Sunday, April 18, 2010

Glendene Grant: Human Trafficking is taking front stage - Jessie's case is smack in the middle of it all!



The 1st Annual Walk With Me "Glendene and Jessie Foster" Award Ceremony was in Toronto, ON on Thursday, April 15, 2010 and it was an honour to have been able to attend.

For that I have to thank Hayley Cooper, from Radio NL, for doing so much to ensure it happened. Thank for Hayley for getting Louis McIvor to donate the WestJet Buddy Passes (I got my flight tickets to Toronto and back for just $70 each way with them) AND for getting Kevin White, from Sandman Hotel Group / BC Interior, to talk to the Sandman Signature Hotel in Toronto, and getting me a complimentary room (did I say room - I meant: PENTHOUSE SUITE for 2 nights . . . yes, it was the most amazing room I have ever had. It was like an apartment with a kitchen - fridge, stove, microwave; a huge bedroom with a king-size bed and a corner hot-tub. Even a washer & dryer! I was in awe) with meals at Moxies Restaurant (located in many Sandman Hotels), etc included.

I was picked up from the airport by the courtesy van; I was driven to the ceremony by Alisha (Jessie & Crystal's stepsister who lives near Toronto and came with her children to see me at the hotel); I was driven back from the ceremony by friends of one of the Walk With Me volunteers; and I was driven back to the airport by Timea Navy from Walk With Me, we had a chance to visit before I left. I was treated so well. The people at the hotel treated me like I was a celebrity. They all knew who I was when I got there and they ensured I was lacking nothing. I recommend to anyone going to Toronto to stay at the Sandman Signature Airport Hotel.

The people who were rewarded for their work with human trafficking victims and trying to change the way human trafficking is viewed in this day-and-age as the true crime it is - one of the top 3 money-making crimes in the world - after drugs and weapons were an amazing group of people - from a Chief of Police to an MP to a Professor (and one of Canada's leading human trafficking victims) to Salvation Army Workers & workers at FCJ Refugee Center (among many others) to reporters to survivors of this horrific crime who now work with organizations that help other victims (like Timea Nagy's organization Walk With Me - like Naomi Baker's organization CFHT-Canada Fight's Human Trafficking . . . among many others).

When I was at my table, I was fortunate to be seated with 2 people who worked at the Salvation Army - one in Brantford and one in Hamilton - and their spouses. No wonder they received awards. Like the police officers and others there that night, they were being honoured not just because of their work, but also because they all go over and above their 'call of duty' - or their 'job descriptions'. Some of them taking cash out of their own bank accounts to ensure that the victims are able to eat, buy clothes, see a doctor, get an apartment. That is not something that comes 'with the job'. It comes 'from the heart'.

The ceremony ran much longer than expected. Partially because there were a couple of guests of honour who ran a bit late arriving at the ceremony, but mostly because it was very hard for the recipients to keep their thank you speeches to two minutes and under. IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE. There was so much to say, to be grateful for and everyone wanted to ensure they said all they needed to. Most of what was said was to honour Timea, (she was even presented with an award of her own from someone who was invited to attend - and that was a very emotional time). When the wonderful, tearful, heartfelt ceremony was over, I was asked to cut the 1 Year Birthday Cake for Walk With Me. Wow - that was a special moment. It was my Award - it was my Honour.

And when that was done, there were some pictures taken (thankfully, because my battery died about half an hour into the ceremony - talk about a bummer, but that's ok) and a chance for people to mingle and talk. Armand La Barge, the Chief of the York Regional Police came up to me, gave me a hug and his card. He told me that if I ever needed him for anything, just call. He told that to Timea one time, and she did - and he helped her every way he could. I was very encouraged by this.

While I was talking to Chief La Barge, MP Joy Smith from Kildonan - St. Paul, Manitoba came up to me, grabbed my hand and then gave me a huge hug. She told me she needs me to speak at her committee meeting - "all expenses paid, of course," she said. She is trying to get bill C-268 - Child Trafficking Bill, a bill she wrote and is trying to pass to ensure Mandatory Minimum Sentencing for people convicted of trafficking people 18 years old and younger (we start with the minors, then we change the laws for the one trafficking adults). Perhaps this is what I was meant to do. Travel around, talking to people about Jessie's case and educating them on human trafficking. Maybe I was meant to bring awareness to Canada and the world about this horrific crime. That is a lot for me, but you know - if it was meant to be, who am I to argue . . . right!! And when we get Jessie back, she will be like Timea Nagy - we will have our organization, and Jessie will be the one helping others as we were helped.

I want to take this time to thank our supporters - our family and friends - who have followed the suggestions of sending in a donation of $1, $2 or $5 and they will add up.

I have also had several people send in money for our raffle tickets - $10 each or 3 for $25 (the draw will be made on Jessie's 26th birthday, May 27, 2010).

We have our fundraiser in Edmonton at the Comedy Factory next Saturday, April 24, 2010 - 1st show at 8:00PM and 2nd show at 10:30PM. This is the next thing I want to attend in person, and I need to try to have enough to rent a car for the weekend (it won't be much), so Jim can drive me up there. It will be cheaper than a return bus ticket (nearly $200) and we will have more control over when where we go there and come home. I know without a doubt we will be able to do this. The fundraiser at the Comedy Factory in September 2007 was very successful.

I have been asked by a woman to go out to Calgary to try to help her with her daughter, who she believes is being 'recruited' and is in need of my help. I told her anything I can do. She told me she will pay for my flight there if/when we do this. The alternative is her talking to Timea and Timea getting her the help she has already got from her contacts there. That will help and I hope save this young woman. This is what I was meant to do.

Also, one of my daughter's friends in Calgary has contacted me about a human trafficking training at her work, she told me the first name of the expert coming there to do the training, and she said she told her boss about Jessie and they want to talk about Jessie's case, too. The name of the person she mentioned was Naomi, I was certain she meant Ms. Baker from CFHT, and it seems that I may be right. We were talking about it, and we are going to see if they will also pay for me to go to Calgary for this session. If so, I will be more than happy to go to where this all started. To the city of Calgary where Jessie met the person who took her to the USA and left her there.

Well, everyone. Thank you for your time and remember to share this with your friends and post it on your sites, blogs and forums - and if you are one of the wonderful media people who have been following Jessie's case, PLEASE, PLEASE - can we do an update with all this? Jessie's case is getting bigger and bigger, almost by the day sometimes. Jessie has been called one of Western Canada's most famous human trafficking cases by Professor Benjamin Perrin from UBC and one of Canada's leading human trafficking experts (his book about human trafficking in Canada will be out this fall with Jessie's case mentioned in it). And one of Canada's most famous human trafficking cases by Timea Nagy, Executive Director and Founder of Walk With Me, and a victim/survivor herself.

When Jessie went missing and I called her a human trafficking victim, people thought I was a very distraught mom grasping at anything and everything for answers - but they also thought I watched too much CSI and Law & Order - and that this was a crime that happened in 3rd world countries, not in North America and certainly not in Canada. Now people tell me about the latest human trafficking story they just heard about in the news and they tell me they feel in their hearts that Jessie is alive and will be found. Just as I feel.

The support I got this week from police who know about real human trafficking cases and a member of parliament who knows all too well about human trafficking victims and the criminals getting off with a slap on the wrist was the support I have been receiving from our family and friends and the network 'out there' on the Internet - and from our Kamloops & District Crime Stoppers and know I will be getting the support from people like Radio NL and Sandman and corporations who will be able to help me, financially, to do what needs to be done. Whoever helps us will become the most famous corporation in Western Canada or even all of Canada for helping the family and friends of the most famous Canadian human trafficking victim. For helping Glendene, the mother of Canada's Poster Child for Human Trafficking, JESSIE FOSTER.

REMEMBER: DRUGS are used once. WEAPONS are used several times. HUMANS BEINGS are used over and over and over again and again and again. Human trafficking is people TRICKING, LURING, COERCING OR RECRUITING innocent victims to get them to leave their families, homes and countries and then they are forced to work with LITTLE or NO pay at jobs that are very exploitative.

Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world, 3rd only to Drugs and Weapons - but gaining. The United Nations have estimated that the Slave Trade's worth is nearly $40 billion a year for the sale of humans and the value of their exploited labour. It has become the fastest growing criminal industry worldwide. Most of the slaves brought into the USA (like Jessie was) end up as labourers; domestic servants; strippers; or prostitutes - all of them are degraded; beaten; or worse.

