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Post by Admin on May 8, 2013 0:11:39 GMT
Monday, March 8, 2010 Since 2010 started LOTS HAS HAPPENED in Jessie's missing case!!! Since Jessie has been missing (4 years ago on March 29) I have not stopped, not for one day - my own search . . . my own campaign . . . to find my daughter or at least bring worldwide attention to her disappearance. I think any mother would. No one takes a woman's child without some sort of reaction. My life has taken on a whole new meaning. I no longer live in denial of what goes on in this world. The horrendous things that one human being (or monster) can do to another innocent person. I can't believe it, yet I know it is true. I am not just an advocate for Jessie . . . I am an advocate for all missing persons and victims of all unsolved crimes. I am an advocate for ALL victims. In many cases, they do not have a voice that can be heard any longer, so they NEED us. They need people like myself who lives have been touched by such a horrible crime that we will never, ever be the same again. EVER. No matter what happens - even if Jessie comes home, gets healthy and lives a wonderful rest of her life - I AM STILL CHANGED FOREVER. I will have my prayers answered, my dream come true if Jessie were to come home alive and well, but if she doesn't - if she comes home and she is not alive or if she never comes home, this is the new me. Glendene Grant. MissingJessie Foster's mom. Person who wants to help anyone she can. I have 4 daughters, not just Jessie. I also have my oldest daughter, Crystal - now 27; Jessie is 2nd oldest and turning 26 in May; Katie is 23 and mother to a 1 year old son; and my youngest daughter is 20 and mother to 2 young daughters, 2 years and 2 months old. I am still here for them. I try to be there every single time they call or need me - and I usually am. I am here for my elderly father, Jim Grant - turning 84 years old in July. I am here for everyone who needs me - or I try to be. But my family understands . . . they know that I HAVE to do this. That I will go crazy if I just sit back and expect others to spread the word about Jessie; to put posters up everywhere; post on the Internet; get her story in the media. NO, it is something that I have to do and I am doing it very well. Just since 2010 has started I have: - most recently got an email from a women, Timea Eva Nagy, the Executive Director of WALK WITH ME in Toronto, Ontario (an International Independent Organization, Helping Human Trafficked Victims - http://www.walk-with-me.org), who is herself a human trafficking survivor. She told me that they had been thinking about what to name their award they are presenting to Officers, Social Workers, and members of the Media, who have been working around the clock to fight this horrific crime and helping human trafficked victims. And she remembered hearing about Jessie's story from an RCMP officer while she was in Calgary in September - then she read the article in the CanWest series about the 1,559 missing Canadian women (Jessie was on the front page again), and she has never forgot about Jessie ever since. They are hosting our first Award Ceremony on April 15, 2010. She asked my permission to name their Award after Jessie & me. I don't know the exact name yet, but I will let you know when I do. - now, I need help fundraising money so I am able to also go to the ceremony in Toronto, ON. We have just over 1 month to arrange it: find a place, sell tickets, get donations for raffle draws and we will also have a 50/50 draw ~ we have had several successful fundraisers while we were raising money to pay the private investigator and raise our reward, so that makes me think we will have no trouble this time either - ALL HELP IS APPRECIATED. - got Jessie's story on a couple of documentaries: - one was while walking in the DTES on Saturday night, my friend Gladys Radek (co-founder of the Walk4Justice, which will be starting their 2010 walk in Kamloops on June 21) and she saw her friend with the daughter of Brenda Wolf, one of Robert Pictkton's victims. A crew from Nova Scotia was filming a documentary and they were very interested in Jessie's case so they interviewed me on the spot - ironically, Timea Nagy is also in this same video, but we never knew this until after we talked about Jessie - one that is called "In the Shadow of the Olympic Flame: A Report from the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, the Poorest Neighborhood in Canada" (http://www.democracynow.org/2010/3/2/in_the_shadow_of_the_olympic) and in part of it they were filming marchers in the 19th Annual Women's Memorial March, I was able to hold up Jessie's poster and say her name & when she went missing - about the Memorial March, I was asked to be a guest speaker in the ceremony, plus I was able to speak to many other victims and families of victims and world media - it was amazing - her story has been in several newspaper articles (in Canada & the USA) already this year - I have had a couple of radio & internet interviews - I got together with Deb Noel and Crime Stopper's Mark Price to get an educational program about human trafficking set up to be taken to our local high schools and hopefully it will go even farther - available online or to all schools who want to start a program - this is unreal, like a dream - there are 3 books coming out this year: - one written by a reporter from the Las Vegas CityLife, Matt O'Brien, who wrote a few stories about Jessie's case and just finished the body of his book, including Jessie's case - one written by University of British Columbia Professor Benjamin Perrin who is writing a book about human trafficking in Canada and is including Jessie's website & contact info in it - those are HUGE for Jessie's case - one written by Diana Trepkov (http://www.forensicsbydiana.com/) who is also donating an age enhancement photo she is working on now, they usually cost several hundreds of dollars, but she said "from one mother to another, I am giving this to you" and she also said "I will put this in my Forensic Art book along with the details of the case" and "I will also write for the Blue Line Magazine about Jessie (http://blueline.ca/)" - and that will make 3 books with Jessie in it - the first one came out in 2007 by Canadian author Lisa Wojna, called MISSING! The Disappeared, Lost or Abducted in Canada. - A youth group in Seattle, WA, made up of 5 or 6 churches is doing a campaign to educate on human trafficking and they are using Jessie case and they are writing a song about her. There is more, I just can't remember off the top of my head. And that is just from January and February. This is the year. Jessie will be found or she will be the poster woman for Human