ARTICLE #96) Where Are They Now? Jessie’s mom still hopes daughter will be found

Friday, December 28, 2007
Where Are They Now? Jessie’s mom still hopes daughter will be found
Kamloops This Week by Cassidy Olivier

Christmas was always Jessie Foster’s favorite holiday.

That’s why her mother, Glendene Grant, knew it was going to be hard to get out of bed on Tuesday and face another holiday season without her daughter.

Foster, a Kamloops woman, went missing in March 2006 at the age of 21 while living in Las Vegas with her boyfriend, who was rumoured to be a pimp.

Despite various possible sightings and other potential leads, no one has heard from Foster since.

But while knowing Christmas would pose its challenges, Grant isn’t about to let the uncertainties about her daughter’s whereabouts get her down during the season.

Whether it’s Christmas or just another day, Grant continues to get out of bed in the morning with the same optimism that has seen her through the last 20 months.

And as with every day since Foster was last heard from, Grant will continue doing what she can to find her daughter – be it by organizing another fundraiser or posting another update on the Jessie Foster website at jessiefoster.ca.

“I find the longer this goes on, the stronger I get,” Grant said.

“Until they have proved she is not alive…then that only leave her being help against her will.”

Grant, like many following Foster’s case, believes her daughter has fallen victim to a human-trafficking ring and is being held against her will.

After months of being in the hands of the North Las Vegas Police Department, Foster’s case was picked up by a special U.S. task force familiar with human-trafficking rings.

But despite this and the overwhelming media attention the case has received – Foster’s story has been the subject of a Montel Williams Show and has been featured in several domestic and international newspapers – little headway has been made.

The family has raised tens of thousands for a reward for information leading to Foster’s whereabouts, with ongoing community fundraisers looking to boost that amount even more.

“I don’t really focus on anything that is negative,” Grant said.

“I can’t ask for things to be pulled out of the air. Even if the tips are far and few between, they are still coming.”