Think about this: if you are forced to do a job you don't want to; for little or no pay; without the option of leaving; if you are beaten (or worse); if you are not fed properly; if you are forced to sleep on a mat - IT IS NOT A JOB. You are a human trafficking victim. Many people living this exact life are too afraid to say anything because they have been brainwashed; beaten; drugged so much that you do not know who to trust. You think if you say or do anything they will to get your mother; sister; daughter. We need to ensure there are safe havens for these victims so when they are rescued they are not too afraid to trust the people helping them. So they will come back to testify against the person who did this to them. This is not something that just happens. It is a process and the victims need to be allowed to go through this process in order to come out of it a healthy person - mentally, emotionally and physically. So they will be able to carry on as productive citizens of their communities. They have a lot to teach others and they are needed for us to learn about what happens so we can be prepared - so we can provide help.

Again, thank you all for your continued support. Without it I would still be stuck feeling the same way I felt the day I realized my child was missing on March 29, 2006. I would not be doing all I do for so many others finding themselves where I found myself over 4 years ago. Sincerely, Glendene Grant.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Human Trafficking ~ Jessie Foster at OneTrueMedia.com

This is my video that will be included in the program with Crime Stoppers to educate our highschool students about human trafficking. Education is a great tool.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Monday, February 15, 2010

CBC News - British Columbia - Hundreds march in Vancouver in memory of missing women

This is the march I was in Sunday, February 14, 2010. And there were more than 'hundreds' there! There were hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds!

CBC News - British Columbia - Hundreds march in Vancouver in memory of missing women

_________________________
FOR MORE INFO ABOUT JESSIE, GO TO: http://www.jessiefoster.ca/

Monday, May 18, 2009

ARTICLE # 151) The Trucker (dot) com Magazine ~ MISSING PERSONS


===============================================================
LINK: http://www.thetrucker.com/Features/Missing_Week_3.aspx
===============================================================
NOTE: There is a typo in this article -
under 'Circumstances of Disappearance',
it says JESSIE last contacted us on March 28, 2009
but of course, we all know that is was March 28, 2006.


Alias / Nickname: Jessie, Jessica Taylor
Date of Birth: May 27, 1984
Date Missing: April 9, 2006
From City/State: North Las Vegas, Nevada
Age Disappearance: 21
Gender: Female
Race: White
Height: 5 feet 6 inches
Weight: 120 pounds
Hair Color: Blonde
Hair (Other): Could by dyed brown
Eye Color: Hazel
Complexion: Medium

Identifying Characteristics: Two piercings in left ear, three piercings in right ear, piercing in left nostril, piercing in right eyebrow, and caps on teeth. Hair may be dyed brown or have streaks in it. It may be worn long and straight or curly.

Jewelry: Possibly wearing small earrings or small diamond princess cut earrings, ring with round diamond and a ring with a princess cut diamond.

Circumstances of Disappearance: Unknown. Jessica was last contacted by a family member via phone on March 28, 2009 (NOTE FROM GLENDENE: this is a typo in the magazine, but we all know she has not been heard from since March 28, 2006), while at her residence in the vicinity of the 1000 block of Cornerstone Place in North Las Vegas, Nevada. Police did not take the report until April 9 to ensure Jessie was not out of town with other family members.

Investigative Agency: North Las Vegas Police Department
Phone: (702) 633-1773
Investigative Case #: 06-9384

For Case Updates: http://www.projectjason.org/forums/index.php?topic=137

Jessica is Project Jason's 18 Wheel Angel Poster Campaign for May 2009, Week 3. Please visit our website, and download and distribute her poster, located at http://www.projectjason.org/18wheel.shtml.

If you have seen any of our missing persons, please call the law enforcement agency listed. All missing persons are loved by someone, and their families deserve to find the answers they seek in regards to the disappearance.

My Jessie

May 27, 2009, will be Jessie Foster’s 25th birthday. I have not seen her since she was 20 years old. I have four daughters and Jessie is my second oldest. She has been missing since March 29, 2006. Jessie is an international endangered missing person and she is likely a human trafficking victim.

Jessie made a trip to Las Vegas on May 13, 2005, and was going to celebrate her 21st birthday there. Ten months later I had to report Jessie as a missing person.

We hired a private investigator that found out all kinds of terrible things. There were hospital records showing my daughter had been badly beaten and there were arrest reports. It turns out her prince charming was nothing but a pimp who forced Jessie to work at an escort agency. Jessie was scared of this person, I was told this directly from the woman who ran the agency and who was so worried about Jessie. Many times she saw bruises on Jessie and that she had tried to convince her to go back to Canada. She would say, “Little Girl, go home. You do not belong down here.” Jessie always said the same thing, she was too afraid to leave.

I reported Jessie missing in the USA and in Canada on April 9, 2006, after trying to reach her, her then fiance’ and her friend whose number I had for days.

Jessie’s story has been told nationally and internationally – but it needs to be told worldly. If, as suspected, Jessie is the victim of human trafficking, then she literally could be anywhere in the world. If Jessie is not alive, then someone, somewhere, knows something. If this person comes forward, they would be eligible for our $50,000 reward.

FOR MORE INFO ON JESSIE’S CASE – http://www.jessiefoster.ca

ARTICLE #150) Mother's Day Sadness on BeaconHell

Mother's Day Sadness

Link to story on BeaconHell: http://www.someoneknowsme.com/blog/?p=4#more-4

Mother's Day - Sunday, May 10, 2009

Mother’s Day is supposed to be a time for joy and happiness: a day devoted to mothers everywhere. It is a day that sons and daughters let their mothers know how much they truly appreciate them and the sacrifices they have made to insure that their children were happy and safe.

This year, and for the past four Mother’s Day, Glendene Grant has celebrated this day minus one child. Glendene has been forced to celebrate her daughter, Jessie’s birthdays without her. Jessie is missing. She disappeared without a trace from Las Vegas three years ago on March 28, 2006. Glendene, nor has anyone else heard from Jessie since.

Glendene later found out that her daughter was forced into moving to the United States and working for an escort service operated by Peter Todd, a Jamaican citizen. Jessie was said to have been engaged to Peter Todd. Glendene believes that Jessie would not just stop communicating with her family unless something were terribly wrong. And something is terribly, terribly wrong. Glendene believes with all of her heart that Jessie has been taken underground and is a victim of human trafficking.

Before I ever knew of Jessie Foster, I had NO clue about the severity of human trafficking worldwide. Sure, I had heard things, but really didn’t put much thought into actually how bad the problem is. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act defines “severe forms of trafficking in persons” as:

(a) sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person is induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age; or (b) the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage or slavery.

It is not just adults that are trafficked for sex or labor. UNICEF reports that every year over one million children are forced into the sex slave industry or into slave labor. Those numbers are heartbreaking! Human trafficking affects every country in our universe. It exploits innocent people, and violates every fundamental human right that a person may have. Human trafficking occurs GLOBALLY (http://www.humantrafficking.org/uploads/publications/2007_TIP_Report.pdf). “Vietnamese—They Don’t Run Away!—International Marriage Specialist” proclaims the billboard on a South Korean roadside. Tours are booked for South Korean men to go to Vietnam, Cambodia or Mongolia to purchase a bride. It is estimated that 14,500 to 17,500 people, primarily women and children, are trafficked to the U.S. annually. Modern day slavery is the second largest and fastest criminal industry in the world! How can this be? The Polaris Project (http://www.polarisproject.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=26&Itemid=86) reports that “every year traffickers generate billions of dollars in profits at the expense of victimizing millions of people around the world.” Sex trafficking is one of the most lucrative crimes with regard to the illegal trade in people. I just cannot fathom some of the numbers. We are a modern society, and I don’t understand how this could still be happening. I asked Glendene if she would write something about her daughter, Jessie. She has made finding her daughter her fulltime job. I commend her for how much time she puts into getting information out there. That is how Jessie will be found - by sharing information and keeping her story and photos out there.

My name is Glendene Grant. I am the mother of 4 daughters, 1 granddaughter and 1 grandson. Sounds like it should be a perfect life and it would be if my 2nd oldest daughter, Jessica Edith Louise Foster were not missing. My daughter, Jessie is an international endangered missing person but even worse, she is probably a human trafficking victim.

On March 29, 2006 my 21-year-old daughter went missing and we have not heard from her since. We are from Canada and she went missing from her home in Las Vegas, USA.

After she went missing we hired a PI in Las Vegas who gave us some very bad news. He found out that Jessie had been beaten so badly she had to be hospitalized, she had been forced to work at an escort agency and she had even been arrested WITHOUT TELLING A SINGLE PERSON.

We since then found out that Jessie was taken to the USA and forced into everything that has happened to her, she is listed as an international endangered missing person and a possible victim of a human trafficking ring. It is believed that Jessie was taken away, taken underground, because she was planning to come home.

On March 28, 2006, Jessie (who’s 25th birthday is May 27th) talked to her older sister Crystal (now 26) on the phone and text messaged with her over a dozen times about their stepsister Jodie & Michael’s upcoming wedding. The wedding was going to be in Mexico, but the reception was going to be in Calgary, Alberta, where the girls dad Dwight Foster, stepmom Tracy & Jodie live (they now have a daughter & Crystal & Jessie’s other stepsister, Alisha lives in Ontario, Canada with her husband Reg and children). They ended the last call with “I’ll talk to you tomorrow”.

