Jennifer is originally from Great Falls, Montana. She moved to Missoula, MT shortly before leaving for New Mexico in 1991. On 10/01/1991, Jennifer left her home in Missoula and flew to San Diego, bringing her bicycle, camping gear, and two bibles. She planned to bike from San Diego to Las Cruces, NM, where she was to meet a missionary group and assist the poor, then on to visit Mexico.

Jennifer left San Diego riding her white Fuji mountain bicycle and carrying her backpack. From 10/01/1991 to 10/13/1991 she called her mother eight times, reporting her progress and her ambition to make it into Mexico. The morning of 10/17/1991, Jennifer called her mother for the last time from a Shell service station (which is no longer in operation) on Pine Street in Deming, NM, just 30 miles north of the Mexican border, to say she'd changed her plans. She'd heard that a woman alone in Mexico might be in danger, so she'd decided to go to Minnesota to see a friend. Jennifer's mother offered to pay for her transport there after she made more concrete plans, and Jennifer agreed to call her mother that evening. She never called back, never arrived at the friend's home, and has not been heard from again.

About a year later, on 09/04/1992, two dove hunters found Jennifer's camping gear, bicycle helmet, and journals under a tarp in a remote area between Hatch and Deming off of State Road 26, about 46 miles northeast of Deming. (Information retrieved from NamUs.gov)