TOP STORY Kamloops Daily News
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
City woman
missing in Vegas
missing in Vegas
 |
| JIM HOFLIN hugs Jennee Grant, while mom Glendene Grant, background, stands in the kitchen of their Kamloops home Monday, worried about their other daughter Jessica Foster, 21. At left is a graduation picture of Jessica from 2002. At far left are family members, at bottom, sisters Katie Grant, 19, Jennee Grant, 16, and mom, Glendene Grant, and, at top, sister Crystal Foster, 23, and Hoflin. Jessica is shown in a photo with sister Crystal. |
The family of a missing Kamloops woman fears she may havefallen in with the Las Vegas underworld.
“She had been seeing a guy in Florida but left him anddecided to go to Las Vegas. She liked it and decided to stay,” Glendene saidMonday.
She sat in the kitchen of her Dominion Street home wearinga heart-covered shirt Jessie made for her when she was a little girl. Crystaland Jennee sat beside her. Glendene and Crystal spoke nervously, explaining thedetails behind Jessie’s disappearance three weeks ago.
Jessie met a man shortly after arriving in Las Vegas. Hehad a steady supply of money and a lifestyle full of fast cars and all-nightparties. This was an attractive lure for her daughter, Glendene said.
Jessie would call either Glendene or Crystal three times aweek. She sometimes talked about violent arguments with the man. The callsended abruptly March 27.
Glendene made repeated calls to a man who maintained thatJessie packed up and moved out without warning.
Jessie’s father, Dwight Foster of Calgary, hired a LasVegas private investigator to track down his daughter. Files have been openedwith Kamloops RCMP and the North Las Vegas Police Department, Glendene said.
Mike Kirkman, an investigator with Las Vegas Detectives,said he has learned Jessie’s boyfriend may be a pimp separated from his wife, a known prostitute. 
The man has a past conviction for domestic violence against the wife, who allegedly threatened Jessie on numerous occasions, Kirkman said ina telephone interview.
Kirkman, a retired police officer, said he believes Jessieis in a situation she has no way of getting out of, he said.
“I think she’s fallen in with the wrong crowd and I haveserious concerns that she’s in big trouble,” he said. 
“When you’ve got a young girl who is 21 years old runningin the wrong crowd, they think they know the world but they don’t. They don’trealize how tough people in this industry can be.”
Kirkman and the police department have questioned the man,who has since put his house up for sale and “gone on vacation in California,”he said. Foster said he’s worried sick about Jessie. He witnessedher side of the relationship with the man when she stayed with him in Calgary afew months ago.
The man called Jessie 30 to 40 times a day. Many of thecalls ended in furious arguments, he said.
Foster called the man after Jessie disappeared. The mantold him she had left “because she got a better deal,” he said.
Glendene doesn’t want to believe her daughter has fallen inwith pimps and prostitutes.
“This isn’t Jessie’s lifestyle. She would not not call us,”she said and placed her head in her hands.
“This doesn’t make sense. I can’t keep my thoughtsstraight. It’s all screwed up.”
Jessie grew up in Kamloops and graduated from Kam High, nowSouth Kamloops secondary. Glendene knows her daughter has kept in touch withher old friends and hopes she may have contacted one of them.
“She has friends on MSN and Hotmail, friends she’s had foryears. We’re hoping people may have heard or seen something,” she said.
Crystal said her sister would talk to her about anything,even stuff she wouldn’t tell her parents. She believes Jessie would call if shecould.
“Even if it was something she was ashamed of she wouldcall,” Crystal said.
A spokesperson with the North Las Vegas Police Departmentcould not be reached for comment.
© Copyright The Daily News in Kamloops
No comments:
Post a Comment