No one we know of has ever heard from Jessie since then. It is like she simply dropped off the face of the earth. But she didn’t. Jessie was not just beaten by a man who was originally thought to be her fiance, but his ex-wife also threatened her. There are witnesses to Jessie have been cut with a knife on her hand by the ex and for some reason the police have never questioned her about it.

We have got Jessie’s case quite a bit of media attention, it was on Geraldo at Large on April 24, 2006; the Maury Povich show on October 11, 2006; the Montel Williams show on May 24, 2007 (this one they took me to his studio); the Montel Williams show on July 8, 2008 (this one they sent the producer and cameramen to our home for an update for one of his final shows); a full page article was in the National Enquirer magazine in August 2008; her story was told on America’s Most Wanted (November 15, 2008 - link to page http://www.amw.com/missing_persons/brief.cfm?id=60803); E! Entertainment was at our home in March to film part of their documentary “Young Beautiful & Vanished” to air on August 28, 2009; there have been hundreds of newspaper articles, radio & TV news interviews, internet radio & posts all over (pretty well every time I find a missing persons site, I post Jessie on it) and her case has brought attention to our country on the subject of human trafficking.

The RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) and Crime Stoppers have got together to educate our country on the crime of human trafficking.

AND, Jessie’s case is going to our Nation’s Capital in a bid to get a National DNA Database activated. I have been communicating with the Executive Director for the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime in Ottawa, CANADA and they are taking the submission in this week!! Jessie’s case is making a HUGE difference in many things - I guess the 2nd best thing, next to my daughter’s return.

We have many sites set up, here are just a few – there are tons more and you can Google her name to see how much is out there on her case.

WEBSITE: http://jessiefoster.ca/ - check it out

FORUM: http://findjessie.com/ - sign up and post

BLOG: http://jessiefoster.blogspot.com/ - sign up to follow blog

TWITTER: http://twitter.com/MissingJessie - sign up for my tweets

MY SPACE: http://www.myspace.com/jessiesmomglendene

NOW PUBLIC: http://my.nowpublic.com/jessiesmomglendene

FACEBOOK: search for Jessie Foster or Glendene Grant (the reason for that is our accounts are constantly being disabled there, so I have had to set up over a dozen of them).

Wow, there is just so much to say; yet I have already said so much. Please help us spread the word about Jessie’s case. Her poster is available to print and there are thousands of pictures if you do a Google search [Results 1 - 20 of about 3,300 (0.18 seconds)].

Sincerely, Jessie’s mom Glendene.

jessiesmom@jessiefoster.ca or glendene@telus.net

If that didn’t make you sad, then this video message to Jessie from her mother will.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb_GX7C5_5s&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Esomeoneknowsme%2Ecom%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D4&feature=player_embedded

Hug your children and hold them tight. There are terrible people out there who don’t care that mothers go to bed crying for their lost sons and daughters. I ask that everyone say a prayer tonight that all of the missing children and adults can find the light that guides them home.

ARTICLE #149) Mother's Day Sadness on Someone Knows Me

Mother's Day Sadness
Link to story on Someone Knows Me: http://beaconhell.com/b/blog/?p=1208#more-1208
Mother's Day - Sunday, May 10, 2009

Mother’s Day is supposed to be a time for joy and happiness: a day devoted to mothers everywhere. It is a day that sons and daughters let their mothers know how much they truly appreciate them and the sacrifices they have made to insure that their children were happy and safe.

This year, and for the past four Mother’s Day, Glendene Grant has celebrated this day minus one child. Glendene has been forced to celebrate her daughter, Jessie’s birthdays without her. Jessie is missing. She disappeared without a trace from Las Vegas three years ago on March 28, 2006. Glendene, nor has anyone else heard from Jessie since.

Glendene later found out that her daughter was forced into moving to the United States and working for an escort service operated by Peter Todd, a Jamaican citizen. Jessie was said to have been engaged to Peter Todd. Glendene believes that Jessie would not just stop communicating with her family unless something were terribly wrong. And something is terribly, terribly wrong. Glendene believes with all of her heart that Jessie has been taken underground and is a victim of human trafficking.

Before I ever knew of Jessie Foster, I had NO clue about the severity of human trafficking worldwide. Sure, I had heard things, but really didn’t put much thought into actually how bad the problem is. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act defines “severe forms of trafficking in persons” as:

(a) sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person is induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age; or (b) the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage or slavery.

It is not just adults that are trafficked for sex or labor. UNICEF reports that every year over one million children are forced into the sex slave industry or into slave labor. Those numbers are heartbreaking! Human trafficking affects every country in our universe. It exploits innocent people, and violates every fundamental human right that a person may have. Human trafficking occurs GLOBALLY (http://www.humantrafficking.org/uploads/publications/2007_TIP_Report.pdf). “Vietnamese—They Don’t Run Away!—International Marriage Specialist” proclaims the billboard on a South Korean roadside. Tours are booked for South Korean men to go to Vietnam, Cambodia or Mongolia to purchase a bride. It is estimated that 14,500 to 17,500 people, primarily women and children, are trafficked to the U.S. annually. Modern day slavery is the second largest and fastest criminal industry in the world! How can this be? The Polaris Project (http://www.polarisproject.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=26&Itemid=86) reports that “every year traffickers generate billions of dollars in profits at the expense of victimizing millions of people around the world.” Sex trafficking is one of the most lucrative crimes with regard to the illegal trade in people. I just cannot fathom some of the numbers. We are a modern society, and I don’t understand how this could still be happening. I asked Glendene if she would write something about her daughter, Jessie. She has made finding her daughter her fulltime job. I commend her for how much time she puts into getting information out there. That is how Jessie will be found - by sharing information and keeping her story and photos out there.

My name is Glendene Grant. I am the mother of 4 daughters, 1 granddaughter and 1 grandson. Sounds like it should be a perfect life and it would be if my 2nd oldest daughter, Jessica Edith Louise Foster were not missing. My daughter, Jessie is an international endangered missing person but even worse, she is probably a human trafficking victim.

On March 29, 2006 my 21-year-old daughter went missing and we have not heard from her since. We are from Canada and she went missing from her home in Las Vegas, USA.

After she went missing we hired a PI in Las Vegas who gave us some very bad news. He found out that Jessie had been beaten so badly she had to be hospitalized, she had been forced to work at an escort agency and she had even been arrested WITHOUT TELLING A SINGLE PERSON.

We since then found out that Jessie was taken to the USA and forced into everything that has happened to her, she is listed as an international endangered missing person and a possible victim of a human trafficking ring. It is believed that Jessie was taken away, taken underground, because she was planning to come home.

On March 28, 2006, Jessie (who’s 25th birthday is May 27th) talked to her older sister Crystal (now 26) on the phone and text messaged with her over a dozen times about their stepsister Jodie & Michael’s upcoming wedding. The wedding was going to be in Mexico, but the reception was going to be in Calgary, Alberta, where the girls dad Dwight Foster, stepmom Tracy & Jodie live (they now have a daughter & Crystal & Jessie’s other stepsister, Alisha lives in Ontario, Canada with her husband Reg and children). They ended the last call with “I’ll talk to you tomorrow”.

No one we know of has ever heard from Jessie since then. It is like she simply dropped off the face of the earth. But she didn’t. Jessie was not just beaten by a man who was originally thought to be her fiance, but his ex-wife also threatened her. There are witnesses to Jessie have been cut with a knife on her hand by the ex and for some reason the police have never questioned her about it.

We have got Jessie’s case quite a bit of media attention, it was on Geraldo at Large on April 24, 2006; the Maury Povich show on October 11, 2006; the Montel Williams show on May 24, 2007 (this one they took me to his studio); the Montel Williams show on July 8, 2008 (this one they sent the producer and cameramen to our home for an update for one of his final shows); a full page article was in the National Enquirer magazine in August 2008; her story was told on America’s Most Wanted (November 15, 2008 - link to page http://www.amw.com/missing_persons/brief.cfm?id=60803); E! Entertainment was at our home in March to film part of their documentary “Young Beautiful & Vanished” to air on August 28, 2009; there have been hundreds of newspaper articles, radio & TV news interviews, internet radio & posts all over (pretty well every time I find a missing persons site, I post Jessie on it) and her case has brought attention to our country on the subject of human trafficking.

The RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) and Crime Stoppers have got together to educate our country on the crime of human trafficking.

AND, Jessie’s case is going to our Nation’s Capital in a bid to get a National DNA Database activated. I have been communicating with the Executive Director for the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime in Ottawa, CANADA and they are taking the submission in this week!! Jessie’s case is making a HUGE difference in many things - I guess the 2nd best thing, next to my daughter’s return.

