Yes, I'm sure that pays a role. For lack of a better word, HT is the big buzz word nationally right now. It is not a new concept. Those of us that work in fields related to helping victims of trauma have been dealing with this for years. The focus is helpful in raising awareness to the general public of the severity and risk to better recognize signs and minimize opportunities but it is being treated as a new phenomenon and numerous, unproductive task forces are popping up all over the place. From experience, multiple agencies and groups are doing similar things with very little collaboration or organization and potentially causing more panic than help within the general community.
I've been involved in stings in the Detroit area in a secondary capacity and I can tell you the victims are largely minor children/teens who are left unsupervised due to poverty (parents working multiple jobs, etc), abuse, neglect, parental absence due to substance use. These are often runaway youth or youth with prior abuse histories that are lured online, outside of their schools while walking home, at malls, neighborhood teen hangouts, etc.
It cannot be completely ruled out but DS does not meet the profile of a victim of any form of trafficking and I would be very surprised if that's what happened here. I do understand holding out hope she is alive and that at least with trafficking it is possible she may be spotted due to social media shares/blasts but it would not be the most likely scenario based on the information that has been presented.
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