Kristen rented a room in this house located at 274 Jayne Avenue in Oakland, California. You are going to learn alot about Kristen from reading these chapters. The first thing I want you to know is that with Kristen, 'the light is definately on inside her head.' She is no dummy. A four year academic scholarship to North Carolina State University was awarded to her as she earned a place in the gifted Park Scholarship program. She was a year ahead of classmates in school and was into reading heavy literature. At the time of her disappearance, she was wolfing down Ayn Rand. Her friend, Kevin Wronski told me that being around Kristen was mentally exhausting because her mind was so alive.
Kristen sought out opportunity and adventure. Her family had been to San Francisco a few years earlier and Kristen had been fortunate enough to travel to Russia with her Junior Highschool Chorus Group
Like I said, Kristen Modafferi is no dummy. She breezed through her freshman year in the School of Design at NC State. Kristen and the rest of the Park Scholars were encouraged to plan a summer "adventure" and to share their experiences with their classmates when they returned in the fall. Kristen decided that she wanted to spend the summer in San Francisco, She would find work to support herself and take photography classes at Berkeley. She would be independent and "on her own" in a big city!
She wanted to get her own apartment, and pay her own bills. Kristen was just 17 and already had finished a year of college. This kid was on the fast track of her own accord.
She approached her mom and dad about going to San Francisco for her summer adventure. Although Bob and Debbie were never thrilled with her idea of going 3,000 miles away to such a big city, reluctantly, they gave in to her constant pleadings.
Kristen was a very good child and frankly, the Mod's were rightly proud of her and part of them saw this as a way of supporting their daughter in the dreams she had chosen for herself.
Letting her go is a decision that obviously they wish they could undo.
When she arrived in San Francisco, Kristen found a job at Spinelli's Coffee Shop which was located in the Crocker Galleria in the Financial District. Her hours varied, but generally she worked the 7:00am to 3:00pm shift weekdays at Spinelli's. She also got a job on weekends at the Museum of Modern Art. She only worked there one weekend before she vanished. Her photography classes, which she paid for herseff with $900 of her savings, were scheduled to start on June 24th.
Snapshot
Four year academic scholarship, already completed her freshman year, been to Russia, enjoyed reading literature (outside of the classroom) read the Bible cover to cover and finished Revelations with very few....revelations. She worked two jobs and was going to summer school.
She had just kissed her 18th birthday. Kristen Modafferi was a young woman you could be very proud of.
The police know all of this and that is why they have determined Kristen is not a runaway.
Kristen would walk from her home to the 19th street BART station and take the subway from Broadway and 19th street into the Montgomery Street station in San Fran. This brought her to within two blocks of the Crocker Galleria and Spinelli's coffee.
Graham Desvernine, the first private eye who worked on theis case is a retired FBI agent based in San Francisco. "Dennis", he said to me, "we believe Kristin was an urban explorer. She would get off work at 3:00pm and each night she would go do something different. She was exploring the city."
"Late at night, she would make her way home to Oakland."
To the right is a complete photo itinerary of Kristen's route to work. I posted it here because I want you to see how 'seemingly' safe the area is.
My concern is that she may have been confronted on her way home at night. It is just one of those questions we don't have answers for.
