Who Is Jenna Jacobsen? New Details On The Death Of The Missing Long Island Woman Whose Bones Were Found In Florida
She was battling substance abuse issues.
Palm Beach Police Department Substance abuse is one of the greatest evils that can affect a family. It's a devastating disease that rips mothers from children and can end friendships that have gone back for decades. When someone makes a decision to seek help for their issues with addiction, it's a brave decision and one that could save their life and their relationships. Jenna Jacobsen was an addict, but she wasn't going to sit back and let addiction take her life away from her. She made a decision to seek treatment at a rehab facility on the other side of the country. But once she boarded the plane she was never seen again. Her remains were recently found. Here's what we know. Who is Jenna Jacobsen?
1. Jenna Jacobsen
April 25th was the last time that anyone saw 20-year-old Jenna Jacobsen. Just out of her teens, the young woman from East Islip, New York (that's Long Island to the uninitiated) did not have a very easy life. She was traveling to Broward Country, Florida to seek help for a longterm substance abuse problem. She needed help and she was going to get it. Tragically, she never got the chance to attain sobriety and try to live a sober life, and now police detectives in Florida are looking into her death. Why? Because they found her remains recently in the Sunshine State. The police have made it clear that whatever happened was no accident: this was a homicide.
2. What We Know
The details surrounding Jenna's life and the circumstances that caused her death are still coming into focus but there is some information that we do know about what happened to Jenna. When the rehab facility where she was being treated shut down unexpectedly she was supposed to be sent to another facility in the area. But she never made it. Obviously, her family is devastated. The most they can hope for now are answers. They deserve to find out what happened to their daughter, sister, cousin and friend. “I came down here to find my daughter and I did — however, we found her deceased,” her father, Chris Jacobsen said to a local news affiliate.
3. Medical Examiner
When the remains were first discovered, no one was at all sure if they had anything to do with the missing woman from Long Island, New York. It's fair, after all, to ask what the remains of a woman from New York were doing in Florida —but once the medical examiners were on the case they quickly established identity. Sadly, the medical examiner who was called to investigate the remains confirmed what her family dreaded: the remains belonged to the missing woman. With this information in hand, the police can now take action, investigating it as a homicide rather than continuing the hunt for a woman who was believed to be missing.
4. Cause Of Death
Of course, one of the big questions everyone is asking about the remains now is whether or not we have any way of determining the cause of her death. Because of the state of her remains the examiner knew going in that it would be difficult to determine what ended her life. This information, while not essential, could help investigators. Even though the case of death was impossible to determine, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office is treating her case as a homicide, at least for the time being. It's heartbreaking to think about what her family must be going through at this time, with a body to bury but no answers to what happened to her.
5. Her Family's Pleas
Her family is desperate for answers, and her father is currently serving as their voice. “Please bring them to justice so she can rest easy and we can have closure on this,” her dad said. “To be victimized like this is just beyond words that I can explain.” This is truly a speech that no father (or any parent) should ever have to give. Jenna did a brave thing by seeking help for her issues with substance. The last thing she should have had to deal with was the sudden shutdown of the facility where she was receiving the help that she needed. The facility in question and the one where she was to be transferred both owe her family a serious explanation.
Rebecca Jane Stokes is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York with her cats, Batman and Margot. She's an experienced generalist with a passion for lifestyle, geek news, pop culture, and true crime. For more of her work, check out her Tumblr.