I'm just now like, getting
comfortable with speaking on it.
I just want a voice.
I have a voice. Tonight,
a story of survival and perseverance,
a 15 year old runaway who found
herself being sold to dozens
of men for sex by a man who
found her on a dating app.
Human trafficking is a major
issue across the metro.
Tonight, the young woman who survived
is sharing her story with us for
the very first time, 11 alives.
Cody Alcorn sat down with
this incredibly brave woman.
So Cody, how did all this unfol?
Well, I got an Instagram message last month.
In fact, it's right here.
It was a screenshot of my
report from one of the men.
Who bought this young woman forx
being convicted? The message re.
You can see I am the 15 year old being
sex trafficked and after my casI
would like to tell you my story.
Well, last week the man who solr
to dozens of men was found guil.
Tonight, the story is no longer
about them and it's a story youl
see only on 11 alive.
She was just a child that was
run away in 2018 at 15 years ol.
I don't know my way around Atla.
She quickly found herself onlin,
like every teenager
I ended up being on.
Basically like a dating profile.
She posed as an 18 year old andt
wasn't long until her inbox was filling.
You would basically selling me
fake fantasies of him being my
boyfriend or me, us being toget,
building like the empire and st,
when in reality it was a predatr
grooming his next victim.
Me being young and not
having a father figure.
It's like I can't really tell if
a dude is trying to use me or if
they really want to be with me
because I never experienced tha.
From a male figure so.
I was just that person follow ft
less than two weeks after
meeting on a dating app.
The same app on my home from.
That's the same app
you're selling me off of.
It continued on for several mon.
I was giving beans,
which have like multiple drugs in it.
Me being on those,
I wasn't really here.
Like physically I was here,
but mentally I wasn't here.
She believed she was sold
to at least fifty men.
I told him that. I don't want to
anymore of my body. Can't take .
My body like was very messed up badly to
the point where I couldn't even walk.
It would be one of the buyers wo
showed up for sex who got her o.
He came in. He noticed something was wrong.
He told me that to get my stuff,
that he's gonna Get Me Out that situation.
And that's how I really got out
and escape she never thought
would happen. It looks
easy to run and get away,
but in reality is not.
Shortly after getting out she was arrested.
Finally her chance to tell polie
about being sold and bought for.
But nothing happened.
I felt like nobody believes me.
She wasn't far off.
I thought people was just having
a hard time trying to find me
cause I was in foster homes
and I was in Group homes too.
So I thought it was just
hard for people to find me.
But it wasn't that.
Her case was actually closed
by local authorities.
In 2021, the Attorney General's
human Trafficking Prosecution
Unit reopened it and prosecuted
it. I just got my closure at co.
I'm happy now. I'm really happy.
She's incredible.
This is absolutely heartbreaking because
she's just one of so many teens being
sold and bought for sex right n.
It's why we cannot turn our heas
when we hear about runaways.
They're running from something.
And if we don't find them,
these predators will.
It took this man one week to gr,
lure and sell this child for se.
Absolutely. Eye opening.
Such an important story to tell.
Cody alcorn. Thank you.
You could follow Cody's original
report for the story right now.
Just head to 11 alive.com.