Trafficking in Canada. Maybe around the world, who knows. With Jessie I never think small - with Jessie, the world is here for her, to help us find her or at least bring awareness about her & her case. Jessie did not disappear in vain. We have not all suffered horrendously for nearly 4 years for nothing. I will educate as many people as I can and I will find Jessie - OR DIE TRYING. Not just Jessie's, but also Crystal, Katie & Jennee's mom, Glendene Grant. _________________________________________ ADDITIONAL INFO AND LINKS ON JESSIE'S CASE: My Canadian daughter JESSIE FOSTER is an international endangered missing person and a human trafficking victim. There have been thoughts that perhaps Jessie was the victim of the truck driver / highway / serial killer scenarios that the FBI is working on, but there is one huge point that was overlooked when this was discussed: "If Jessie was kidnapped and murdered by a truck driver, where did her belongings go? Jessie had all her things packed because she was planning on coming home to Canada when she mysteriously vanished - all of her belongings went missing with Jessie, except her hairdryer and makeup, which was left in the bathroom of her home. Did the truck driver go to Jessie's house in North Las Vegas and take her things (not likely)? Or did the actual person who kidnapped her (possibly her 'fiancé') Peter Todd, who she was living with at the time of her disappearance) take her PACKED belongings with her...because everything was packed and easy to take – but forgetting she had a few personal belongings in the bathroom?" Jessie has been missing from Las Vegas, NV for almost 4 years (since March 29, 2006) and is most likely a human trafficking victim. There have been many human trafficking task forces and experts who agree and have told me it looks to be a classic case, with the places Jessie was taken to being hubs for human trafficking and things like her phone bills (which I have), most of them were up to 25 pages and $2500 to $3000 each month, another prime sign of what was happening to her. IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE WHO CAN HELP ME FIND HER? CAN YOU PLEASE HELP ME FIND HER? JESSIE COULD BE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. THERE ARE MANY WAYS - PRAYERS; TELLING OTHERS; REPOSTING HER INFORMATION; PASS HER FLYERS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW AND HAVE THEM FORWARD THEM TO EVERYONE THEY KNOW . . . and so on, and so on, and so on!
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Post by Admin on May 8, 2013 0:12:42 GMT
Jessica Foster Have You Seen Jessica (Jessie) Foster ? Case Type: Endangered Missing Missing Date: Wednesday 29th March 2006 Missing From: North Las Vegas Nevada Missing Country: USA Sex: Female DOB: 27/May/1984 Age Now: 25 Jessica (Jessie) Foster Specific Details: Hair: Blonde Eye Color: Hazel Height: 5' 6" Weight: 120lbs Race: White language: n/a Special Facts: Jessie has 2 piercings in her left ear and 3 in her right ear, piercing in left nostril and right eyebrow and has caps on her teeth. Jessie's hair may be dyed brown or have streaks and she wears is worn long and straight or curly. HFMC International Searching Known Circumstances: Jessica was last contacted by a family member via phone while at her residence in the vicinity of the 1000 block of Cornerstone Pl. in North Las Vegas, NV. Jessie may be a victim of an International human trafficking ring. ANYONE WITH ANY INFORMATION about Jessica can contact: Las Vegas Crimestoppers Detective Mike Hope Phone: (702) 385-5555 Toll Free: (800) 222-8477 If you have any information on Jessica (Jessie) Foster please contact the official numbers above immediately. Alternatively, you can e-mail us here at Help Find My Child - you can do this in strictest confidence - we will make sure your information is passed on to the relevant places. Messages of support and news updates are welcomed, * Jasmine's blog * Add new comment * "Share * Printer-friendly version * Post to Twitter Post to Twitter A message from Jessie's mom Submitted by Jasmine on 5 March, 2010 - 01:36. A message from Jessie's mom Jessie, missing 4 years - who would have ever thought it would be this long, and maybe longer - way longer. But I have not given up hope in finding Jessie, hopefully alive, but if she is not, she still needs to come home just as badly. She would need to rest in peace, which would surely not be possible if she knew our turmoil. Since Jessie has been missing (4 years ago on March 29) I have not stopped, not for one day - my own search . . . my own campaign . . . to find my daughter or at least bring worldwide attention to her disappearance. I think any mother would. No one takes a woman's child without some sort of reaction. My life has taken on a whole new meaning. I no longer live in denial of what goes on in this world. The horrendous things that one human being (or monster) can do to another innocent person. I can't believe it, yet I know it is true. I am not just an advocate for Jessie . . . I am an advocate for all missing persons and victims of all unsolved crimes. I am an advocate for ALL victims. In many cases, they do not have a voice that can be heard any longer, so they NEED us. They need people like myself who lives have been touched by such a horrible crime that we will never, ever be the same again. EVER. No matter what happens - even if Jessie comes home, gets healthy and lives a wonderful rest of her life - I AM STILL CHANGED FOREVER. I will have my prayers answered, my dream come true if Jessie were to come home alive and well, but if she doesn't - if she comes home and she is not alive or if she never comes home, this is the new me. Glendene Grant. MissingJessie Foster's mom. Person who wants to help anyone she can. I have 4 daughters, not just Jessie. I also have my oldest daughter, Crystal - now 27; Jessie is 2nd oldest and turning 26 in May; Katie is 23 and mother to a 1 year old son; and my youngest daughter Jennee is 20 and mother to 2 young daughters, 2 years and 2 months old. I am still here for them. I try to be there every single time they call or need me - and I usually am. I am here for my elderly father, Jim Grant - turning 84 years old in July. I am here for everyone who needs me - or I try to be. But my family understands . . . they know that I HAVE to do this. That I will go crazy if I just sit back and expect others to spread the word about Jessie; to put posters up everywhere; post on the Internet; get her story in the media. NO, it is something that I have to do and I am doing it very well. Just since 2010 has started I have got Jessie's story on a couple of documentaries; in several newspaper articles (in Canada & the USA); had a couple of radio & internet