We have many sites set up, here are just a few – there are tons more and you can Google her name to see how much is out there on her case.

WEBSITE: http://jessiefoster.ca/ - check it out

FORUM: http://findjessie.com/ - sign up and post

BLOG: http://jessiefoster.blogspot.com/ - sign up to follow blog

TWITTER: http://twitter.com/MissingJessie - sign up for my tweets

MY SPACE: http://www.myspace.com/jessiesmomglendene

NOW PUBLIC: http://my.nowpublic.com/jessiesmomglendene

FACEBOOK: search for Jessie Foster or Glendene Grant (the reason for that is our accounts are constantly being disabled there, so I have had to set up over a dozen of them).

Wow, there is just so much to say; yet I have already said so much. Please help us spread the word about Jessie’s case. Her poster is available to print and there are thousands of pictures if you do a Google search [Results 1 - 20 of about 3,300 (0.18 seconds)].

Sincerely, Jessie’s mom Glendene.

jessiesmom@jessiefoster.ca or glendene@telus.net

If that didn’t make you sad, then this video message to Jessie from her mother will.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb_GX7C5_5s&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Esomeoneknowsme%2Ecom%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D4&feature=player_embedded

Hug your children and hold them tight. There are terrible people out there who don’t care that mothers go to bed crying for their lost sons and daughters. I ask that everyone say a prayer tonight that all of the missing children and adults can find the light that guides them home.

ARTICLE #148) Missing Jessie: Mom of missing woman lights a candle on Mother’s Day


Missing Jessie: Mom of missing woman lights a candle on Mother’s Day
http://www.vancouverite.com/?p=925
Mother's Day - Sunday, May 10, 2009

Jessie Foster has been missing from Las Vegas since April 2006. She is a native of Kamloops. Efforts to locate her have failed so far. Her mom, Glendene Grant has not let a day go by without searching for her Jessie. Here is her mother’s day message.

First off, I want to wish all my wonderful Mom Friends a very Happy Mother’s Day. Let’s all celebrate our children and remember how much they love us and of course, how much we love them.

Also, please say a special prayer for Jessie and remind her what a wonderful daughter she is and how much I love her, miss her and how very proud I have always been of her, as I have been of all my daughters.

Jessie is really making a difference in the world, not sure why it had to be in this way, but no matter what, JESSIE FOSTER is known to many and her case is changing many things: how human trafficking is looked at; going to our nations capitol in a bid to try to get a national/international DNA database set up in Canada; helping others with a missing loved one in their family and trying to help them in any way possible as to the direction to go, people to contact and how to get active on the internet networking on every possible site you can; and much, much more. Without all the support we get from all of you, this would be all in vain, so THANK YOU ALL, for your continued support in our search for my international endangered missing daughter, JESSICA EDITH LOUISE FOSTER.

We will be honouring Jessie’s birthday in a couple of weeks…May 27th is Jessie’s 25th birthday. That is a milestone birthday and we all need to remember her and celebrate her life. Please remember to light a candle for Jessie, say a prayer and remember her with a smile. Jessie has always been a treasure - a kind, wonderful daughter who’s small things are still so vivid in my mind…like when she was trying to get me to smile when she was in trouble for something and if I even cracked the smallest one she would grin and point at my lips and say, “See, you are smiling…you are not mad” and from that moment on, Jessie was no longer in trouble (don’t get me wrong, the troubles Jessie got in were all minor and for the life of me, I can’t even remember one incident in particular). Or when she gave me her “Jessie-look”, which is a look that her younger sister Jennee (19) has down pat; I even tell her “wow, that is a look that Jessie gets on her face”.

All my daughters, Jessie, Jennee, Crystal (26) and Katie (22) have so much in common, and for the life of me, I could never get their names straight when they were younger - LOL. Just like my mom with us. I love all my girls so much and now I am blessed to have a new generation to love - Jennee’s daughter Maddie is now 16 months old and Katie’s son JJ is 4 months old - they are the cutest, most adorable, most precious babies and I love them so much. I love all my kids with all my heart.

- Glendene Grant, Jessie’s mom.

Follow this website: http://www.Jessiefoster.ca

Friday, April 24, 2009

ARTICLE #147) Search for Missing Kamloops Woman Featured in Book


August 27, 2007
Search for Missing Kamloops Woman Featured in Book
Kamloops Daily News by Jason Hewlett

PICTURED: THE SEARCH for Jessie Foster is featured in Lisa Wojna's new book Missing! The Disappeared, Lost or Abducted in Canada.

The search for Jessie Foster is featured in a new book highlighting stories of Canadians who disappeared without a truce.

Author Lisa Wojna's Missing! The Disappeared, Lost or Abducted in Canada dedicates much of the 264-page book's sixth chapter to the story of Jessie Foster, who went missing in Las Vegas in 2006.

Jessie's mom, Glendene Grant, was approached by Wojna in March - almost a year to the day after the family last heard from Jessie, 22.

"There's lots of different cases in the book. Most have no resolution," Grant said Sunday.

"The book has been in the works for months and was released just last week."

Wojna conducted several phone and e-mail interviews with Grant. The women will meet in person next month at a fundraiser to help continue the search for Jessie.

Other stories include the Robert Pickton case and the Highway of Tears investigation.

Grant said true-crime books like Wojna's are very popular. She hopes Missing! will introduce Jessie's story to a new audience and create new leads in the investigation.

"I hope it will get her story out there more," she said.

Grant is convinced her daughter is being held against her will.

Jessie started dating Peter Todd shortly after moving to Las Vegas.

Todd, a pimp separated from his wife, a prostitute, had a lot of money, fast cars and all-night parties - things that may have lured Jessie into the lifestyle. Todd has told investigators he has no idea where she is.

Efforts to find Jessie are expensive. Anyone who would like to contribute to the Jessie Foster Fund can make a donation at any CIBC branch, transit No. 00050 and account No. 98-27412.

For more information, go online at www.jessiefoster.ca.

Missing! The Disappeared, Lost or Abducted in Canada is available in Kamloops book stores.

Monday, March 9, 2009

ARTICLE #146) Missing B.C. woman's name forwarded to US authorities



Missing B.C. woman's name forwarded to US authorities
iNews880.com - Edmonton, AB Canada
March 8, 2009

The name of a British Columbia woman who disappeared in Las Vegas nearly 3 years ago has been forwarded to investigators in New Mexico, as they investigate the discovery of 13 bodies in what some are describing as a mass grave.

"I still need to know." says Glendene Grant - the Kamloops mother of Jessica Foster, who's disappearance in April 2006 is considered by some U.S. authorities to be a case of human trafficking. "I don't believe that Jessie is dead but I'm still...I'm not close-minded and there is a chance. If she is I want to find her just as desperately. So even though all this stuff is rather grim, I still need to know."

Grant says her daughter's file has been handed to officials in Albuquerque as they try to identify bones discovered by a work crew. "That's not very far away from Las Vegas and I just found out today that they found two other bodies in an area about 15 miles away. They haven't decided if it's something that is connected to the case or not but they just find it awful close."

"They've got Jessie's information now and Fox News is talking about a potential trucker serial killer."

Investigators believe most of the victims are female and worked as prostitutes - two of them disappeared in 2004.

It is also believed they were killed by one person.

North Las Vegas detectives believe Foster may have been working as a call girl at the time of her disappearance. (BM, CKNW, blb)

ARTICLE #145) March 8, 2008: Albuquerque news



Albuquerque TV News - www.rque.com

Mom thinks mesa bones may be her child
Sunday, 08 Mar 2009
By Crystal Gutierrez
Web Producer Devon Armijo

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - A mother from Canada emailed Albuquerque police last month to let them know her daughter, Jessica Foster, has been missing, and she thinks she may buried be in the West Mesa.

Since the first set of remains was found on the mesa, Glendene Grant has digested every news article about New Mexico's bones.

When the count reached six, she became concerned. When detectives said Jane Doe number eight disappeared in 2006—the Canadian mom hopped online and brought cries from Canada to Albuquerque.

"I just googled it, Albuquerque, New Mexico, I pulled up the police department I emailed the sheriff. The one I saw on TV," Grant said.

She told detectives about her daughter, Jessica.

"I told them that I had read a report that one of the women that they had found had been reported missing in 2006, and my daughter had also been reported missing in 2006," Grant said.

However, an Albuquerque detective emailed her that it wasn't her daughter. Dental records identified the woman as Michelle Valdez, 24, an Albuquerque native.

So far the remains of 13 people have been found, and two sets are confirmed to have come from women with a history of prostitution. It was a lifestyle similar to that of Grant's daughter before she disappeared.

Jessica Foster was last seen in Las Vegas, Nev., living with her pimp boyfriend.

"Just because that one person is not Jessie that doesn't mean that some of the other ones aren't her," Grant said.

