Calgary Sun's report on the abduction of the daughter of Kelly Jay from the band Crowbar. It's really interesting.
Thomas S. Thayer
Missing girl was 'asking questions'
Friends in Japan fear the wrath of the underworld
By DON BRAID -- Calgary Sun
Tiffanny Fordham was asking angry questions about a man who died of a drug
overdose just before she disappeared in Japan in 1997.
Jaye Smith, who's helping in the search for the Calgary woman, fears
Tiffanny's crusade might have led to her being kidnapped by the underworld.
Canadian friends who were in Tokyo at the time are themselves afraid to
talk publicly.
But they fear that Tiffanny was snatched and perhaps forced into the
underground sex trade.
No trace of Tiffanny has been found since she stepped into an elevator the
night of Sept 27, 1997.
She'd left all her money and documents in her apartment.
She'd been working as a hostess and dancer in a bar, trying to earn money
to get home.
"A young Australian man had died of a drug overdose and Tiffanny wanted to
know why," says Smith. "She was angry about it and she was asking
questions."
Now the search for Tiffanny is going worldwide.
After I wrote about Tiffanny last week, an Internet site set up to help in
the search had 1,274 "hits" in one day -- way up from the normal average of
100.
Friend of her father, Kelly Fordham, have been searching for her since her
disappearance, mostly through the website (www.find-tiff.com) "The column
really was a great help," says Tom Thayer, who co-ordinates the website from
Ontario.
"Because of your article we are receiving a more offers of help and some
more information about (her) life in Japan."
Calgarian Sue Markowski, who often pounds her computer in good causes, sent
the column to every MP in the House of Commons.
Toronto-based rocker Rompin' Ronnie Hawkins, an old pal of Kelly Fordham,
e-mailed the column to friends and politicians who might help.
Kelly (Jay) Fordman, 58, is a well-known rock musician who wrote the song
Oh What A Feeling when he was with the band.
He now performs in the Calgary area and often tours with Amos Garrett.
Fordham is gratified by all the help.
"It's incredible what people are doing," says Fordham, who wrote the '70s
hit Oh What a Feeling when he was with the band Crowbar. "They're spending
huge piles of their money and doing their level best."
Now he feels a touch of hope for the first time in months.
The attractive blond woman was 28 when she vanished.
Tiffanny's many friends in Calgary and Canmore, where she also lived, knew
her as a charming, helpful and beautiful woman.
She went to Japan after answering an ad from an agency that recruited young
women for jobs as English teachers, tutors and hostesses.
But Kelly Fordham knows the work could easily change into something
shadier.
"I knew she'd been doing something," he says, "maybe table dancing or
something like that.
"She was hungry for money. She and her boyfriend wanted to start a
business. But you know, I don't care what she was doing. I just want her
back. She's grounded, OK?"
Friends confirm that Tiffanny was not just a hostess, but a dancer who was
paid to drink with customers.
Jaye Smith, an old friend of Kelly's who works on the search in Ontario,
has spoken to several young Canadian women who knew Tiffanny in Japan.
"They're all afraid to talk because they fear retribution from the
underworld," she says. "And they do believe the underworld was involved."
The Canadian Embassy in Tokyo, accused by Tiffanny's friends of dragging
its heels, says the police search in Toyko is still active.
"I can assure you that we have not given up on finding Tiffanny," David
Knockaert, of the embassy, says in an e-mail note. "While the bottom line,
unfortunately, is that she remains missing, the Japanese police have been
investigating the case seriously."
Knockaert says the Japanese police "have checked employers, her last place
of residence, (and) her fingerprints against otherwise unidentified remains.
"We produced a large number of posters about Tiffanny which the police had
put up at police stations and police boxes, ran ads in newspapers, and
checked what leads have come to our attention.
"Unfortunately, we have nothing yet."
Kelly Fordham still thinks his daughter is coming home.
"She's going to love all this when she does come to see everyone," he says.
"She's gonna flip and she'll have a story to tell, I'm sure.
"I haven't quite had my heart ripped out yet. I still don't believe it.
She'll be back."
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explain why. Admittedly, I am still getting used to these groups.