interviews; went to the 19th Annual Women's March and spoke to many other victims and families of victims and media; got together with Deb Noel and Crime Stopper's Mark Price to get an educational program about human trafficking set up to be taken to our local high schools and hopefully it will go even farther - available online or to all schools who want to start a program - this is unreal, like a dream; there are 2 books coming out this year, one written by a reporter from the Las Vegas CityLife, Matt O'Brien, who wrote a few stories about Jessie's case and just finished the body of his book, including Jessie's case; one written by University of British Columbia Professor Benjamin Perrin who is writing a book about human trafficking in Canada and is including Jessie's website & contact info in it - those are HUGE for Jessie's case (and that will make 3 books with Jessie in it - the first one came out in 2007 by Canadian author Lisa Wojna, called MISSING! The Disappeared, Lost or Abducted in Canada);....UMMMM. There is more, I just can't remember off the top of my head. And that is just from January and February. This is the year. Jessie will be found or she will be the poster woman for Human Trafficking in Canada. Maybe around the world, who knows. With Jessie I never think small - with Jessie, the world is here for her, to help us find her or at least bring awareness about her & her case. Jessie did not disappear in vain. We have not all suffered horrendously for nearly 4 years for nothing. I will educate as many people as I can and I will find Jessie - OR DIE TRYING. Not just Jessie's, but also Crystal, Katie & Jennee's mom, Glendene Grant. PLEASE, TO ALL MEDIA: March 29, 2010 is 4 years since Jessie went missing, please help me by printing an article about her case, perhaps including a picture or two. I am available anytime via email or home phone (I do not have a cell phone), PLEASE, call me - continue to help us find Jessie. Help us keep her name, picture and case in the minds of as many people as possible. Thank you very much. Sincerely, Glendene Grant. PHONE: 250-374-6137 EMAIL: glendene@shaw.ca OR: jessiesmom@jessiefoster.ca WEBSITE: www.jessiefoster.ca* reply JESSIE FOSTER Awareness Month Submitted by Admin on 1 March, 2010 - 20:08. Hi Everyone . . . I don't usually email everyone but I have a couple things to make you aware of. Please click ATTEND on both, even though there are not any actual events to attend, it is for awareness and support. Then invite all your friends and repost it for all. Make March JESSIE FOSTER Awareness Month - www.facebook.com/event.php?ei...6888730&ref=mfAND Jessie's 26th birthday & 5th since her being missing - www.facebook.com/event.php?ei...7675608&ref=tsThank you all for your support, Jessie's mom Glendene. @helpfindmychild <<< twitter HFMC Dedicated to helping families find their missing children
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Post by Admin on May 8, 2013 0:14:22 GMT
Jessica Foster December 7, 2009 by Linda Filed under General Missing Since: 03/29/06 Missing from Las Vegas, Nevada Classification: Endangered Missing Date Of Birth: 05/27/84 Age at disappearance: 21 Height: 5′6″-5′7″ Weight: 110-130 lbs. Hair Color: Blonde Eye Color: Hazel Race: White Gender: Female Distinguishing Characteristics: Pierced right eyebrow, several ear piercings, no known scars or tattoos, long hair. Perfectly straight, white teeth. Vegetarian. Jewelry: Ring in the shape of a triangle full of little diamonds, with matching earrings, and a three-diamond princess-cut ring, sometimes wears a dainty nose ring. Nickname: “Jessie” Details of Disappearance Jessie moved to Las Vegas in May 2005, met a rich man, and moved in with him within a month or so. Less than one year later, she mysteriously vanished. Her parents talked to her March 28 and said, “talk to you tomorrow”, but they have never heard from her again. It turns our her rich boyfriend is not a trust fund baby, as he told her and her family; he is actually a violent pimp with an estranged wife, who is a convicted prostitute, and who has many times threatened Jessie and Jessie’s life. The boyfriend was known to beat Jessica, but her family was unable to get her to leave him. They later found out that he was forcing her into the escort business, which was discovered after she disappeared and her family hired a PI. One of the last things that Jessie told her older sister, Crystal, during the last phone call was that she was packing and ready to leave the man. Crystal warned her to make sure he did not find out, but Jessie said she thought he already knew. Her family never heard back from her again. The police do not have any evidence of foul play at this time, but her family believes otherwise. Fingerprints and dental records are available. Family Website Investigating Agency If you have any information concerning this case, please contact: North Las Vegas Police Department Det. Dave Molnar (702) 633-1779 jessiefoster If you have any information on this case please contact CUE Center For Missing Persons using the contact form below or contact Cue Center at (910) 343-1131 24 hour tipline (910) 232-1687.
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Post by Admin on May 8, 2013 0:15:04 GMT
Has Anyone Seen Jessica Foster? uploaded by CJaye September 17, 2008 at 05:43 pm Has Anyone Seen Jessica Foster? by CJaye Name: Jessica Foster Classification: Endangered Missing Adult Alias / Nickname: Jessie, Jessica Taylor Date of Birth: 1984-05-27 Date Missing: 2006-03-28 From City/State: North Las Vegas, NV Missing From (Country): USA Age at Time of Disappearance: 21 Gender: Female Race: White Height: 66 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, caps on teeth. Hair may be dyed brown or have streaks in it and 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 while at her residence in the vicinity of the 1000 block of Cornerstone Pl. in North Las Vegas, NV. Investigative Agency: North Las Vegas Police Department Phone: 702) 633-1773 Investigative Case #: 06-9384 NCIC#: M-535642358
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Post by Admin on May 8, 2013 0:15:43 GMT
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Post by Admin on May 8, 2013 0:16:25 GMT
Human Trafficking is taking front stage - Jessie's case is smack in the middle of it all! PICTURE 1: MP Joy Smith's acceptance speech. PICTURE 2: The award ceremony is named in honour of Glendene Grant and her daughter Jessie Foster who has been missing for more than four years after moving to Las Vegas, Nevada. Jessie’s family believes that she has fallen victim to the crime of human trafficking. ============================================ 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.