So far only two have been positively identified. Grant said she will not stop calling until there is no chance her daughter is buried in the New Mexico desert.

"Until they have every single solitary piece of remains identified and every DNA match Identified to somebody Jessie's face is still going to be hovering around Albuquerque," Grant said.
_________________________
FOR MORE INFO ABOUT JESSIE, GO TO: Jessie website

counter

Sunday, March 1, 2009

ARTICLE #144) 'A fundamental assault on liberties' - Canada not immune to illicit trade


'A fundamental assault on liberties' - Canada not immune to illicit trade




By Florence Loyie, The Edmonton Journal
February 25, 2009
LINK: 'A fundamental assault on liberties' - Canada not immune to illicit trade

Just out of sight and mostly out of mind, traffickers make billions each year buying and selling something far more valuable than diamonds, gold or microprocessors, than insider stock tips or international state secrets.

Theirs is a black market some experts think could one day overtake drug trafficking and become, after arms dealing, the second-most profitable criminal activity on the planet.

The commodities on sale in this violent underworld, every day, everywhere? People.

The United Nations estimates that human trafficking generates up to $32 billion in illegal profits every year.

The International Labour Organization estimates there are between two and four million victims worldwide at any time. Eighty per cent of them are female and 50 per cent are under 18.

"You talk about human rights," says Joy Smith, a Conservative MP from Manitoba and the vice-chair of Parliament's standing committee on the status of women. "This is the ultimate human-rights issue of our time."

The RCMP estimates that 800 to 1,200 people in Canada have been victims of human trafficking, but some non-governmental organizations peg the figure as high as 15,000. An additional 1,500 to 2,200 people are trafficked annually from Canada into the United States, police believe.

The U.S. Department of State's recent annual Trafficking in Persons report pegs Canada as a source, destination and transit country for men, women and children trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation or forced labour.

Smith has worked for years on the issue of human trafficking in Canada, Ukraine and Israel. "This is a growing problem in Canada," she says. "We don't know how many foreign victims are here, and Canadians are being victimized as well."

More needs to be done to educate the public and politicians about the impact of human trafficking, Smith says.

"We could do more to ensure traffickers are convicted and punished. We have the laws, but the onus is on the courts and prosecutors to make sure we have the evidence to follow through on convictions. And that just doesn't seem to happen."

Victims of human trafficking are tricked or lured by deception or physical force into captivity. Traffickers will use empty promises, lies, feigned love, intimidation, debt bondage, isolation, threats, physical and sexual abuse, starvation and even the force-feeding of drugs to control their victims.

It is a clandestine and violent world where victims are sold as chattel and discarded like rubbish or killed once they are no longer useful.

"There are aboriginal children who are being victimized," Smith says. "So-called friends will go to the reserves and talk to them. They will say come back to the city and they will get them a job. When they come to the city, sometimes their language is limited or they don't have city smarts, if you want to put it that way. They don't know how to protect themselves and they are forced into the sex trade. They are held as virtual prisoners."

Glendene Grant has believed for more than two years that her eldest daughter was a victim of human trafficking.

It's been almost three years since Jessica Edith Louise Foster last made contact with her family. Her mother has been on a desperate search ever since.

She created and maintains a website devoted to her search and has done dozens of newspaper interviews and been on several American talk shows to raise awareness about her daughter's disappearance. From her home in Kamloops, B.C., she surfs the Internet for information on human trafficking and for allies in her cause. There are days when she fears that her daughter may already be in a shallow grave somewhere in the vast desert surrounding Las Vegas.

Grant thinks the way her daughter ended up in Las Vegas working as a high-priced escort is a textbook example of human trafficking.

In June 1987, Glendene Grant and her husband, Dwight Foster, divorced and Grant and her daughters moved from Calgary back to Kamloops, where she had grown up. When Jessica was 16, she moved back to Calgary to live with her father.

The teenager earned top marks all through high school, her mother says. After graduating, she got an apartment and worked two jobs to support herself.

In the spring of 2005, Jessica moved back to Kamloops to help her mother with her younger sister. Around then, Jessica began getting phone calls from a man named Donald, whom she knew from her high school days.

"During one of her conversations with him, Donald asked her if she wanted to go on a short trip with him to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to visit his mother," Grant says. "We have since learned his mother lives in Edmonton."

Grant says she wasn't overly concerned at the time but did ask if the friend might not want something in return. Jessica assured her that wasn't the case, and came back a few days later with pictures from her fun-filled trip.

A few weeks later, Donald called to invite Jessica on a trip to New York City, followed by a quick jaunt to Atlantic City.

Grant said she had a bad feeling about the trip, but could do nothing to stop her 20-year-old daughter. Jessica assured her she would only be gone a few days.

But she never made it home. Instead, she somehow ended up in Las Vegas.

"I think Jessie was probably tricked," Grant says. "Initially taken on these fun trips and then taken down there and, just like in the movies, given an IOU -- 'I took you on these trips and now you owe us.'

"When you look at the very first trip, there are pictures of Jessie on a big boat, Jessie para-sailing and jumping on a trampoline in the middle of the Atlantic. She is grinning ear to ear. A later picture taken on the trip to New York, Jessie's eyes are different -- they are not my kid's eyes. Jessie never did drugs, didn't even dabble. She never even smoked cigarettes."

Jessica got engaged to a man named Peter. She told her family Peter was a trust fund baby from a wealthy family and had enough money that she didn't have to work. He lived in a $3.5-million home in Las Vegas, owned several expensive vehicles and fancied all-night parties. Jessica kept in almost daily contact with her family through text messages or phone calls. She admitted to her mother that she and Peter sometimes had violent arguments.

Grant says a private investigator later discovered that over the course of the year before she disappeared, Jessica had been arrested five times for prostitution and once was so severely beaten she ended up in the hospital.

On March 28, 2006, Jessica talked to her older sister by telephone. It was her last contact with her family.

On April 9, Grant contacted Peter, who told her Jessica had left him the week before, taking all her belongings, except her makeup and hair dryer.

"Jessie was the type of girl who wore makeup even if she was just doing something casual," Grant says. "She just wouldn't leave her makeup and hair dryer behind if she went willingly."

She called the RCMP and Las Vegas police to report her daughter missing, and that day began her own search.

Peter was interviewed twice by Las Vegas police, but there was no evidence linking him to Jessica's disappearance.

Edmonton police say they are investigating several suspected human trafficking rings targeting vulnerable young Albertans, many of whom are forced into the sex trade in Las Vegas.

While police won't go into specifics, they say they have seen an increase in traffickers or recruiters using social-networking websites such as Facebook and Myspace to troll for victims.

"People, mostly woman, but some men, sadly have become a commodity that some gangs are putting on the shelf," says Staff Sgt. Kevin Galvin, head of the department's organized crime branch and gang unit.

"There is a lot of grooming that happens on social-networking sites," he says.

A recruiter will start up an online relationship, presenting himself as a high-roller with access to VIP rooms at nightclubs, expensive restaurants, drugs and all-night parties. He may appeal to a woman's vanity and tell her he can help her become a model or a singing star. There might even be a free trip or two.

But soon the party ends, and it's payback time. One night the young woman will be invited to a private party, where its a room full of men and herself, perhaps another girl or two. She will be told what is expected. If she resists, she will be gang raped and beaten. She will be threatened with death if she goes to the police. Her family will be threatened as well.

The victim is usually taken to another city, where she is further groomed for her new role, often by another woman. Then she will be taken over the border, usually to Las Vegas, where she will be used as a high-priced escort.

Or she might be moved from one Canadian city to another on a circuit of bawdy houses or massage parlours. Fear and embarrassment will likely keep her from telling her family.

Two years ago, vice detective Jim Morrissey was Edmonton's one-man human trafficking investigation unit, until the administration decided to reassign him.

It's not that his bosses think human trafficking is not a serious crime, says Morrissey. "My administrators made the decision that no municipal police force is really able to investigate human trafficking cases very well. We can handle a little piece of what is happening in our jurisdiction, but they are never a localized phenomenon, by their very nature. They travel the breadth of Canada. They travel over international borders."

The RCMP is mandated to deal with human trafficking, but they rely on municipal police investigators to identify victims. Like other major Canadian cities, Edmonton has international criminal rings running trafficked women through at any given time, says Morrissey. The problem is determining who is really a victim, Canadian or foreign.

"If she doesn't talk, or can't talk to me, or is afraid of me and won't tell anyone she was, in fact, trafficked, we'll just deport her and let the bad guys go," he says.

The other problem is that trafficked women never stay around long. They are usually moved every few weeks.

Last June, the federal government increased the temporary resident permits for foreign trafficking victims from 120 to 180 days.

During this 180 days, immigration officials determine whether a residency period of up to three years should be granted. Trafficking victims may apply for work permits, an option previously unavailable under Canadian law. Only four temporary resident permits were issued in 2007.

