“Footprints of Courage reminded me what a difference one voice can make!”
-Lisa Richter

“Jan’s gripping account of her son’s murder is one big cohesive quilt… inspiring, a tear-jerker, humor that warms the heart… most of all, a loving tribute to Chris Jenkins.”
- Deborah Stelfox, Wellness Consultant

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The Book Footprints of Courage
Saving Lives, Sustaining Families…One at a Time

“Footprints of Courage" invites you into our world. I wrote the book to honor our son Chris, and to create value from the impossible horror of missing, murder, and gross injustice. Our seven-year journey blazes a trail for a safer world: stick together, tell the truth, act with courage.

What footprints will you leave behind?”

Suicide?  Accident?  No, Homicide

If Chris Jenkins was allowed to go home with his friends after a 2002 Halloween party at a bar in downtown Minneapolis, he’d be alive today. Tragically, a series of heartless and preventable events forced the college student outside the bar, never to be seen again by those who loved him. His family and friends launched a massive search. 

On February 27, 2003, four months after his disappearance, Chris’s body was recovered from the Mississippi River. Over the next 4 years, Chris’s family took extraordinary measures to force the truth into the light. Originally ruled an apparent drowning, his death was reclassified as a homicide in November 2006 by the Minneapolis Police Department. 

Chris’s disappearance captivated a nation when the public learned that dozens of missing young men in the preceding decade were found in water. While pushing to unravel the mystery of his murder, Chris’s family paved the way for federal involvement in the possible serial homicides of more than seventy victims.

“I definitely don’t believe that all the cases are related, BUT some may be.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan
-People Magazine (May 12, 2008)