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Post by Admin on May 8, 2013 0:17:06 GMT
Mother of possible sex ring victim to speak to Parliament By Tiffany Crawford, Vancouver SunMay 1, 2010 12:06 AM Read more: www.vancouversun.com/news/Mother+....l#ixzz0mfpfCTtmThe mother of a missing Kamloops woman who believes her daughter is caught up in a sex ring is taking her fight against human trafficking to Parliament. Glendene Grant is the mother of Jessie Foster, who has been missing for four years. Grant said Sunday she has been asked by Conservative MP Joy Smith to attend committee meetings in Ottawa later this month for Bill C-268 -- a private member's bill that would set mandatory minimum sentences of five years for anyone convicted of human trafficking anyone under 18. Grant said she will speak to the committee as the mother of a woman who is believed to be a victim of human trafficking. She said the proposed legislation is a step in the right direction. "I think it's really good, but right now it's only for minors, but it has to start somewhere and of course we have to start with kids." Foster was 21 when she disappeared in March 2006, four months after moving to Las Vegas. Last month marked the four-year anniversary of her disappearance. Grant has been unwavering in her attempts to find her daughter, who she believes was targeted because of her attractive appearance. She speaks to high school students about the dangers of being lured into human trafficking and is also starting an organization called MATH -- Mothers Against Trafficking Humans. Grant believes her daughter, who would now be 26, is caught up in a human trafficking ring after the family found out she had been working as a prostitute before she disappeared. "I know she was forced to work as a prostitute. And I know if she could have told us she would have. We were innocent folk who wouldn't assume this type of thing was going on," said Grant. Before she went missing, Foster told her family she was engaged to Peter Todd, a wealthy man who lived in a fancy house in Las Vegas. Grant eventually learned her daughter's fiance was a pimp with a prior conviction for spousal assault, and that Foster was working as a prostitute for an escort agency. She was twice arrested for solicitation in 2005. In March 2006, Foster called home to announce she was coming to Kamloops for a visit in a few days and then going on to Calgary for her stepsister's wedding. She never arrived. March 28, 2006, was the last day Foster was seen alive. Since then, her credit cards and bank account, which had more than $12,000 dollars in it, haven't been touched. The case is still under investigation by the FBI. ticrawford@vancouversun.com © Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun Read more: www.vancouversun.com/news/Mother+....l#ixzz0mfpXoJLJ
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Post by Admin on May 8, 2013 0:18:35 GMT
Mother of missing girl highlights human trafficking By ALYSSA NOEL, Edmonton Sun Last Updated: May 2, 2010 6:31pm A Kamloops mother who believes her daughter was sucked into human trafficking four years ago will be travelling to Ottawa to share her story with Parliament. Glendene Grant’s 21-year-old daughter Jessie Foster disappeared while living with her boyfriend in Las Vegas. Since then, Grant has been shoved into the spotlight as a spokeswoman for human trafficking, a position she has increasingly embraced. Recently, while at the first annual Glendene and Jessie Foster Award ceremony - during which an anti-human trafficking group handed out awards for those who have helped combat trafficking - Grant was approached by Conservative MP Joy Smith. Smith introduced a private members’ bill last January to set a five year minimum sentence for anyone trafficking victims under the age of 18. She wanted Grant to share her story at a committee meeting. “I’m learning it’s not just about Jessie any more, even though that’s my number one goal,” Grant said. “I want her back so much, but she’s one in millions.” While Jessie was an adult when she went missing, Grant said the bill is a first step in the right direction. “You don’t get much higher than talking to (a committee) to help a bill pass in your country that will help other people,” she said. “If these criminals know what will happen to them is (bad), they might think twice about doing a crime.” Jessie, who graduated from high school in Calgary and spent time in Edmonton, decided to go to Las Vegas with her boyfriend in 2005. There she met another man who Grant says was abusive. Soon after she began working as an escort. When she came home for Christmas that year, Grant said she was different. And, suddenly, part way through the visit, she insisted she had to return to Vegas. That March was the last time they were in touch. Now, Grant is working to educate Kamloops students about what trafficking is and the reality for victims. She hopes to soon take her lecture online so schools around the world can use it. “I don’t want to scare everybody and say no one is safe in Canada,” she said. “Our kids are going to be safer if they’re aware.” Grant is still waiting for confirmation from Smith, but expects to travel to Ottawa later this month. alyssa.noel@sunmedia.ca
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Post by Admin on May 8, 2013 0:19:16 GMT
Bill a first step in the right direction -mother Posted By ALYSSA NOEL, QMI AGENCY Posted 1 day ago A Kamloops mother who believes her daughter was sucked into human trafficking four years ago will be travelling to Ottawa to share her story with Parliament. Glendene Grant's 21-year-old daughter Jessie Foster disappeared while living with her boyfriend in Las Vegas. Since then, Grant has been shoved into the spotlight as a spokeswoman for human trafficking, a position she has increasingly embraced. Recently, while at the first annual Glendene and Jessie Foster Award ceremony -- during which an anti-human trafficking group handed out awards for those who have helped combat trafficking -- Grant was approached by Conservative MP Joy Smith. Smith introduced a private members' bill last January to set a five-year minimum sentence for anyone trafficking victims under the age of 18. She wanted Grant to share her story at a committee meeting. I'm learning it's not just about Jessie