Where is Jessie? Kamloops' Canada, Jessie Foster vanished from Vegas five years ago this week
This week marks the fifth year since Jessie Foster was last seen or heard from.
Her mother, Glendene Grant of Kamloops, marked the grim occasion the best way she could — at a conference in the nation’s capital, speaking on the topic of human trafficking.
“I’ve just decided what I do is going to keep me going,” she told KTW prior to her trip to Ottawa.
In the five years since Jessie’s disappearance — the then-22-year-old was last seen in Las Vegas on March 29, 2006 — Grant has gone from a quiet Kamloops mom to a sought-after speaker on the issue of human trafficking.
Jessie’s disappearance is one of the most well-known cases of suspected human trafficking.
Today, Grant works tirelessly to warn others of the dangers of modern slavery, using her daughter as an example.
She has crisscrossed the province and country, speaking to students and organizations on the topic.
In May, Grant will become director of the B.C. chapter of Canada Fights Human Trafficking, a national organization dedicated to helping trafficking victims and bringing awareness to the issue.
“It’s been really hectic,” Grant said, adding she’s always grateful to tell her daughter’s story.
“A lot of people want to hear what I have to say about human trafficking and Jessie.”
She said the next-best thing to having her daughter is helping other young people avoid the scenario that led to Jessie’s disappearance.
Grant believes Jessie was lured to Las Vegas by a boyfriend who eventually forced her into prostitution.
Following Jessie’s disappearance, Grant learned her daughter, who had maintained regular contact with her family, had previously been arrested by Las Vegas police for prostitution.
Jessie was last seen by her boyfriend, Peter Todd, a Jamaican national authorities have labelled a pimp.
As Grant’s thoughts today are mostly preoccupied with her work on human trafficking, not a day goes by in which she doesn’t think about Jessie.
“The worst is living this every day for five years without a break,” she said, still emotional when the topic turns to her daughter.
Despite Grant’s efforts to keep her daughter’s case in the spotlight, making numerous appearance on national and international TV shows, there has been little new information in recent years to lead to any conclusion.
Though others might have given up on seeing their daughter return home alive, that’s not the case for Grant.
“I keep coming back to Jessie coming home one day,” she said, noting she’ll feel that way for the rest of her life until proven otherwise.
“I will not and cannot do it.”
Even though Jessie’s case has grown cold, Grant is pleased with changes in the laws and awareness around the issue of human trafficking.
Last fall, Crime Stoppers partnered with the federal government to introduce the Blue Blindfold campaign in Canada.
Originally launched in the U.K., the goal is to raise awareness of human trafficking by establishing a symbol that is internationally recognized.
Meanwhile, laws on both sides of the border have been toughened up since Jessie was last seen.
It’s those kinds of changes that keeps Grant going through her darker days, which include the month of May, when Jessie was born 27 years ago.
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