JAY — The family of 27-year-old Jordann Bessey is concerned for her safety and wants to make sure she is OK.

She left her grandmother’s house in Jay on Sept. 11 under the guise of going to college classes and has not returned, her mother, Pam Murphy of Lewiston said Friday.

Bessey, a 2008 graduate of Lewiston High School, has significant mental health issues and does not have her prescribed medication or any money, Murphy said. She didn’t take many clothes, just enough for a couple of days, and no winter clothing.

Bessey, who attended Jay schools through ninth grade and then went to Lewiston, has texted with her mother off and on after she left.

Murphy said her daughter stopped texting on Sept. 20 when she told her mother she was in class and would call her later.

After about a week of no contact, Jay police were alerted.

Police were notified on Sept. 25 and sent out a missing-person alert, and an attempt to find Bessey and a rental car she was driving was put out across the United States. She was driving a silver 2014 Ford Fiesta with the license plate RNT-IT60, Police Chief Richard Caton IV said.

Police in Bradford, Vermont, found the car in a store parking lot Sept. 28 and did a well-being check. They found her not to be a danger to herself or others and couldn’t hold her, Caton said.

A family member helped her get the rental car from Jim’s Auto in Auburn, Murphy said.

Before the family could reach Bessey in Vermont, she was gone.

The alerts were taken down but reactivated on Oct. 5 when Jay police learned more about Bessey’s mental health situation, Caton said. Cpl. Jeffrey Fournier is working on the case. Anyone who has come in contact or knows where she is is asked to call Jay police at 897-6766.

Jay police did some checking and discovered that Bessey had never registered with the college she told her family she was attending.

“At this point, we just want to make sure Jordann is OK,” Murphy said. “We are so concerned for her safety.”

Murphy said her daughter will present as someone who is completely normal and can hold a very intelligent conversation, so people may have no indication she is not well. 

Though family members believe she planned her disappearance, “we do not believe she is stable and she wouldn’t do this if she was,” her mother said.

“She doesn’t believe anything is wrong, so why fix something that is wrong, which concerns me even more because I am not sure how to make someone get the help they need,” she said.

“Because she is not a minor, our hands are tied and there is nothing we can do,” Murphy said. “I had hoped that because she has an official diagnosis, things could be easier for us to help her, but it clearly doesn’t matter. It’s so frustrating and so unbelievably sad.

“I know my Jordann is only one of so many who live with mental health issues, and it’s truly heartbreaking to know so many individuals and their families have to live through what we are living through. We all hope every day that she calls us.”

dperry@sunjournal.com

The family of Jordann Bessey, 27, of Jay is searching for her to check on her safety. She is described as being 5 feet tall, weighing about 100 pounds, with brown eyes and blond hair. Her hair may be darker now, said her mother, Pam Murphy of Lewiston. She also may be wearing glasses. (Facebook photo)

The family of Jordann Bessey, 27, of Jay is searching for her to check on her safety. She is described as being 5 feet tall, weighing about 100 pounds, with brown eyes and blond hair. Her hair may be darker now, said her mother, Pam Murphy of Lewiston. She also may be wearing glasses. (Facebook photo)