any more, even though that's my No. 1 goal," Grant said. I want her back so much, but she's one in millions." While Jessie was an adult when she went missing, Grant said the bill is a first step in the right direction. You don't get much higher than talking to (a committee) to help a bill pass in your country that will help other people," she said. If these criminals know what will happen to them is (bad), they might think twice about doing a crime." Jessie, who graduated from high school in Calgary and spent time in Edmonton, decided to go to Las Vegas with her boyfriend in 2005. There she met another man who Grant says was abusive. Soon after she began working as an escort. When she came home for Christmas that year, Grant said she was different. And, suddenly, part way through the visit, she insisted she had to return to Vegas. That March was the last time they were in touch. Now, Grant is working to educate Kamloops students about what trafficking is and the reality for victims. She hopes to soon take her lecture online so schools around the world can use it. I don't want to scare everybody and say no one is safe in Canada," she said. Our kids are going to be safer if they're aware." Grant is still waiting for confirmation from Smith, but expects to travel to Ottawa later this month. alyssa.noel@sunmedia.ca Article ID# 256097
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Post by Admin on May 8, 2013 14:02:13 GMT
APRIL 4, 2011 · 12:59 Jessica Edith Louise Foster – Mondays Missing #1 Anyone who has known me for any length of time knows that I have a thing about missing persons. If I could have a super power it would be the ability to locate missing people. Any missing person be they harlot, child, runaway, axe murderer. I would either bring them home or bring them to justice if I could. I have a hero. She is not Wonder Woman nor Angeline Jolie. She is a mom who has lost her daughter. It has been five years since her child has disappeared. Glendene Grant has never stopped using every means available to her to find her child. She has used WordPress, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc to get the word out to help find her missing girl. She interviews with any and everybody who will listen and tells her story and asks for help. To this day, her heart is torn each time a body is found that may fit the description of Jessie Foster, her daughter. Torn because that body is someones daughter even if it’s not Jessie’s and wondering if finally, her child has been found. Jessie Foster was convicted in Las Vegas of soliciting for prostitution in June 2005. In September (2006), she was charged with four more counts of that offence, investigator Mike Kirkman said. Her Prince Charming was married to a convicted prostitute and he had been found guilty of spousal abuse. Associates of Foster told Kirkman that Peter had beaten her up and that they’d seen the bruises. “I think you can draw your own conclusions as to what he may be,” Kirkman said. “In English, it’s called a pimp.” Peter is the only person police know of in the Las Vegas area to question in connection with Foster’s disappearance, Bedwell said. Peter told The Province he has no involvement with the prostitution business and that he never physically abused Foster. “I don’t give a s–t what the hell they say about me,” Peter said. “When I met Jessica Foster, she was a hooker. So what? To Jessie’s mother, she was her child, her baby girl, a fun, personable, bubbly child that probably never hurt another soul. What she did is not who she was. Picture if this was your child, would it really matter whether she was a prostitute or not? No. Now some neo-nazi-feminist-prohibitionist bitches will say, “Well, what do you expect to have happened? She was a hooker. She was involved in a dangerous ‘profession’.” … If I had a dick I’d tell you to suck it. Why some of you people think that nothing bad will happen to you because you are not employed as a hooker is beyond me. Laci Peterson was not a hooker. Summer Inman was not a hooker. It doesn’t matter to Ms. Grant and it shouldn’t matter to anyone else what Jessie Foster did. A mothers CHILD is missing. Read the links below to find out more about Jessie. Yes her mother is on an anti-trafficking campaign but I don’t want to go there. She definitely has her reasons and even though she is on the opposite side of the issue than I or my peers, I can’t help but to relate to her as a mother. She may be upset that I am talking about her daughter on a hooker blog but honestly there may be readers here that are more likely to have seen/heard/know of something to help this woman than those who read CNN and say, “Ohhh how sad for her.” jessiefoster.blogspot.com/www.myspace.com/findjessiefosterwww.amw.com/missing_persons/brief.cfm?id=60803someoneismissing.com/nevada/jessica-jessie-foster.htmwww.jessiefoster.ca/www.facebook.com/MissingJessieFoster?ref=tsYou can also Google Jessie Foster and find many more articles, websites, and news stories. If ANYONE has any information and are uncomfortable contacting either Ms. Grant or the various law enforcement agencies involved (AMW, NCMP, LVPD, et al) feel free to contact me and I’ll forward the information to someone.
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Post by Admin on May 8, 2013 14:07:40 GMT
Calgary man haunted by hope over daughter Jessie Foster, who went missing in Las Vegas in 2006 5 FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, MAY 07, 2013 06:34 PM MDT | UPDATED: TUESDAY, MAY 07, 2013 06:51 PM MDT Dwight Foster poses with a high school grad photo of his daughter Jessie Foster who went missing in Las Vegas. JIM WELLS, Calgary Sun Article The unanswered question is enough to destroy a life. Perhaps even more than mourning a child, losing a son or daughter and never knowing what happened to them may be the worst nightmare a parent can endure. Questions gnaw inside, until not knowing becomes a cancer that eats your life away. It happened to Dwight Foster, a happy and successful Calgary musician until 2006, when he learned his 21-year-old daughter Jessie had vanished in Las Vegas. Now his guitars are under a pile of junk in the garage, and his amplifiers are fuzzy with a thick layer of dust. “It eats away at you — it’s like an alien living inside your stomach, but instead