Investigative Efforts

In January 2004, I heard about an article published in the San Francisco Chronicle about homelessness in the San Francisco area. This five part series followed several San Francisco residents through their personal struggles as members of the homeless community. Kevin Fagan's writing provide a premise by which to experience the sad existence of these individuals and their struggle to survive.   Further, the photographic images captured the human element of a problem so apalling to the genral public that they typically cringes at the sight.  In no time, I contacted Kevin & Brant in hopes that one of the many homeless they had come into contact with was my sister.

After a few telephone conversations, Kevin suggested that my search for Bridget would make a good story.   I arrived in San Francisco a few weeks later.

Over 500 missing persons flyers were distributed among the homeless community.

We were able to find many people who shared information with us about my sister.  Some of the information was older, but still helpful in the sense that we knew she had been in the city within the past few years.  Some of the information was the product of serious mental illness and some was clearly coated with sympathy and was provided out of the individual's desire to help.   

There is a fact that I must share in order to give you an idea of how receiving the homeless were of me.  Not one homeless person attempted to hustle me, I wasn't solicited for money or even a single cigarette.  Every person we spoke with stopped everything they were doing, anywhere they were going and gave me, Kevin, Debbie, and Brant their undivided attention.  In some odd way, the attitude(s) and atomosphere not only gave me new insight into homelessness, but more importantly, I felt comforted by the fact that my sister is or once was a member of a caring and relatively close knit community.    

As my trip came to a close, just three days after it started, I felt as if we made a lot of headway.  We hadn't found Bridget, but I knew it would take time.  A few calls came in as a result of the missing flyers we distributed some of which allowed us to eliminate sightings of another homeless female which many people believed to be Bridget.

Just four weeks after returning home, Kevin Fagan and Brant Ward had brought together images and a story that would likely to be the key to finding Bridget. 

(PLEASE SEE THE FOLLOWING PAGE TO READ THE STORY IN ITS ENTIRETY OR CLICK THE LINK BELOW)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/03/21/MNG0755EUS85.DTL