Bridget Lee Pendell

Being a child of the 60's I can relate to the fascination with travelling the country and being a groupie. The Grateful Dead were just starting out in the Haight Ashbury area of San Fransico back then. Hanging out with the likes of Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane and many others who made that area famous as a hippie haven. I even had big plans in 1969 to travel there with some friends, but that didn't happen for me.

Fast forward and the "Dead" are still travelling around and doing concerts, even though Jerry Garcia is no longer with us. They have attracted another generation of followers, a band of gypsy homeless that live for the day. Drugs are, and always have been, a big part of that scene along with the camaraderie of a pseudo family.

This is the world that Bridget Pendell entered back in the early 90's. She happened upon a bad crowd and began using drugs, giving up her aspirations of modeling and nursing. She was also married and had a daughter, little Sasha.

Her drug addiction led to prostitution in the San Fransico area and that is where she was last seen. Bridget was regular about phoning her family, but since April of 1997 they have heard nothing from her.

Bridget's story is sad beyond belief and I urge you to go to the links at the bottom and read the details of what has been written. Her sister, Jackie Horne, searched and searched for her along with several others over the years, until her early death in 2006 at the age of 29.

Bridget leaves behind her daughter, who is now 16 and a family who loves her. They have never given up hope that she is alive somewhere and have worked with several law enforcement agencies, websites, and detectives.

When trying to find the homeless it leads you to people and places that are a shame to our senses. Every one of them has a story, some do not want to be found, ashamed to go back to their families.

Bridget's street nickname is "Butterfly". As butterflies have an ethereal quality, that is how I imagine Bridget, beautiful, with an air of innocence, living in an ugly world.



http://www.true-ghost-stories.com/HelpGratefulDead.html

http://www.nampn.org/cases/pendell_bridget.html

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/p/pendell-williamson_bridget.html

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/03/21/MNG0755EUS85.DTL

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=140766215

http://www.freewebs.com/bridgetpendell/