of bursting through, it just stays there and gnaws at you, and it just never stops,” said Foster. “I barely eat, I rarely go outside, I don’t do anything. I’m 54, but I feel about 70 years old.” A $50,000 reward and private investigators couldn’t buy a clue into what happened to the pretty blonde Canadian woman, who’d fallen in with a bad crowd and a lifestyle of pimps and prostitution. Jessie Foster was last seen on March 29, 2006, and all her family knows is she suddenly stopped calling. A private investigator learned the former Calgarian had been beaten, hospitalized and may have been working as an escort before she disappeared. Foster says his daughter was running around with a rough crowd, and probably upset the wrong person — though some of her family back in Canada believes she was kidnapped, brainwashed and forced into the sex trade. Her dad isn’t convinced the lifestyle was forced upon her. But not knowing Jessie’s fate has ruined Foster’s life. “It has forced me to live with distrust and anger, and she has basically destroyed my ability to get any enjoyment out of life — I haven’t worked since she disappeared, and I’m basically a shut in,” said Foster. “I don’t care to mix with humanity.” Nonetheless, Foster can’t help but take an intense interest over Cleveland, where three women who vanished separately about a decade ago were rescued from a house. “I’m gobsmacked with it. It guts me. Every waking day is a battle to not bury my daughter in my mind,” said Foster. Though an answer to the prayers of the three families involved, he said the news hurts — both because of the glimmer of hope it provides, and because it’s painful clinging to a miracle and what it would mean. “I keep thinking, what would happen if they found her? What if she turns up in a house like that? How would I deal with it — and I don’t know, until it happens,” said Foster. “When she disappeared it was like they opened my head and scooped up all the good in there and replaced it with something foul — and if they found her, she’d never be the same and neither will I.” Police in Cleveland have arrested three brothers after one of the captives made a dramatic escape and alerted neighbours, saying she was the same girl kidnapped ten years ago. Calgarian Sandy Worobeck says the news in Ohio can’t help but make a mom hope just a little — but the reality of a lost child means never hoping too much for anything. “You hope for a small miracle, and I’m glad they’ve got their three daughters back, but you still don’t know. Brad’s been gone five years,” she said. Bradley Michael Worobeck was last seen Jan. 18, 2008, exiting Henry VIII’s pub on Stephen Ave. where he’d gone for an after-work beer. Clean living and friendly, 27-year-old Brad had even called his mom to say he was headed home — but he never arrived, and no trace of the man has ever been found. “I’m not thinking he’ll show up in a house somewhere like that. I just think something horrible happened to him,” said Worobeck. She says just finding Brad’s remains would be enough — to have that chance for closure, even if questions would always remain. “Just finding him, yes — I’m guessing I’ll never know why or what. But even that may never happen.” michael.platt@sunmedia.ca
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Post by Admin on May 8, 2013 14:11:19 GMT
Jessie Foster Missing: Age-Progressed Drawing Released of Suspected Sex Trafficking Victim Posted: 03/26/2012 12:21 pm An age-progressed drawing (left) of Jessie Foster (right) a young woman missing from Las Vegas since March 2006. Coming up on the sixth anniversary of her disappearance, Glendene Grant has released an age-progressed portrait showing what her missing daughter might look like now. Jessie Foster has not been seen since March 29, 2006. According to her mother, Grant, Foster was living in Kamloops, British Columbia, in the spring of 2005, when she began traveling to the U.S. In May 2005, the then 21-year-old ended up going to Las Vegas, Nev. While in Las Vegas, Foster met a man and the two were quickly engaged to be married. The man was reportedly wealthy and the two lived together in a million-dollar home. In 2006, Foster stopped calling her family. Concerned, Grant contacted her daughter’s fiancee and he allegedly said Foster had left him in April 2006. Grant promptly reported her daughter missing to police, but with few clues to follow, the case quickly went cold. With local law enforcement hitting a dead end, Grant hired a private investigator and launched her own investigation. It was during that time that she discovered her daughter had been beaten, hospitalized and forced to work at an escort service before disappearing. "Jessie is known by all who know her as a good girl, a good person and certainly not one to go to another country and work in the illegal sex trade," Grant told The Huffington Post. "Jessie was forced into that life ... and beaten and brainwashed to do as she was told." Today, Foster is considered Canada's most well-known missing human trafficking victim. She has become a poster-child for the crime both nationally and internationally. "Jessie's disappearance has shed so much light on modern-day sex-slavery that it has helped us live with the pain of her being missing," Grant said. "It does not make up for it, but it allows us -- it allows me -- to continue on." The new age-progression drawing of Foster was created by Canadian certified forensic artist Diana P. Trepkov. The portrait shows Foster at age 28. Grant said she hopes the drawing will help generate new leads in the case. Meanwhile, Grant said she will continue to do everything she can to raise awareness about her daughter's disappearance. She is the host of a radio show about the missing and exploited and gives regular presentations on human trafficking awareness at high schools, colleges and organizations that combat human trafficking. "[I'm] never giving up on Jessie," Grant said. Foster is described as 5-foot, 7-inches and 120 lbs., with blonde hair and hazel eyes. Anyone with information is asked to call Las Vegas Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477. Foster's mother also maintains a website devoted to the case, which can be found at jessiefoster.ca. According to the site, a $50,000 dollar reward is being offered for information in the case.
