She Hopped the Fence

Jennifer Casper-Ross, then 30, used her friend’s cell phone to call her father in Las Vegas, Nevada, at around 5 am. She told him she wanted to come for visit, then she took a cab the Reno-Sparks Cab Company on Gentry Way in Reno, Nevada.

In the early hours of that May 5, 2005 day, Jennifer’s husband came home, found her drunk, and saying that she needed to leave. She had her belongings and family photos packed.

For whatever reason, she took off on foot from her Oakhurst Avenue home for the Peppermill Hotel and Casino on South Virginia Street. There, staff and guests would tell detectives that Jennifer arrived already intoxicated and that she had marks on her wrists and arms.

The cab company was where her mother would have normally been working the graveyard shift, but unfortunately for Jennifer, she had the day off. When she learned her mother was not there and being only a mile from home, Jennifer left the building, when behind it and jumped over a fence.

That’s the last time anyone has seen Jennifer.

An employee of the cab company would later find Jennifer’s broken high heels in the company’s parking lot. And her husband would report her missing that day.

At 15-years-old Jennifer was an already gifted ballerina, performing in local community events in her hometown of Pocatello, Idaho. By age 19, she’d earned a spot in Gregory Thompson’s Productions as a dancer at Harrah’s Reno Casino and Hotel in Reno.

In March 1999, she married Sean Ross, who mixed the sound and operated the spotlights during Jennifer’s performances. Four years later, the pair welcomed their son.

Jennifer was also University of Nevada-Reno student, who had majored in veterinary medicine but switched to bio-medical engineering. She was awarded the NASA national space grant college and fellowship program in 2000 and was a year away from completing her degree.

But by 2005, Jennifer’s life had begun to spin-out-of-control after she broke her tailbone practicing for a show, followed by the lost her job at Harrah’s. After being fired, she began giving ballet lessons and moonlighting as an exotic dancer.

Jennifer was also struggling with a continuing case of postpartum depression and would later be diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Having been hospitalized several times, her marriage had also begun falling apart.

In the early stages of the investigation, Sean found two bloodied notes inside the couple’s home, which indicated that Jennifer hoped Sean would continue to care for their son if anything ever happened to her. DNA and handwriting analysis confirmed that Jennifer wrote the notes and that it was her blood.

Jennifer had attempted suicide and had gone missing before for several days at a time, though never for long. This aside, detective’s have not been able to establish when the notes were originally written.

At first, Jennifer’s husband, Sean cooperated with the investigation, but after failing a polygraph test, didn’t return for a second interview. Three months following Jennifer disappearance, he filed for divorce and moved to San Diego, California.

Jennifer is a White female,  5’9″, 130 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. Her ears are double-pierced, has a navel-piercing and a tattoo of the initials ‘J.G.’ on her left foot.

If you have any information about this case, please call the Reno Police Department at 775-334-2121.