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By Jay Conley Loved ones and co-workers of Tina Foster are in disbelief that the 20-year-old Bedford County woman is dead. With aspirations of fame and fortune, Tina Foster thought about becoming a model. Her best friend, Jenniee Morris, hoped for a singing career. The Bedford County women, both 20, accompanied each other on singing or modeling auditions, partly for safety reasons but also because they liked spending time together. Like most young adults, they were excited about their future and confident they could handle what lay ahead. That confidence was shattered Friday when Foster, a waitress at Hooters, was found dead from a head wound in her car in the parking lot of a Roanoke motel. She had been missing since Jan. 29, the day her parents say she went to meet a man in the parking lot at Hooters on Williamson Road. The unidentified man had offered to pay $200 for 10 modeling photographs. Morris, who was to have accompanied Foster, begged off at the last minute because she was feeling ill. Now, news of the tall, brown-haired Foster's mysterious killing has sent tremors through the lives of those who knew her. They have a hard time accepting that the sweet, normally careful and hard-working young woman would have agreed to pose for photographs with a man she hardly knew, or that she would have gone alone to meet him. "I wouldn't believe she would ever have done anything like that," said Gina West, Morris' mother, who knew Foster since the two girls became friends as ninth-graders at Staunton River Middle School. "Tina would have never, ever gone into a hotel room with a stranger." Morris, who couldn't have known the tragedy that would take place, was the last person to speak to Foster. Morris remembers that Foster seemed bothered that night, possibly because of the prospect of meeting the stranger. Morris said when Foster called, she said she was going to pay the man for the photos, so Morris figured he had already taken them. Now Morris said their last phone conversation seems surreal. The two shared a normal childhood as they grew up together, West said. There were the weekend sleepovers, movies, Backstreet Boys concerts and trips to the mall and local restaurants. "Tina spent a lot of time over here," West said. "She was the most homey girl. She would just as soon stay in and watch a movie as do anything." Foster grew up in Goodview and was a cheerleader at Staunton River High School. Morris, from Vinton, decided her junior year at Staunton River that she was going to be a singer and joined the choir. The two learned to drive a stick shift together after receiving their driver's licenses. After graduation in 1998, Foster worked as a kennel assistant at the Smith Mountain Lake Animal Hospital near Hales Ford Bridge and rented a small apartment above it. "She was as sweet as could be. It's just devastating," said veterinarian Cindy DeMarco, the hospital's owner. Foster also worked at the Vinton Veterinary Hospital in October and November, but resigned because she found it difficult to be around animals who had to be put to sleep. "She was just a terrific kid, quiet and reserved, a good worker," said Dr. Gerald Buckland, a veterinarian at the hospital. Foster quickly became fond of a stray Jack Russell terrier, Sam, who had been brought to the hospital. She adopted the dog. Serena Jenkins of Moneta met Foster last summer when they worked together at R.T.'s Restaurant in Bridgewater Plaza, where Foster was a waitress. The two became fast friends and roommates for the summer. "She was always real happy," Jenkins said. "We hung out a lot together. We'd go to R.T.'s on karaoke night and sing and have a lot of fun." Jenkins saw Foster less after she started working at Hooters, but they kept in touch. Jenkins isn't sure why Foster would go meet a stranger alone. Jenkins said she knows of times when Foster backed out of modeling auditions if she couldn't find a friend to go along. "I still can't believe this has happened," said Jenkins. "Even when I heard about it Friday night, I was praying that she would still show up." On Wednesday, West, her daughter and three more of Foster's friends will drive to Pennington, N.J., for Foster's funeral and burial. Foster's father is from New Jersey, and relatives are buried there. West said her daughter has been inconsolable over the weekend. "We're just trying to hold it all together," West said. "And I'm just scared to death. I hope they find who did this. ... I've never felt afraid here. I was born in Roanoke. And now I feel like my security blanket's gone." |