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Post by Admin on May 8, 2013 14:15:34 GMT
'I will never give up on Jessie': Mother's vows to keep searching as sketch is released of what daughter might look like six years after she went missing By LAURA COX PUBLISHED: 02:09 GMT, 27 March 2012 | UPDATED: 02:09 GMT, 27 March 2012 As the sixth year of her daughter’s disappearance looms, Glendene Grant has released a sketch how Jessie Foster likely looks today, in a desperate bid to learn what happened to the 21-year-old. Foster, long feared to have been a victim of human-trafficking, went missing on March 29 2006. She had begun a traveling trip to the U.S. from her home in Kamloops, British Columbia, in the spring of 2005, ending up in Las Vagas in May. Not long after arriving Foster met a man. They got engaged and she moved into his million-dollar home. Then and now: Jessie Foster went missing aged 21 in 2006. A sketch (right) has been release by her mother of what she would likely look like now Foster’s family grew worried when she stopped calling home in early 2006. Grant rang her daughter’s fiancé who told her she had left him in April. Grant reported her daughter missing to police but were few clues to go on and detectives quickly hit a dead end. In desperation Grant hired a private investigator and launched her own investigation. More... Boy, 3, missing from scout camp after helping at clean-up project on bridge Mother vanishes after her two-year-old son is found abandoned in her car What happened to baby Dwight? Cops in frantic hunt for baby missing for nearly a YEAR as mother claims he was with a babysitter She made shocking discoveries, including that her daughter had been beaten, hospitalised and forced to work at an escort service before disappearing. ‘Jessie is known by all who know her as a good girl, a good person and certainly not one to go to another country and work in the illegal sex trade,’ Grant told The Huffington Post. ‘Jessie was forced into that life ... and beaten and brainwashed to do as she was told.’ Today, Foster is considered Canada's most well-known missing human trafficking victim, becoming a poster-child for the crime both nationally and internationally. i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/03/27/article-2120878-125903E0000005DC-841_634x646.jpg Mystery: Jessie Foster's mom, Glendene Grant, launched her own investigation after detectives hit a brick wall. She runs a website dedicated to her daughted (pictured) ‘Jessie's disappearance has shed so much light on modern-day sex-slavery that it has helped us live with the pain of her being missing,’ Grant said. ‘It does not make up for it, but it allows us - it allows me - to continue on.’ The new age-progression drawing of Foster was created by Canadian certified forensic artist Diana P. Trepkov and shows her at age 28. Grant said she hopes the drawing will help generate new leads in the case. Meanwhile, the desperate mom said she will continue to do everything she can to raise awareness about her daughter's disappearance. She is the host of a radio show about the missing and exploited and gives regular presentations on human trafficking awareness at high schools, colleges and organizations that combat human trafficking. She also runs a website with information about her daughter and is offering a $50,000 reward for information in the case. ‘I'm never giving up on Jessie,’ she added. Foster is described as 5-foot, 7-inches and 120 lbs., with blonde hair and hazel eyes. Anyone with information is asked to call Las Vegas Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477. Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2120878/I-Jessie-Mothers-vows-searching-sketch-released-daughter-look-like-years-went-missing.html#ixzz2Si7MBakH Follow us: @mailonline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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Post by Admin on May 8, 2013 14:18:13 GMT
A missing daughter: Jessie Foster's story BY CATHRYN ATKINSON | MARCH 29, 2010 This week will be a busy one for Glendene Grant but she describes it as resulting from "a mother's passion for her child." She will appear on radio and TV, give print media interviews, and talk to anyone who will listen. The Kamloops, B.C., internet technician lost her daughter, Jessie Foster, four years ago, after the 22-year-old disappeared from her home in Las Vegas. Grant has hardly paused in the time since, the trauma of the loss compelling her to reach out in every direction, and across international borders in the effort to locate Foster. "I absolutely can't stop, but I've had some people ask me why I'm wasting my time. It hurts," Grant said. For 10 months after Foster settled in Vegas in 2005, Grant or one of her other daughters would hear from her almost daily via e-mail, phone or text message. Then on March 28, 2006 all contact ceased. If she is still alive, Foster will turn 27 in May. The second oldest of four sisters, she worked at Boston Pizza in Kamloops and later lived with her father in Calgary before starting what was supposed to be a short tour of the United States. Her mother said she had planned to go to college on her return. But she changed her mind, moving to Las Vegas in May 2005 and telling her family she had met a rich man and fallen in love. "She told us she liked it there and wanted to stay, and that he was living off a trust fund. We had no reason not to believe her," said Grant, although she added that she was concerned after finding out that Foster had been residing in the U.S. illegally. For 10 months, Foster regaled her family with stories of the glamour of the casinos and of seeing stars like Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake in restaurants. She came home for a Christmas visit and everything seemed fine. Then, a few months later, she vanished. Dissatisfied and frustrated with the initial police investigation, the family hired a Las Vegas private detective who uncovered the shattering news that Foster had been working in the Las Vegas sex trade. As well, they learned Foster had been arrested twice and her boyfriend was not from a rich family, but had gained his apparent wealth from unknown means. He had an ex-wife who had been arrested for prostitution, and he himself had been arrested for spousal abuse, the private detective said. This was confirmed by North Las Vegas police, who have also said he is not considered a suspect in the case. As the investigation continued, Grant said it became apparent that missing prostitutes do not warrant the same attention as other missing people in the eyes of the police and the news media. She said she has been disappointed by the Las Vegas police response, and that of the FBI, which became involved in Foster's case. "You are not what you do. It was like she was to blame for what happened to her," Grant said. The life-changing experience of having a missing child thrust her into a kinship with the families of other missing people. Initially, the contact was largely with the families of missing Americans since Foster had been lost on U.S. soil. Grant traded information with them, lobbying avidly to get Foster's story on U.S. television -- succeeding with America's Most Wanted and several talk shows including Montel Williams. With her Internet skills, she created websites, as well as Facebook and Myspace pages. The discovery of a woman's remains in Texas in 2008, led to Grant providing a DNA sample, but it wasn't Foster, and so the search continues. By that point, Grant said she come to believe that there was a good chance her daughter had been kidnapped by human traffickers. "The evidence points to this, that she was recruited in Calgary to work in Las Vegas. And there is no body. The more I learn about it, the more I am hoping that we will find her. Politicians and police just need to take this issue more seriously." The focus has shifted a little closer to home over time as Grant met the families of many missing and murdered women in Canada, particularly in British Columbia. She said the opportunity to take part in Canadian events, like the Women's Memorial March in Vancouver in February, has provided a new kind of sustenance. "Jessie has been embraced by this community. Everyone has taken her story to heart and she's just become everyone's kid," Grant said, adding it has helped her to feel less isolated. "At first, my life became something about helping parents of missing children cope, about how you'd get through the day. Now, it's being in touch with forums around the world. Jessie is known around the world. In Canada, I think the issue of human trafficking needs a face and I think that could be Jessie." In April, Grant hopes to be in Toronto for the first Jessie Foster Awards ceremony. The awards, presented to Canadians who assist in the rescue and rehabilitation of women who have been kidnapped and trafficked, are the idea of Timea Nagy of the new anti-trafficking organization Walk With Me. Nagy herself is a survivor of human trafficking. "I asked [Grant] because Jessie is the most famous human trafficking case in Canada, and because this is how I would like to show her, as one survivor to another, that we know about her daughter and this is our way of supporting her in her search," said Nagy. Grant was recently laid off from her tech job with a Kamloops call centre, which closed during the recession, and getting to Toronto may stretch past her budget. But she is determined to go if there is another opportunity to highlight her daughter's case and her life. She also hopes to one day start a non-profit organization to help rural families caught up in human trafficking, saying they are even more isolated than those who live in cities being cut off as they are from services and other help. In the meantime, she works on behalf of Jessie, as she has nonstop for four years. "Jessie needs to come back so we can tell her about everything that has happened. Her sisters have had three babies since she disappeared. I would love to tell her about all the people who became involved, who care. She would be amazed. I can picture her standing in the kitchen, shouting ‘No way! No way!'" Cathryn Atkinson is rabble.ca's news and features editor.
