Letter from Debra
JANET GAIL
HENRY
America's Most Wanted to air missing women case
By Roxanne Hooper, Staff Reporter, Maple Ridge News, Wednesday, June 30, 1999.
A Maple Ridge woman will be among those featured on America's Most Wanted next month.
Sandra Gagnon is not wanted by the law, nor is she believed
responsible for a crime. She has spent the past two years searching for her younger
sister, Janet Gail Henry. And she's anxious to tell the world of her quest for
information.
Henry was 36 when she disappeared from an East Hastings hotel in
Vancouver on June 25, 1997. She had a drinking and drug problem, numerous health problems
and may have been involved in prostitution.
Gagnon was among several relatives and law enforcement officials
interviewed this month by producers of the television show America's
Most Wanted.
Fox TV network is expected to air a six-minute segment on the
show that profiles the efforts of Vancouver City Police to track down Henry and 22 other
skid row prostitutes who have vanished since 1995.
Vancouver police called together the families of the missing
women last week, for the first time ever, and told them the cases are now being looked at
together, Gagnon told The News.
In the past, police have been dealing with each of the
disappearances separately.
Gagnon said the combining of the cases reinforces one of her
long-time fears that a serial killer might be responsible for the disappearance of her
sister and the other women who went missing from the Vancouver's east side during the past
four years.
Vancouver police say there is no evidence that they are linked.
The news of the national broadcast comes almost two years to the
day after Henry's disappearance, and Gagnon is hopeful it will bring forward some
information.
"I'll never give up until we find her," Gagnon said.
The national coverage of this investigation has also excited
Gagnon's 14-year-old niece, Debra. Debra is clinging to some hope of closure around her
mother's disappearance and possible death: "I am on my knees begging you for
something, evidence, my mom's body, anything. I personally don't like the idea of begging,
but maybe it's the only way."
In a recent letter that she passed on to her aunt, Debra said:
"I don't actually think that all these women's bodies could have disappeared into
thin air. It's not possible. Someone out there must have saw something leading to the
disappearance of one or all of the women."
The segment on America's Most Wanted
is expected to air July 31. In the meantime, there is an information website that has been
set up about the missing women: www.missingpeople.net
Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers at 669-TIPS.
TO EVERYONE
A while ago we had the memorial for all the missing women. At least now I can have some closure but not a lot. I can't say I cried a lot, four or five tears to be exact. You know what? It feels like I've been deprived of my emotions for my mom. It feels like I'm a robot with no feelings, I can't feel her anymore. I do care, a lot, but I don't know.
When mom went missing, I told my friends and they showed some emotion towards me, but today it feels like they've abandoned me. Its like it never happened to them. They don't understand. They don't realize how bad I'm hurting inside. They never stop to ask how I am about all this happening to me. Sometimes it gets to where I need to cry and let all my emotion out, I need someone to hold me and tell me its all gonna be all right. But that shoulder never comes when I need it. I feel a little embarrassed telling you this, but it's true.
If I had one wish, it would be to find my mom alive and say good bye to her if she were to die later. I don't actually think that all these women's bodies could just disappear into thin air. It's not possible. Someone out there must have saw something leading to the disappearance of one or all of the women. Now, so it seems, I am on my knees begging you for something, evidence, my mom's body, anything. I personally don't like the idea of me begging, but maybe it's the only way.
If I could, I'd go down there to Vancouver and try and help find my mom myself. I don't know what I would find if no one else can find any evidence or any bodies. I hope we can find my mom's body, then we could at least put her to rest. It would put everyone to rest knowing that we found her. I also wish that we could find all the other women too. Then we all could be happy, at least a little.
Lately I've been feeling a little on the down side. This is starting to effect me more than I expected. Once in a while I'll feel like I wanna cry, but not always.
This year my school grades aren't as good as last year. Looking back on the three last terms of this year, my grades are slowly slipping down into the seventies. I usually get at least eighty percent. In a way I like it, and in another I don't. You probably think I'm crazy but I don't know why I feel this way. It could be my grades are going down because of my mom's disappearance and I didn't know it.
I also have a different outlook on the meaning of life. I think we should cherish life and not waste it, or cheat death. I don't like it when people have to slowly die. It's like their life is slowly seeping out of them. If mom died, I hope she didn't experience that. I wouldn't have wanted her to shed any tears if she died. I'd want her to be happy. Think of a well lived life and not a poorly lived one.
If I didn't have the Lord in my life right now, I don't think I could have made it this far. I have to give him credit for my making it through this. I'm very thankful for having him in my life. Without him I don't know what would have happened to me.
And mom, if I ever see you again, I just want you to know that I do love you even though you did have some problems. Nothing could ever change that. I'll always love you no matter what.
Love: Debra
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