14th ARTICLE: Ex-roomie 'shocked' Calgarian missing

Mon, May 1, 2006

Ex-roomie ‘shocked’ Calgarian missing

She just left / Las Vegas man puzzled about what happened to missing Calgary woman

by Sarah Kennedy, Calgary Sun

CALGARY -- Jessica Foster didn't seem to be in any trouble in Las Vegas before she vanished, says a man who lived with her.

James Todd said Foster had been dating his twin brother Peter and lived with them in Las Vegas before she disappeared more than a month ago.

"It's pretty sad the way she just left and no one seems to know where she went," he said. "I've been asking myself since this started, where is she? And why hasn't she contacted anyone?"

James said he hasn't heard from Jessica in more than a month and as far as he knows, neither has his brother.

While living with Todd for almost a year, Foster, 21, had daily contact with her father Dwight in Calgary and her mother Glendene Grant, who lives in Kamloops, B.C.

But communication completely stopped in late March.

Foster's phone records show she's made no calls and there's been no money taken from her bank account.

Dwight and Grant hired private eye Mike Kirkman to hunt down the missing woman in Sin City.

He discovered the disturbing news that the once straight-A student from a loving family had been working as a prostitute in Vegas and was, at one point, beaten so badly she was hospitalized.

James said when he moved in with the couple in order to save money to get his own place, he had no idea what Foster did for a living.

"My assumption was that she was a stripper," he said.

"I'm shocked but this seems to be a quick way to make a buck in Vegas and I'm not going to pass judgment on what she chose to do for a living."

James said he kept to himself while living with the tumultuous couple. "Jessica and Peter had a lot of arguments and that's not the environment I want to be in," he said.

Along with Kirkman, Las Vegas police are also investigating the situation.