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Post by Admin on May 8, 2013 14:18:53 GMT
A missing daughter: Jessie Foster's story BY CATHRYN ATKINSON | MARCH 29, 2010 This week will be a busy one for Glendene Grant but she describes it as resulting from "a mother's passion for her child." She will appear on radio and TV, give print media interviews, and talk to anyone who will listen. The Kamloops, B.C., internet technician lost her daughter, Jessie Foster, four years ago, after the 22-year-old disappeared from her home in Las Vegas. Grant has hardly paused in the time since, the trauma of the loss compelling her to reach out in every direction, and across international borders in the effort to locate Foster. "I absolutely can't stop, but I've had some people ask me why I'm wasting my time. It hurts," Grant said. For 10 months after Foster settled in Vegas in 2005, Grant or one of her other daughters would hear from her almost daily via e-mail, phone or text message. Then on March 28, 2006 all contact ceased. If she is still alive, Foster will turn 27 in May. The second oldest of four sisters, she worked at Boston Pizza in Kamloops and later lived with her father in Calgary before starting what was supposed to be a short tour of the United States. Her mother said she had planned to go to college on her return. But she changed her mind, moving to Las Vegas in May 2005 and telling her family she had met a rich man and fallen in love. "She told us she liked it there and wanted to stay, and that he was living off a trust fund. We had no reason not to believe her," said Grant, although she added that she was concerned after finding out that Foster had been residing in the U.S. illegally. For 10 months, Foster regaled her family with stories of the glamour of the casinos and of seeing stars like Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake in restaurants. She came home for a Christmas visit and everything seemed fine. Then, a few months later, she vanished. Dissatisfied and frustrated with the initial police investigation, the family hired a Las Vegas private detective who uncovered the shattering news that Foster had been working in the Las Vegas sex trade. As well, they learned Foster had been arrested twice and her boyfriend was not from a rich family, but had gained his apparent wealth from unknown means. He had an ex-wife who had been arrested for prostitution, and he himself had been arrested for spousal abuse, the private detective said. This was confirmed by North Las Vegas police, who have also said he is not considered a suspect in the case. As the investigation continued, Grant said it became apparent that missing prostitutes do not warrant the same attention as other missing people in the eyes of the police and the news media. She said she has been disappointed by the Las Vegas police response, and that of the FBI, which became involved in Foster's case. "You are not what you do. It was like she was to blame for what happened to her," Grant said. The life-changing experience of having a missing child thrust her into a kinship with the families of other missing people. Initially, the contact was largely with the families of missing Americans since Foster had been lost on U.S. soil. Grant traded information with them, lobbying avidly to get Foster's story on U.S. television -- succeeding with America's Most Wanted and several talk shows including Montel Williams. With her Internet skills, she created websites, as well as Facebook and Myspace pages. The discovery of a woman's remains in Texas in 2008, led to Grant providing a DNA sample, but it wasn't Foster, and so the search continues. By that point, Grant said she come to believe that there was a good chance her daughter had been kidnapped by human traffickers. "The evidence points to this, that she was recruited in Calgary to work in Las Vegas. And there is no body. The more I learn about it, the more I am hoping that we will find her. Politicians and police just need to take this issue more seriously." The focus has shifted a little closer to home over time as Grant met the families of many missing and murdered women in Canada, particularly in British Columbia. She said the opportunity to take part in Canadian events, like the Women's Memorial March in Vancouver in February, has provided a new kind of sustenance. "Jessie has been embraced by this community. Everyone has taken her story to heart and she's just become everyone's kid," Grant said, adding it has helped her to feel less isolated. "At first, my life became something about helping parents of missing children cope, about how you'd get through the day. Now, it's being in touch with forums around the world. Jessie is known around the world. In Canada, I think the issue of human trafficking needs a face and I think that could be Jessie." In April, Grant hopes to be in Toronto for the first Jessie Foster Awards ceremony. The awards, presented to Canadians who assist in the rescue and rehabilitation of women who have been kidnapped and trafficked, are the idea of Timea Nagy of the new anti-trafficking organization Walk With Me. Nagy herself is a survivor of human trafficking. "I asked [Grant] because Jessie is the most famous human trafficking case in Canada, and because this is how I would like to show her, as one survivor to another, that we know about her daughter and this is our way of supporting her in her search," said Nagy. Grant was recently laid off from her tech job with a Kamloops call centre, which closed during the recession, and getting to Toronto may stretch past her budget. But she is determined to go if there is another opportunity to highlight her daughter's case and her life. She also hopes to one day start a non-profit organization to help rural families caught up in human trafficking, saying they are even more isolated than those who live in cities being cut off as they are from services and other help. In the meantime, she works on behalf of Jessie, as she has nonstop for four years. "Jessie needs to come back so we can tell her about everything that has happened. Her sisters have had three babies since she disappeared. I would love to tell her about all the people who became involved, who care. She would be amazed. I can picture her standing in the kitchen, shouting ‘No way! No way!'" Cathryn Atkinson is rabble.ca's news and features editor.
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