A forensic sketch of Jessie Foster as she may look now.
Image Credit: Diana Trepkov
March 05, 2016 - 9:00 PM
KAMLOOPS - It started with Jennifer Grant writing down the dreams she had about her missing sister Jesse Foster.
Now Grant is working to self publish a book exploring what her sister’s life might have been after her family lost contact with her.
“Everyone asks all the time what I think happened. It’s impossible to tell you” Grant says. “Now it’s not.”
Grant was 16-years-old when her sister went missing in Las Vegas nearly 10 years ago. Foster is still missing and her family believe she was sold into a human trafficking ring.
After her sister’s disappearance she started having dreams about the life Foster might be living, she says. Foster was a major source of strength when she was younger, Grant says, and the dreams helped her hold on to her sister.
“I really did enjoy those dreams, I felt that was my connection to my sister,” she says.
About a year ago she decided to write the dreams down. Initially not intended for a book, she says she was just writing everything, but the idea for book idea eventually took hold.
Grant says the book will start with the non-fiction story of Foster’s childhood in Kamloops and her move, at 17 years of age, to Calgary. It will then transition to after she went missing. It will be told from Foster’s point of view, inspired by Grant’s dreams.
“It’s just what I believe happened to her. It’s what I feel happened to her,” Grant says. “It’s been very emotional. It’s been really hard. There were times when I was sick to my stomach; there were times it made me feel better.”
Particularly hard was the ending, Grant says, which she still isn’t sure how to deal with, since Foster is still missing.
“I felt like I couldn’t write that she came home because she isn’t home,” she says.
As an addendum, Grant wrote an open letter to her sister, in the hopes she might read it.
“It’s everything I wanted to say to her. I’ve had three daughters since she went missing,” she says
The project has Grant holding 275 pages of typed transcript, which she wrote freehand whenever she had free time, including late nights when her children were in bed or days when she could run to a Tim Hortons for a couple hours. She’s nearing the end of the manuscript and is looking to publish the work.
She found a company online which specializes in self-publishing and plans to print 300 copies. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help her pay for the project.
“I have three children, I can’t finance it right now,” she says.
Grant says the support from her family, friends and through social media, along with the donations so far, have been more than she expected.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Brendan Kergin at bkergin@infonews.ca or call 250-819-6089. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2016