Foreign victims also have access to free medical care, dental care and counselling. Victim support services fall under provincial and territorial jurisdiction and do not all follow the same model.

Alberta is rewriting its victim support manual to include a module on human trafficking victims, said Carol Lemieux, a manager in victims programs for the Alberta Solicitor General and Public Security Department.

"Foreign victims may arrive with language barriers or they may have no identification or travel documents, so these are things support groups need to overcome," Lemieux says.

Sherilynn Trompetter, with the Alberta Coalition on Human Trafficking, says her group hopes to soon start training victim services volunteers in Edmonton, Calgary, Red Deer, Lac La Biche, Fort McMurray, Brooks, Airdrie, Cochrane, Lethbridge and Medicine Hat.

"We can't have a blanket solution for the entire province because the situation in Fort McMurray may look very different from Brooks, where you have a lot of people from Sudan," she says.

Crime Stoppers of Edmonton and northern Alberta recently produced two educational clips on human trafficking with Morrissey.

Executive director Flavia Robles said the 90-second clips are aimed at educating young Albertans, primarily girls, about how to protect themselves from human traffickers or pimps.

"You don't think it happens here, but it actually does," Robles says. "We really need to reach out to our youth, particularly girls, on how it happens and how to protect themselves and how drugs and gangs will get you there."

Benjamin Perrin, founder of the Calgary-based The Future Group, a non-government organization dedicated to combating human trafficking and the child sex trade, says most Canadians have no idea how bad the problem is in Canada. In 2003, a Calgary police investigation of bawdy houses called Operation Relaxation exposed a human-trafficking network that forced city officials to re-examine how they license massage parlours and the women who work in them, he says.

"Trafficking is essentially a new label for a very old form of exploitation," says Perrin, an associate professor at the University of British Columbia Faculty of Law and one of Canada's leading experts on human trafficking.

"People often have a vision in their minds of people being shipped in containers and locked away. Those extreme forms of trafficking do happen, and we find cases of fairly severe physical and sexual abuse and forcible confinement. But the modus operandi of Canadian traffickers is to use psychological manipulation or coercion."

Canadian traffickers run the gamut from street-gang thugs to organized criminal networks, he says.

Perrin, who is writing a book on human trafficking in Canada, says he expects traffickers to flock to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, since the crime has been linked to past major international sporting events.

Last November, his group released a 25-page report entitled "Faster, Higher, Stronger: Preventing Human Trafficking at the 2010 Olympics," which outlines measures taken by host countries of recent international sporting events.

The report found that at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany there was a short-term increase in demand for prostitutes, but that extensive prevention campaigns, immigration controls and law-enforcement action likely prevented traffickers from filling that demand.

"It is disturbing to realize there are people who view other people as nothing more than a commodity to be bartered, Perrin says. "This issue for me is the most fundamental assault on human liberties that I have ever come into contact with."

floyie@thejournal.canwest.com

Trafficking Facts

- A typical trafficker relocates his victims every 15 to 30 days.

- Most traffickers are the same nationality as their victims and have no criminal records.

- Trafficked people are most often forced into the sex trade or into work in construction, agriculture or the erotic entertainment industry.

- A foreign trafficking victim's journey from their country of origin into North America can take up to two years and can involve stops in up to eight countries.

Source: RCMP Gazette Magazine

Sunday, February 1, 2009

ARTICLE #143) Holidays bring grief for local families with missing relatives






========================================
Holidays bring grief for local families with missing relatives
Prince George Citizen By Frank Peebles
Thursday, Januray 8, 2009
LINK: http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/20090108169038/local/news/holidays-bring-grief-for-local-families-with-missing-relatives.html

Families gather at Christmas and year's end to celebrate and share good company. That love and fellowship can be twisted into intense grief if one of those family members is a missing person.

A number of households in the Prince George area suffered through that anguish over these holidays.

"It was pretty hard for the family over the holidays, nobody hearing anything. That's scary for people, its hard to take," said Dean Joseph, talking about his missing cousin Bonnie Joseph, 32, who was caught up in a drug addiction when she disappeared last summer.

"Her two brothers are really taking it hard. She has two sisters as well and she has three kids also in ministry care. They lost their parents years ago, too. They are very sad."

Luke Degerness has been missing for a year and a half since he left a meeting at the principal's office and failed to return to class. His mother Gina held a vigil for him in mid December to spark hopes that he would surface for Christmas.

"It is horrible as usual. No word, no sightings, no e-mail," said Gina. "But I was very impressed by how many people showed up when it was so cold. We all lit candles, I had a good cry, and Luke is turning 16 at the end of this month so it made me think of how I had to keep getting up to look after my little one.

"There are a lot of broken hearts with all the wondering and the waiting, and...nothing. It is just really hard when you don't know what happened."

In Kamloops, Glendene Grant was surrounded by three of her daughters this Christmas, plus a grandchild turning one on Christmas Day and another grandson due any day. But Jessie Foster, Grant's fourth daughter, has been missing for the past three years since she disappeared in Las Vegas and is believed to be a human trafficking victim.

"I just can't seem to get into the spirit anymore. Christmas Day 2005 was the last time I ever laid eyes on my daughter Jessie. We still talked for the next three months and four days, but I have never laid my eyes on my beautiful daughter since that day. So, you can imagine, that takes the joy out of my Christmas and I am sure always will, until I find my Jessie."

Hope is almost an obligation felt by many with missing loved ones, said Tony Romeyn, who is in constant contact with dozens of families who have missing relatives. Romeyn is a Prince George businessman who runs, as a free community service, the iammissing.ca and highwayoftears.ca (among others) websites.

He said the Dec. 5 arrest of a suspect in the 11-year-old case of Wendy Ratte has had a powerful impact on those living in that limbo.

"I was awestruck. People having their hope renewed is what they need," he said. "So often we don't see results, and it looks like nothing is being done, and then to see this gives some hope to people, especially just before Christmas."

If anyone knows anything about the whereabouts or activities of Luke Degerness, Bonnie Joseph or any missing person, call the RCMP (250-561-3300) or Crime Stoppers (1-800-222-TIPS / www.pgcrimestoppers.bc.ca).

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

ARTICLE #142) Police ask Are there others




Police ask Are there others
Las Vegas JournalReview By LAWRENCE MOYER
Saturday, November 15, 2008

LINK TO STORY: Police ask: Are there others? Similar slaying cases could help detectives

There could be more victims in a string of slaying of Las Vegas Valley prostitutes whose dismembered bodies were found along highways, a Las Vegas police detective said Friday.

Detective Larry Hanna implored law enforcement authorities in other jurisdictions to check for cases similar to those of four young women with ties to Las Vegas. The body parts of three of the women have been found off of highways in Las Vegas, California and Illinois, and a fourth woman who matches the descriptions of the others is missing.

Hanna said the women could have been slain by the same person, possibly a truck driver because of the proximity of the women to major highways.

“I’m not saying they’re connected, I’m saying there’s enough there that we in law enforcement need to work together and pay attention,” he said.

“As my sergeant says, ‘There are no coincidences in law enforcement.’”

The discovery of other cases could produce leads into the deaths of the women, Hanna said. Investigators have ruled out as suspects the women’s boyfriends, who doubled as pimps, and have had precious few leads to pursue.

No suspects have been named, and the truck driver as serial killer remains a theory.

“It may not be a truck driver, who knows?” Hanna said. “It’s someone who travels the roads.”

The young women, ages 19 to 25 and working as valley prostitutes, disappeared between 2003 and 2006.

Authorities investigating their cases are going down a well-worn path of investigations into serial killer truck drivers, according to James Alan Fox, a professor at Northeastern University in Boston who has written several books on serial killers, including 2005’s “Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder.”

Fox said there isn’t anything in particular about truck drivers that would make them serial killers. They are just tougher to catch and have access to prostitutes, runaways and hitchhikers, he said.

“Their mobility aids them in evading apprehension,” he said. “Plus, the places where they travel, highways and truck stops, give them easy access to targets.”

The cases of truck drivers killing prostitutes are among the most difficult to solve, he said. Police rarely have crime scenes; they have dump sites.

The list of potential suspects, which would include johns, is extensive. Witnesses to the crime, which could include other prostitutes, are usually unwilling to talk to police.

“There are so many cases of prostitute slayings that have been unsolved. Pick a state,” Fox said.

The discovery of serial killer truck drivers often makes national news.

- Bruce Mendenhall, an Illinois truck driver, was charged in 2007 with the death of a Tennessee woman, and has been charged in or linked to the deaths of four other women.
- Keith Hunter Jesperson, a long-haul trucker, confessed in 1994 to killing eight women in five states.
- Wayne Adam Ford, a former truck driver, was sentenced to death last year after killing four women and dumping their mutilated bodies across California in the 1990s.

