Jessica Edith Louise Foster (born May 27, 1984), is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

woman who disappeared in the

Las Vegas Valley The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the second largest in the Southwestern United States. The state's largest urban agglomeration, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Statistical Area i ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

, United States, in 2006. Her parents are Glendene Grant and Dwight Foster. Jessie Foster had spent some time living in Calgary,

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. In 2005, Foster and a friend of hers visited

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

together, and then stopped by Las Vegas on the way back in May where Foster decided to stay. Before disappearing the following year, Foster became involved in prostitution, was arrested once for solicitation, and was the victim of

battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

on several occasions.

Investigation

Foster was one of four sex workers who disappeared in Las Vegas between 2003 and 2006. The bodies of the other three have been found. The Las Vegas Police Department launched an investigation of a person in question, bringing in a forensic scientist to spray

luminol Luminol (C8H7N3O2) is a chemical that exhibits chemiluminescence, with a blue glow, when mixed with an appropriate oxidizing agent. Luminol is a white-to-pale-yellow crystalline solid that is soluble in most polar organic solvents, but insolub ...

onto surfaces at crime scenes to detect invisible blood stains; but found nothing at his property, nor has he been interrogated on her disappearance. Benjamin Perrin of

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, received a

George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature The George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature is a literary award given to a British Columbian author "who has achieved an outstanding degree of social awareness in a new book published in the preceding calendar year." The prize was creat ...

nomination for having written '' Invisible Chains'', a book that prominently deals with human trafficking, and includes the disappearance of Jessie Foster. The documentary ''Trafficked No More'', features her story and led to some tips to her whereabouts. On July 26, 2015, the ''

Calgary Sun The ''Calgary Sun'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is owned by Postmedia. First published in 1980, the tabloid-format daily replaced the long-running tabloid-size newspaper ''The Albertan'' soon after it was ...

'' reported police are investigating if Neal Falls, a man killed on July 18, 2015, in Charleston,

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

, may be responsible for the four Las Vegas killings, including Foster.

Aftermath

Her mother, Glendene Grant (born 1957) founded Mothers Against Trafficking in Humans following her daughter's disappearance. She hosted an

internet radio Online radio (also web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio, IP radio, Internet radio) is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted ...

show on

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through Dreamcatchers for Abused Children, and has hosted such guests as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

Joy Smith and Bobby Brown of '' Dog the Bounty Hunter'' fame. She lives in Kamloops,

, Canada. She had a

common-law marriage Common-law marriage, also known as non-ceremonial marriage, marriage, informal marriage, or marriage by habit and repute, is a legal framework where a couple may be considered married without having formally registered their relation as a civil ...

with Dwight Foster, but they later separated. The last time that Grant saw her daughter was

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

2005. Grant Foster believes that their daughter became an unwilling victim of human trafficking, and that she thereby became a sexual slave. Grant therefore created almost a dozen websites advertising the disappearance of her daughter. In an effort to find her daughter, Grant has gotten in touch with the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

bounty hunter A bounty hunter is a private agent working for bail bonds who captures fugitives or criminals for a commission or bounty. The occupation, officially known as bail enforcement agent, or fugitive recovery agent, has traditionally operated outsid ...

prostitutes Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws ...

s, and

private investigator A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI and informally called a private eye), a private detective, or inquiry agent is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigators of ...

s. On the 15th Anniversary of the disappearance of Jessie Foster, Jessie's mother, Glendene Grant sat down with AU4H Radio - Real Talk hosts Donna Kshir, Lee Roberts and Laurie Ann Smith to discuss in depth Jessie's disappearance and why she believes her daughter was sold into sex trafficking. Grant told the Real Talk hosts that the investigation into Jessie's disappearance could have been handled much differently and 'she feels like the lead detective in Jessie's case.' Grant believes if proper measures had been taken by the northern Las Vegas Police Department following Jessie's disappearance there may have had a different outcome and her daughter maybe home by now.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Jessie 1984 births Canada–United States relations 2000s missing person cases 2006 in Nevada 20th-century Canadian people 20th-century Canadian women 21st-century Canadian people 21st-century Canadian women Canadian expatriates in the United States Canadian female prostitutes Crimes against sex workers in the United States Human trafficking in the United States Missing person cases in Nevada Events in Las Vegas Prostitution in Nevada Living people History of women in Nevada Violence against women in Nevada

Investigation

Aftermath

See also

References