I would like to address the "trafficking" aspect of this case and other cases. I am doing my dissertation on sex traffickers, and have done primary source research with sex trafficking victims, so I feel knowledgable enough to speak and educate in this area. It is unfortunate that many families of missing women are now latching on to the trafficking narrative as a possible alternative to their loved one no longer being alive. I feel it is not helpful for law enforcement uneducated in trafficking to perpetuate this narrative either.
Sex traffickers do not kidnap single women off the streets in the middle of the night. They would never take that risk. What they are looking for is a young, vulnerable, probably impoverished, possibly unparented (in the sense of being a runaway, or in a foster or group home, or just neglected at home) girl who can be wooed or seduced into inadvertently but willingly (in the sense of consenting, even though she is not of consenting age) prostituting herself for their benefit. Like child sexual abuse, this is a grooming process that may take place over several weeks or months. Young girls - and I mean young, as the average age of entry into prostitution is 14 years old - living in rough neighborhoods who may have self-esteem issues or a desire or reason to run away are seduced by often older men, showered with gifts, money is spent on them, they are wooed into "falling in love" with an older guy, and because she likely has very little sexual or romantic experience, she can be easily manipulated. Once a sexual relationship has commenced, he will start to push and test her boundaries. This again might take place over a long period of time. The key is to manipulate the girl into believing this is part of a loving relationship so she is compliant. This is how pimping often works. ("Gorilla" pimping - pimping by force - is FAR less common. But it still involves vulnerable young girls from impoverished backgrounds in dire situations.) He might see if she'd be willing to commit sexual acts with his friends. He is secretly taking money from these so-called 'friends". Or, he might put her in a position where he has showered her with so many gifts that he suddenly pulls back on those gifts, and manipulate her into thinking that the money train will end unless she "gives" something. There's a LOT of manipulation and brainwashing involved. Girls are also manipulated by older women in group homes into running away from that group home to join her and her "boyfriend" who has a great apartment and makes a lot of money. and from there it begins, and one becomes involved in "the life". The women might be moved around to where the market is - brought to Vegas, brought to Florida along the east coast 95 corridor; pimps might know eachother and drive women back and forth between Boston, New York, DC, and Providence, and Hartford. They may have several women they prostitute; they may operate in tandem with a family member or friend, as part of a drug ring. This is nothing new - it is how prostitution has been operating for decades. The "trafficking" aspect kicks into play when women cross state lines, according to the legal definition. But the method and the process remains the same.
Labor trafficking is very different, usually involves people smuggled into the country or who are from other countries, who come here for one reason or another and become indentured servants to their traffickers. They are exploited specifically for labor.
Middle-class drug-free women, women on vacation, do not get abducted and forced into sexual servitude, or shipped overseas by traffickers. That is not the way it works. The traffickers are looking to make money, there is no value to them in a terrorized victim who will fight back or run to the cops the first chance she gets There is no value in it for them in a victim whose loved ones will get the FBI and law enforcement involved the first day. First, traffickers do not take this risk when they can seduce girls into believing they are making this choice. Second, Americans attract too much attention overseas, and these men do not want attention from the feds. Overseas trafficking is almost always from a foreign country INTO the U.S. In their home countries, women are also carefully targeted. Sometimes, they know what they are being brought here for. Sometimes, they are misled or promised other working conditions, and when they get here, the situation changes.
I just want to reiterate: traffickers do not forcibly kidnap women off the street who look like they have something to lose. Brittany was nicely dressed, looked like she already had the resources to provide for herself, and would not have been easily wooed. Traffickers do not go after girls who already have resources, even basic resources. The process of grooming a victim is a slow strategic situation. Preventing trafficking involves giving vulnerable young girls resources, self-esteem, and education. Girls who are at high risk for trafficking are girls who are in foster care, group homes, possible high school dropouts, or have experienced abuse in the home. Identifying girls at high risk and addressing their needs is the best way to prevent this kind of crime.
