Natalee Cramer, now 18, discusses her kidnapping and sex trafficking experience so that others can learn from her.

On April 08, 2022, when she was 15, she and her father were attending a Dallas Mavericks game at the American Airlines Center.

Natalee and her dad were having a good day. She admits she often struggled with anxiety and coped by using marijuana and alcohol. She started feeling anxious in the first quarter of the game, so she told her dad she need to use the restroom. Instead, she just walked around the event center, caught the eye of a strange man, and told him she wanted to smoke some marijuana.

He said he had weed in his car, so she walked with him to the garage. Another man showed up. They gave her the marijuana, but then they put her in their car and drove her away.

Eleven days later, a police officer in Oklahoma City rescued her from what investigators determined was a sex trafficking ring.

Natalee shares her story so people understand this did not happen in a dramatic, television-show way where a "young girl is grabbed walking down the street by men in a big black limo".

As Natalee states, "It's not like a guy with candy in the back of his van and you just get thrown in the back of the van," she said. "It looks like a normal conversation until it's not. You don't know you're in danger until you're in the middle of it and you don't know what to do and you can't get out. There's no room to judge people because they can't get out. If they could leave, they would."

"I was raped by them," she said. "I knew I was in danger by then, but I did not know how to leave because I was scared. I could have asked for the phone, but they would have been right there. What was I supposed to do? Even if I had run, where would I go? I didn't know where I was."

At the time of her disappearance, her father told a Dallas Police officer working the game. The officer said the dad had to report Natalee as a runaway to the police department 30 miles away where the family lived.

Natalee's parents were referred to a private investigator in Houston who specializes in these types of cases. Within minutes, he was able to find online sex ads featuring photos of Natalee. The photos were traced to Oklahoma City, the Oklahoma City Police Department was told, and officers searched there, finding her walking outside an apartment complex.

Her parents have sued the owners of a hotel where she was held for a time. Surveillance images there showed Natalee in the hallways, accompanied by men with assault rifles. Natalee reports families with children staying there would "just walk on by" when they saw the men with the guns with her "like nothing happened".

Multiple people were arrested, charged and later sentenced in Oklahoma for their involvement in trafficking Natalee there. The family continues to pursue justice against men in Dallas.

Meanwhile, the family has founded an organization to provide support and resources for survivors of sex trafficking and sexual assault. The group has already started training teams that work in child welfare, particularly people who work with children and teens who are going through a hard time. 

Morgan Young "'You don't know you're in danger until you're in the middle of it" https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/dallas-county/teen-sex-trafficking-survivor-who-disappeared-from-mavs-game-speaks-out/287-12dd9557-04db-4de0-ae1a-05804222f432 (Sept. 03, 2024).
 

Commentary and Checklist

Sex trafficking victims can come from any neighborhood, socio-economic status, and they can be of any race, age, or gender. They may be struggling or high-functioning people.

Trafficked children depend on adults reporting unusual, suspicious behaviors. Consequently, the best way for safe adults to help them is to be observant. 

Here are some of the behaviors indicating a possibly trafficked child that safe adults should report:

• Shame
• Disorientation
• Hunger
• Malnourishment
• Signs of physical abuse
• Refuse to make eye contact
• Fear of police, immigration officers
• May claim they are "just visiting" an address
• May not be able to clearly state where they are staying, what city they are in, or what time it is
• May not have any ID
• May live or work in places with opaque windows, boarded up windows, bars on windows, barbed wire, and security cameras
• May be in possession of large amounts of cash, prepaid cards, hotel keys, multiple cell phones
• May appear "coached" when speaking to others – letting an adult with them speak for them
• May have a close association with a controlling adult
• Unexplained tattoos or branding
• Regular, unexplained school absences