FAMILY WEBSITES - http://www.jessiefoster.ca
and http://www.findjessiefoster.com/
Although she hasn’t heard from her for almost a year, Glendene Grant knows in her heart daughter Jessica Foster is alive.
And this Sunday, she will continue to honour her pledge to bring “Jessie Bessie” home safely by hosting a fundraising dinner at the Fox N’ Hounds Pub in Sahali Centre Mall.
“I feel with my whole heart that Jessie will be found and found alive,” Grant said. “Jessie is alive and needs to be found and rescued.”
It was a year ago this month that Foster mysteriously disappeared in Las Vegas, where she had been living with Peter Todd, a man
rumored to be a pimp.
After Foster broke contact with her family in March 2006, Grant hired a private investigator to do some digging and learned her daughter had been arrested several times by Las Vegas police for prostitution.
She had been using the name Jessie Taylor.
Grant also learned that Todd’s ex-wife—a known prostitute—had allegedly threatened Foster several times.
When interviewed by police, Todd claimed Foster had moved out suddenly and he had no idea where she was.
Despite applying continued pressure on investigators, taking the story to prime-time television and two trips to Las Vegas, Grant hasn’t learned much more about her missing daughter.
But she has her suspicions.
“I have since the beginning felt that she has been a victim of human trafficking,” Grant said. “Therefore, not only do I believe she is alive, but I believe that she is being held against her will somewhere.”
Foster’s case has since been transferred from the short-staffed North Las Vegas Police to the Anti-Trafficking League Against Human Slavery and the Metro Las Vegas Police Department.
“It is the best news we have had to date,” Grant said.
Sunday’s fundraiser, just one in a string of many this past year, is being held to help offset the costs of keeping the private investigator on the trail and increase the reward for information leading to Foster’s whereabouts to $10,000 from $5,000.
Grant is hopeful all the effort will soon lead to a break in the case.
“Stay strong,” is her message to her daughter. “We are looking hard and we will find you.”
Glendene Grant’s quest to find daughter Jessie Foster is about to go Global.
Global National reporter Francis Silvaggio spotlights Grant’s 10-month search Monday during the news program’s 5:30 p.m. broadcast.
“Any time you have a Canadian missing abroad, I think it’s interesting,” Silvaggio said Thursday.
“She’s been missing so long with no leads. It’s a sad story.”
Silvaggio works in Global’s Calgary office. He’s been following Jessie’s story since the Calgary Sun interviewed her dad, Dwight Foster, shortly after she went missing in Las Vegas in March 2006.
His plans to file a story were sidetracked by an assignment in Afghanistan. He returned in time to follow Foster and Grant to Vegas in early January.
The reporter spent three days documenting their efforts to learn more about Jessie’s disappearance.
Silvaggio said the trip was partly successful. Las Vegas TV and newspapers covered their story. Sadly, Jessie is still missing.
“What’s interesting is the fact Glendene believes she is still alive. She so desperately believes Jessie is still out there,” he said.
Jessie, 22, disappeared in Las Vegas in April. An investigation revealed she started dating Peter Todd shortly after moving there.
Todd, a pimp separated from his wife, a prostitute, had a lot of money, fast cars and all-night parties—things that lured Jessie into the lifestyle.
Grant has garnered interest from the FBI, American TV shows Geraldo At Large and The Maury Show and newspapers on both sides of the border.
Silvaggio sympathizes with Grant and Foster’s ordeal.
“It’s a very emotional time for the both of them,” he said.
Grant said Jessie is now featured on the National Centre for Missing Adults database. The family continues to employ Mike Kirkman, an investigator with Las Vegas Detectives, and three of his agents.
Relatives of an Alberta woman missing since 2006 are hoping to raise the reward for information leading to her whereabouts—$1 at a time.
“I’d like to try to make sure that we’ve done everything,” said Glendene Grant, the mother of Jessie foster, who disappeared at age 21 in Las Vegas.
The family is already offering a $10,000 reward, but Grant said she wants to increase it in the hopes of enticing someone to come forward. They’re asking members of the public to donate as little as $1.
“I will not give up. We want her back one way or another,” said Grant. “We’ve never said it has to be alive.”
Foster left her home in Calgary about two years ago to move to Las Vegas, where she worked as a prostitute.
In recent months, U.S. authorities have said they believe she may be a victim of a human trafficking ring.
Since beginning the dollar donation drive this week, Grant said the family has already been able to add several hundred dollars to the trust fund set up for the reward.