonnie”
FlagerBeachWorld says
Jesann how are you able to reply to this from jail? If you are not in jail, which doesn’t look like you are, and you are claiming innocence, why have you not turned yourself in? If you have the proof to backup the innocence and kidnapping just turn yourself into the authorities and provide the proof and your name is clear. With Sennings history of kidnapping, you might have a case but it seems like you are hiding or on the run looking for support from public. You don’t have to comment on the article to get help for innocence, you can just go to the proper places and clear your name.
FlagerBeachWorld says
Please update the article to note that Jesann is not in custody despite what’s written here. She was released and is on the run from her warrants but posting here that she’s innocent.
Jeremiah nuzum says
Hello my name is Jeremiah nuzum I’m the husband of jesann willis nuzum she was not on the Run he was released from d.c. on her own recognizance I have all the paperwork of that we have a schedule meeting with the authorities for her to turn herself in at a certain time of day in a certain place and that happened she was never on the Run she was kidnapped twice because our justice system in Montgomery County failed her and put the General Public Safety at risk my wife is a wonderful woman who it is a mother of seven children and has never been in trouble then does not have a criminal record somebody just doesn’t wake up and decide to do something like this come on people think about it so please stop making assumptions we all know they make assholes out of us so please be patient and wait for the truth to come out and stop making my wife and the kids mom look bad please and thank you what she needs is help