“America’s Most Wanted” is highlighting the cases of the four Las Vegas Valley women in a show set to air tonight.

- Jodi Brewer, 19, disappeared from Las Vegas in August 2003. Her torso was wrapped in plastic and a sheet and was found later that month in the desert near the Interstate 15 offramp to Cima Road, about 25 miles south of the Nevada-California border
- Jessica Foster, 21, was last seen in North Las Vegas between late March and early April 2006, according to a Web site set up in her memory. She has not been found.
- Lindsay Harris, 21, disappeared from Henderson on May 4, 2005. Nineteen days later her legs were found in a grassy area a few hundred yards off of Interstate 55, about 15 miles south of Springfield, Ill. Investigators didn’t indentify the remains until this year.
- Misty Saens, 25, was found by two bikers in the desert off of state Route 159, the road that leads to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Her partial remains were found wrapped in plastic and a cloth sheet on March 6, 2003, according to the Clark County coroner’s office.

The women share common traits: all are white, between 5 feet 4 inches and 5 feet 6 inches tall, and disappeared while working as prostitutes, according to police. Three of them even have the same middle name, Marie.

Authorities in California, Illinois and Las Vegas are investigating the deaths, and North Las Vegas police are handling Foster’s disappearance.

Hanna said he believed there was a connection among the cases when Harris’ remains were identified by Illinois State Police in March. He remembered Brewer’s death five years ago – also a dismemberment, also off of a highway – and made the link.

“I thought, ‘Well, this is kind of interesting. Their M.O.’s, they’re all alike,’” he said.

He got in touch with the agencies working the other cases, and the result has been a jump toward finding a lead. Now he wants not only law enforcement but also the public to come forward if they’re aware of similar cases.

“The more cases you can ID, the more chance you have of solving them,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440.

Friday, November 14, 2008

ARTICLE #141) Missing Las Vegas Prostitutes to be Profiled on National Television



Las Vegas NOW
with Alyson McCarthy
November 11, 2008

On the news tonight in Las Vegas: Missing Las Vegas Prostitutes to be Profiled on National Television with Alyson McCarthy:

The four women are described as young and beautiful and now they have something else in common: Three are dead and another is missing. The women worked in the Las Vegas area as prostitutes.

Their murders and disappearances are unsolved and America's Most Wanted will feature the case on its Nov. 15th show.

In the three murder cases, the women were dismembered and dumped along remote stretches of highway.

Lindsay Harris, Misty Saens, Jodi Brewer and Jessica Foster all disappeared between March 2003 and April 2006.

Foster, who is believed dead, has never been found.

America's Most Wanted website says that police suspect the killer could be a truck driver.

LINK TO VIDEO: http://www.lasvegasnow.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp?clipId1=3138974&at1=News&vt1=v&h1=Missing+Las+Vegas+Prostitutes+to+be+Profiled+on+National+Television&d1=130567&redirUrl=www.lasvegasnow.com&activePane=info&LaunchPageAdTag=homepage&clipFormat=flv

ARTICLE #140) SIMILAR SLAYINGS: Prostitutes share tragic fate






Jodi Brewer:

Pamela Brewer, Jodi's mom:

SIMILAR SLAYINGS: Prostitutes share tragic fate

Police theory: Truck driver possible killer


LINK TO STORY: http://www.lvrj.com/news/34451949.html

REVIEW-JOURNAL By LAWRENCE MOWER
Friday, November 14, 2008

Police are investigating whether several young prostitutes working in the Las Vegas Valley might have been slain by the same person, possibly a truck driver.

Las Vegas police Lt. Lew Roberts said authorities are investigating the possibility, but he was unavailable for further comment.

In three cases, a dismembered body was found in trash bags along highways in California, Nevada or Illinois.

A fourth case matches the same profile as the others -- that of a young, attractive white woman who had fallen into prostitution.

Law enforcement officials stressed that a truck driver serial killer is, at this point, a theory.

"It's a theory that's been looked at, but until we get something more, it's just a theory," said North Las Vegas police Sgt. Justin Ryan.

Sgt. Tom Bradford of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office in California said the theory wasn't new.

"We thought that was a possibility, anyway, but we don't have any person as a suspect," Bradford said.

Law enforcement officials indicated they were looking at possible links among several cases:

• Jodi Brewer, 19, disappeared from Las Vegas in August 2003. Her torso was wrapped in plastic and a sheet and was found later that month in the desert near the Interstate 15 offramp to Cima Road , about 25 miles south of the Nevada-California border.

• Jessica Foster, 21, was last seen in North Las Vegas between late March and early April 2006, according to a Web site set up in her memory. She has not been found.

• Lindsay Harris, 21, disappeared from Henderson on May 4, 2005. Nineteen days later, her legs were found in a grassy area a few hundred yards off of Interstate 55, about 15 miles south of Springfield, Ill. Investigators didn't identify the remains until this year.

A fourth case that might be linked, that of 25-year-old Misty Saens, has been identified by "America's Most Wanted," which is profiling the cases in an episode to air this Saturday.

Partial remains of Saens, 25, was found by two bikers in the desert off of State Route 159, the road that leads to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.

The partial remains were found wrapped in plastic and a cloth sheet on March 6, 2003, according to the Clark County coroner's office.

Investigators have had few clues to go on. Boyfriends who doubled as pimps for some of the women are not being named as suspects.

A lieutenant with the Illinois State Police, who are handling Harris' case because her remains were found in their jurisdiction, said they still don't have any suspects.

North Las Vegas' Ryan said because Foster's body has not been found, "It's still just a missing person case."

Las Vegas police weren't able to comment on the case Thursday because of what a department spokesman described as an "extraordinarily high amount of activity" for the homicide unit in the past few days.

Pamela Brewer, the mother of Jodi Brewer, said she had heard from law enforcement officials that her daughter's death might be linked to the other cases.

"I feel wonderful, absolutely wonderful," Pamela Brewer said about the development in the case. "It's been five years. I think the only way they could have found justice in this case is if they linked her case to other cases."

Glendene Grant, Foster's mother, said from Canada that she believed her daughter was still alive and hadn't been abducted because all of her things were taken from her North Las Vegas house.

"How did all of Jessie's things go missing if somebody took her?" she said.

In addition to having fallen into prostitution, the young women share other similarities, according to "America's Most Wanted."

All were between 5 feet 4 inches and 5 feet 6 inches tall. Three had dyed-blonde hair. Three of them had the middle name of "Marie."

Grant said she originally believed her daughter's case was closely related to Harris'. The two women were the same age, pretty, and not originally from Las Vegas.

"Her story, her descriptions, are just so similar to Lindsay's," Grant said.

Grant believed so strongly that the cases were linked that she got in touch with Harris' parents in the small town of Skaneateles, N.Y.. She has continued to keep in touch with them, as well as with the family members of the other two missing women.

Foster, a native of Canada, had been an honor roll student through most of high school and had never gotten into trouble before, Grant said.

In 2005, she went on a vacation with a boyfriend who took her to Florida, New York and New Jersey.

She moved to Las Vegas with a friend and fell into prostitution with a new boyfriend. She was arrested twice for prostitution in 2005, according to the Web site set up in her memory.

Harris had followed a similar path, moving with a boyfriend from New York to Henderson and being arrested for prostitution five times by Las Vegas police.

"I know that Lindsay's mother and myself believe that our children were brainwashed into, or were forced into becoming, prostitutes," Grant said.

That was not the case for Jodi Brewer, who fell into prostitution at 17, her mother said. She struggled in school but eventually earned her general education degree and a grant to go to beauty school.

"She was into hair and makeup and was real bubbly," Pamela Brewer said.

When Jodi Brewer lost her school grant, she fell back into prostitution. When Brewer turned 19, Pamela Brewer filed a missing person report, and 14 days later her daughter's remains were found in Southern California.

Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440.

ARTICLE #139) Is A Serial Killer Murdering Las Vegas Prostitutes?

1) Lindsay

2) Misty

3) Jessie

4) Jodi

Copy and paste this direct link to the AMW site: http://www.amw.com/features/feature_story_detail.cfm?id=3049

Three of the women were dismembered and their remains had been dumped just off of remote stretches of highway. Two of them were found near industrial areas, and the body of the fourth woman, Jessie Foster, has never even been found.
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Since 2005, AMW has been following the story of Lindsay Marie Harris, a small-town girl with big dreams who disappeared after moving to Las Vegas. Three years later, her remains were identified near an Illinois highway.

Between March 2003 and April 2006, four known Vegas prostitutes -- Lindsay, Misty Marie Saens, Jodi Marie Brewer and Jessica Edith Louise Foster -- disappeared under similarly suspicious circumstances.

Three of the women were dismembered and their remains had been dumped just off of remote stretches of highway. Two of them were found near industrial areas, and the body of the fourth woman, Jessie Foster, has never even been found.

