Who: Jesokah Adkens, 17
What: Missing
When: 9:30 p.m., Sept. 26, 2001
Where: Bus stop near Saseenos Elementary School, 6066 Sooke Rd.
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It's a losing battle most days; if the deer don't get the flowers, the elements do.
But Jocelan Adkens, 48, keeps trying, keeps searching for something that will grow at the spot where her daughter vanished seven years ago today.
"I try to make it there twice a week for watering for sure," she says. "It gets pretty shabby fast in that hot sun."
Lately, she's had success with pansies and daisies next to the bus stop at Saseenos Elementary School, 6066 Sooke Rd. The flowers circle the base of a sign that reads: In Memory of Our Good Friend Jesokah.
The blond, blue-eyed 17-year-old was last seen at the bus stop about 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2001. She had left a friend's place and was headed to the house she shared with a roommate about two kilometres away in the village of Sooke.
Jesokah Adkens was never seen again.
Police and her parents immediately suspected foul play. The Edward Milne Community School student left her knapsack and identification at her house, as well as her beloved German shepherd pup, Daphne.
"I think it's pretty obvious," said Clayten Adkens, Jesokah's father.
The RCMP called in reinforcements, a tracking dog, a helicopter and a dive team to assist with the search, but never found any sign of the slight teenager, who weighed 110 pounds and stood five feet five inches tall. She was last seen wearing a black pullover jacket, blue jeans, black running shoes and a Doors T-shirt.
Over the years, investigators have continued to interview people, checked other cases for possible links, and pursued hundreds of leads.
Sooke RCMP Staff Sgt. Roger Plamondon said police remain committed to finding Jesokah and will follow up every tip, including one that arrived as recently as this week. A poster hanging in the detachment reminds officers every day that the case remains open, he said.
Pam Manson, a former counsellor at Edward Milne, said she can still see Jesokah standing in her door way asking for a moment of her time.
"I never, never met anyone quite like Jesokah," she said. "The school system wasn't the right system for her. She was intelligent and she was sweet and all those lovely things, but sitting in a classroom in the regular school system did not work for Jesokah."
Still, she had great friends and Manson figures Jesokah might have found her stride soon enough at Edward Milne, but disappeared too soon.
"I wish she would just show up one day and say, 'Wah-hoo, I'm here,'" she said. "But I don't think that's terribly likely.
"Somebody knows [what happened]," Manson said, "and that somebody needs to have a conscience."
Clayten Adkens, 52, said he would give anything to know the truth. "They could have everything I own just to get this straightened out," he said.
To be the parent of a missing child is to be in a constant state of limbo. You agree to talk about your daughter's case in the hope that someone, somewhere will finally come forward and tell you where she is. But to talk about her takes you "back into that dark deep hole again," Clayten said.
You're buoyed by the fact your daughter's missing poster hangs in stores across the country, yet sickened that it has to exist at all.
You want to stay in the same house and never move away in case "they walk down the driveway once again," Jocelan said. "But you don't want to be here, because everything you see brings it all back."
"A lot of things are up in the air right now with us, because of this," Clayten said. "Who knows what the future brings? We may move on, we may not. We don't know. We're really in limbo right now. We don't know whether we're coming or going half the time."
Few days are more difficult than Sept. 26.
"I just try to avoid the day," said Clayten, who is still trying to find a way to cope with his daughter's disappearance.
"You don't cope with it. Because your lungs breathe and your heart pumps, you just carry on."
Lindsay Kines can be reached at 250-381-7890 or lkines@tc.canwest.com.
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COLD CASES
SPECIAL REPORT: PART FIVE OF SIX
During this week, Times Colonist reporters Rob Shaw and Lindsay Kines will highlight several unsolved cases of missing or murdered people from the Island, and examine new techniques being used to solve old crimes.
Monday: How a young North Vancouver mother of two ended up strangled to death on the Island 24 years ago.
Tuesday: The baffling disappearance of 17-year-old Carmen Robinson.
Wednesday: How a mysterious call from "Mr. Murdoch" ended in murder.
Yesterday : Why detectives hope playing cards hold the key to cracking a 20-year-old murder of two Oak Bay High school grads in Washington.
Today : Minutes after his routine physical at CFB Esquimalt, a strapping 17-year-old cadet was found lying near Admirals Road with a severe injury.
Tomorrow: In 1958, Tommy (Babe) Price was dumped in the ocean with a broken neck, and an axe wound to his head. He was just 13.
Missed a story? Read the series online at timescolonist.com.
Have a tip? If you have information that might help solve these cases,
you can reach Lindsay Kines at 250-381-7890 or lkines@tc.canwest.com and Rob Shaw at 250-380-5350 or rfshaw@tc.canwest.com.
