Ulrich, Florida — Twelve jurors listened to testimony for several hours today as the prosecutor presented their case on the first day of Kimberly Kessler's trial.

Kessler was accused of murdering her colleague Jolyn Cummings in 2018. Cummings and Kessler work together at a hair salon called Tangles in Nassau County.

[Related: The Disappearance of Jolyn Cummings: A Timeline of Events]

Cummings is also the mother of three children.

Action News Jax Courtney Cole spent a day in Nassau County Court, where the prosecution team led the case by focusing on what happened on the last day Cummings was seen alive: May 12, 2018.

Today, many witnesses were able to testify in court without any interference from Kessler.

That was because Kessler was pushed into the courtroom, and a few seconds later, after one of her routine outbreaks, was pushed back into the courtroom. Someone overheard her saying, "I rejected unfair suggestions" and "Jordan Beard is Qiaolin's cousin"-this is not a true statement. Beard is actually a member of the legal team representing Kessler.

The judge said that if Kessler made a request, she was welcome to return to the court, but he was unwilling to let her interrupt the court process.

After the prosecution and defense's opening statements, the prosecution first called Detective Harrington to the stand.

Harrington is the Sheriff of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Nassau County Sheriff's Office. He was also the lead detective in the Kessler murder case.

He told the jury that the investigative team interviewed Jolene’s ex-husband Jason Cummings, Jolene’s mother Anne Johnson, Cummings’ boyfriend Jason Ji, the nanny (unnamed) and the Tangled Hair Salon The owner of Vicki Simmons.

The defense team conducted cross-examination and pointed out that Harrington knew Jolyn Cummings' stepfather. Cummings’ stepfather is a long-term employee of the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office. Harrington also told the defense in the stands that he also knew Anne Johnson.

The Department of Defense asked Harrington whether NCSO would deal with the case more urgently due to the relationship with Cummings’ family, but Harrington stated that all missing persons cases are urgent.

The next four witnesses summoned to the stands were customers of Tangles. Three of them are regulars of Cummings, and one is Kessler's haircut.

[Related: The judge denied another psychological evaluation at the final hearing before jury selection]

What they have in common is that they both accepted Cummings' service on May 12, 2018, which is the last day they saw Cummings alive.

Every witness told the jury that only Kimberly Kessler worked in the salon that day, her aliases were Jennifer Sibert and Jolyn Cummings.

Although none of them said they noticed something unusual about Cummings, one of the witnesses said that she noticed that Kessler "paced often" and "could not stay still during the visit to the salon on May 12th." ".

Two witnesses told the jury that Cummings often talked about her three children. Cummings told two witnesses that her children decorated flower pots for their grandmother Johnson.

When Johnson took a stand, it was clear that she was trying to stay strong for her daughter and her family. However, three years later, the grief of losing her daughter Qiao Lin continued to weigh on her.

Johnson burst into tears and told the jury that Qiao Lin would never disappear without saying anything to her children.

Although they were divorced when Cummings disappeared, Cummings’ ex-husband Jason told the jurors that he still loves Cummings and she is a great mother.

"I took a week off. I drove on every road in Nassau County....just looking for anything. See if I can see her car, it's just...I promised me Children, I will try my best to find their mother," Jason told the jury.

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They gave birth to two children together. Qiao Lin gave birth to another child from her previous relationship.

Vicki Simmons stated that Kessler only started working in Tangles in February 2018 and did not appear at work on May 15, 2018, the first day the salon opened after Cummings disappeared.

Simmons told the jury that when she walked into the salon on May 15th, she noticed a strange smell. She said that there was a plant next to the front desk, which was completely different. All the lights were turned off.

Sheriff Mark F. Murdock and the Nassau County Sheriff's Office introduced to the jury a video he watched from 5:00 pm on May 12, 2018 to the morning of May 15, 2018.

Jim Simmons, Vicki Simmons' husband and co-owner of the Tangles, stated that Tangles does not have a security system and only a fake camera above the table can act as a deterrent.

Jim said that the employees knew that the camera was not real.

The camera lens Murdoch mentioned comes from a nearby company, Dick's Wings, which is located near Tangles in the same shopping mall.

Sergeant Murdoch was assigned to the investigation department as a detective.

While playing the video clip, he told the jury Kessler "appeared about four times in the video; someone saw him dump a white bag on the grass, then a kitchen-sized trash can, and then a blue Colored trash can."

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In the afternoon, Detective Harrington was also called back to the stands and talked through surveillance video of a local Wal-Mart. Kimberly Kessler was photographed at the cash register. He bought an electronic knife, black garbage bag, gloves and ammonia.

At 8:15 on Tuesday morning, the second day of Kessler's trial continued in the Nassau County Courthouse.

Action News Jax will arrange staff in the courtroom, and we will broadcast the trial here.

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