Now, cops need your help to determine if the crimes are linked to a vicious serial killer.

If you know anything about these cases, call our hotline at 1-800-CRIME-TV.
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1) LINDSAY MARIE HARRIS: On May 23, 2005, police outside of Springfield, Ill., made a shocking discovery when they arrived at a crime scene and found a pair of severed legs (see below - http://www.amw.com/fugitives/brief.cfm?id=45603). For three years, the Illinois State Police diligently worked the Jane Doe case, and their hard work paid off in May 2008 when an FBI report and a DNA comparison helped to identify the victim as missing person Lindsay Harris (see below - http://www.amw.com/missing_persons/brief.cfm?id=31826).
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2) MISTY MARIE SAENS: In 2003, human remains found near a deserted stretch of Las Vegas highway left investigators scratching their heads. But two years later, they were able to put a name to the victim, Misty Saens (see below - http://www.amw.com/fugitives/brief.cfm?id=60901). Now, they need your help to find her cold-blooded killer.
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3) JESSICA EDITH LOUISE FOSTER: Jessie Foster (see below - http://www.amw.com/missing_persons/brief.cfm?id=60803) had it all. The Canadian-born beauty had plenty of friends and a close-knit family, but in the spring of 2006, she vanished without a trace. Now, cops in Las Vegas need your help ============================================
4) JODI MARIE BREWER: The last time anyone ever saw 19-year-old Jodi Brewer (see below - http://www.amw.com/fugitives/brief.cfm?id=60899) alive was in mid-August 2003. For just over two weeks, her friends and family waited on baited breath, hoping for her safe return. But on August 29, cops in northern California made a grisly discovery that's left all those who knew Jodi completely and utterly devastated.
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LINDSAY: (from above) - http://www.amw.com/fugitives/brief.cfm?id=45603
Jane Doe Body Discovered
Since May 23, 2005, Illinois State Police have worked to solve a baffling murder mystery: police were called to the shoulder of an exit ramp off Interstate 55, in Divernon, Ill., where they were faced with a shocking crime scene.

About 120 yards southeast of the Exit 80 overpass of Interstate 55, detectives found two severed human legs in a marsh along side the road.

On the upper right thigh, near the hip, was a partial tattoo, which investigators believed was their best chance to identify the victim.

The subsequent investigation of the legs and the surrounding area led the team's forensic anthropologist to believe that the death and dismemberment of the victim had happened one to three months before the remains were discovered.
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(from above) - http://www.amw.com/missing_persons/brief.cfm?id=31826
An All-American Girl With A Plan
Lindsay Harris left her small hometown of Skaneateles, N.Y. in January 2003 with a plan in mind. She left on a cross-country drive to the west coast, eager to start a new and adventurous chapter of her life.

The shy, funny 19-year-old had a new boyfriend, then 26-year-old Solomon Barron, who she had met at a jazz festival in Syracuse, N.Y. Barron was a hip-hop promoter with businesses in Syracuse and Las Vegas, and it was in Sin City that Lindsay planned to start her life anew.

Initially, Lindsay lived with her aunt in San Diego, but two months later, relocated to Las Vegas and secretly moved in with Solomon. Martha and Robert Harris, Lindsay's parents, knew nothing of Solomon Barron until she brought him home for Christmas 2004. On May 5, 2005 -- just five months after their visit -- Solomon was calling the Harris family with bad news: Lindsay was missing.

Lindsay's disappearance quickly exposed her double life: she had been working as an escort in Las Vegas.
A Tale of Two Lindsays
Shortly after she moved in with Solomon, Lindsay told her family she was dancing in a nightclub, but they didn't know about the double life she was really leading.

Her disappearance quickly exposed the truth: she had been working as an escort in Las Vegas, and was even arrested for solicitation. Yet despite the sting of this reality, Lindsay's parents were only concerned with locating their daughter.

Police say Lindsay made a bank deposit near her home in Henderson, Nev. at 3:36 p.m. on Wednesday, May 4, in the last independent confirmed sighting of the young woman.

Lindsay's boyfriend, Solomon, was in Syracuse, N.Y. at the time of her disappearance. Solomon says he received a voicemail message from Lindsay nearly 12 hours after her trip to the bank, on the morning of Thursday, May 5, 2005.

Solomon says Lindsay said she was leaving the Monte Carlo Casino and heading to the Luxor Casino, where her Mercedes was parked. After repeatedly calling Lindsay's cell phone with no success, a concerned Solomon flew back to Las Vegas. He later phoned the Harris family to find out if they had heard from their daughter, but they hadn't.

As for Lindsay, authorities say she never made it to her car. Las Vegas Metro Police found Lindsay's Mercedes on May 9 in a parking lot between the Excalibur and Luxor casinos.
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MISTY: (from above) - http://www.amw.com/fugitives/brief.cfm?id=60901
Missing Woman's Remains Discovered In Vegas Valley
In early March 2003, a pair of bikers made a gruesome discovery in a deserted area of the Las Vegas Valley: the dismembered body of an unidentified woman, wrapped in black plastic bags and bed sheets.

For nearly two years, investigators were perplexed on two fronts -- they had no idea who the victim was, nor could they fathom how someone could commit such a monstrous act against another.

But in 2005, detectives with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department finally caught a break, when they positively ID'd the victim as Misty Saens.

Misty's body was discovered just three weeks shy of her 26th birthday, and the last information known about her is that she was working as a prostitute in Las Vegas.

And that key piece of information has investigators intrigued.
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JESSIE: (from above) - http://www.amw.com/missing_persons/brief.cfm?id=60803
Free-Spirited Young Woman Disappears From Vegas Home

Canadian-born Jessie Foster was a beautiful, free-spirited young woman, who cops say got mixed up with the wrong crowd.

After visiting the United States in 2005, she eventually moved in with a man almost twice her age on the outskirts of Sin City.

The man lived in the swanky suburb of North Las Vegas and, according to reports, he drove a number of expensive cars.

Jessie told her family that he was independently wealthy, but cops believe he was a pimp -- and Jessie may have become one of his prostitutes.

The petite blonde last called her mother on March 24, 2006, planning to come visit her at home in Canada a few days later.

But that trip never took place, and cops believe Jessie disappeared for good between March 28 and April 3, 2006.

Jessie Foster was last known to be at the home she shared with her boyfriend/pimp, and she has not been seen or heard from ever since.

Now, cops need your help to piece together the mystery surrounding her bizarre disappearance.
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Cops Try To Determine Link Between Missing And Murdered Prostitutes
Due to the demographic that Jessie fits in, cops feel that there are numerous similarities between her and three other Vegas prostitutes who were discovered dead and dismembered since 2003.

Between March 2003 and April 2006, Misty Marie Saens, Jodi Marie Brewer, Lindsay Marie Harris and Jessica Edith Louise Foster all disappeared under similarly suspicious circumstances.

All were white, skinny and pretty, with strawberry blonde hair and ranging in age from 19 to 26. Each girl ranged in height between 5'4" and 5'6", and all of their boyfriends or pimps were black males. Three of the girls' middle names were "Marie."

Three of the women were dismembered, and their remains had been dumped just off of remote stretches of highway. Two of them were found near industrial areas, and the body of the fourth woman, Jessie Foster, has never even been found.

Are all of their similarities mere coincidence, or is there someone out there abducting and viciously taking the lives of Las Vegas-area prostitutes?

Cops are actively pouring over all of the evidence and are hellbent on finding the culprit or culprits, though leads are few and far between.

If you know anything about the brutal, cold-blooded murders of Misty Saens, Jodi Brewer or Lindsay Harris, as well as the disappearance of Jessie Foster, you've got to call our hotline right away at 1-800-CRIME-TV.
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JODI: (from above) - http://www.amw.com/fugitives/brief.cfm?id=60899
Remains Of Missing Vegas Prostitute Found In Calif. Desert
Jodi Brewer grew up in a loving home, but as time went on and she became her own person, Jodi did what she felt was right for herself, whether or not her family consented with her decision.

According to reports, by the time Jodi was 17, she became caught up in the world of prostitution, where money came fast and easy.

But her quick financial gains did not come without one horrific consequence.

Jodi's mother reported her missing on August 14, 2003, after Jodi failed to return home one evening. She was just 19 years old and still had purple braces on her teeth.

Less than three weeks later, cops found a dismembered female body off a deserted stretch of road in San Bernardino, Calif.

While the family held their collective breath, hoping and praying it wasn't their beloved Jodi's, investigators ultimately proved their greatest fears to be true.

What was left of Jodi's body provided enough clues for her family to identify the remains -- she had a hummingbird tattoo above her left breast, and a distinct letter 'M' tattooed on her lower back.

But the piece of information that intrigued cops the most about Jodi was the fact that she had been working as a prostitute on the Las Vegas Strip.
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