How the Texas teenager abducted during a Dallas Mavericks game two years ago was kidnapped, sex trafficked and raped as a warning to other teens sharing a tragic story.
On April 8, 2022, Natalie Kramer and her father, Kyle Morris, attended a Mavericks basketball game at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
“…I will never forgive you and I wish you 100% the worst.”
Natalie, who was 15 at the time, said she began to feel “anxious” and had a “desire to get high and get drunk.”
She told her father she was going to the bathroom and left her cell phone on the seat.
“I was just walking around and this guy caught my eye,” Natalie recalled. WFAA-TV. “I told him, 'I just want to smoke a cigarette. Do you want one?'
The man told her he smoked and had marijuana in his car. The man walked her to his car, which was parked in the arena's garage. A second man appears and takes Natalie into his car. She said the men provided her with marijuana and drove her to her home in North Texas, about 20 minutes from the arena.
“When they raped me, it hit me that I was in danger,” Natalie explained. “By then I knew I was in danger, but I was scared and didn't know how to leave. I could have asked for a phone call, but they were right there. What was I supposed to do? Even if I did, I didn't know where I was.
On the night Natalie disappeared, her father reported his daughter missing to the Dallas police officer in charge of the game.
The officer told Morris he needed to report the runaways to the North Richland Hills Police Department, which is more than 30 miles from the American Airlines Center, because that's where they live. That's what it means.
When Morris contacted North Richland Hills police, they said they could not help because the incident occurred in Dallas.
Three days after her disappearance, the Dallas Police Department, with assistance from the North Richland Hills Police Department, sent out a bulletin for the missing teen.
Natalie has been reported as a fugitive many times.
“I was running for attention,” she said. “I was running for love. I was running for drugs. I was running from something I couldn't control, something I couldn't voice.”
She continued, “For me, it was mainly mental health. I wasn't in therapy. I was struggling with self-harm. I was struggling with friends, I was struggling at school. There were a lot of factors why I ran away, it doesn't have to be a family issue. ”
Natalie said she was held for three days in North Texas before being transported to Oklahoma and handed over to another group.
“I had braces at the time and one of the guys punched me in the mouth. It just hurt my whole cheek. My braces were like the inside of my cheek.”
She was “given numerous drugs, including alcohol and methamphetamine,” and the Texas suspect allegedly sold Natalie to “an unknown adult male who transported her” from Dallas to Oklahoma City. complaint.
The boy was being held at the Extended Stay America Hotel at the Oklahoma City Airport.
Natalie recalled seeing her family in the hotel hallway while under the influence of drugs and being accompanied by an adult man with a rifle.
“I was even more surprised to see that there were families there with young children. They looked me in the eye and I could see that all these people were older than me and yet they didn't say anything. '' Natalie said. “The fathers of these little children saw me, but I didn't recognize them at the hotel. [The man who trafficked her] Despite having an entire rifle nearby, the family walked on as if nothing had happened. ”
As Blaze News previously reported, Natalie's family has sued the company that owns and manages the hotel where she was trafficked. A lawsuit filed in February showed surveillance footage of Natalie and the men in a hotel hallway. The lawsuit alleges that the employees either failed to recognize signs of human trafficking or simply ignored them.
“The Extended Stay America Hotel in Oklahoma City prioritized profits by turning a blind eye to the sexual exploitation that was happening right under our noses,” said Zeke Fortenberry, an attorney representing the family. . “This victim's life will be forever changed. We want to hold those responsible accountable and create change within these organizations so this never happens to another child. I hope so.”
After days passed without police finding their daughter, Natalie's parents turned to a private investigator in Houston for help. The Texas Anti-Human Trafficking Initiative discovered an online sex ad featuring Natalie's photo and tracked her to Oklahoma City, about 200 miles from where she was abducted.
Natalie began to lose hope and asked heaven for help. “I was just praying to God,” Natalie said.
She said she told God: I can't do this anymore. I need someone. Please send someone. ”
Natalie also left a message for those who abused her. “I would say, 'Thank you, because you made me who I am. You made things happen in my life that made me stronger and made me more resilient.' '
The same day she prayed to God, an Oklahoma City police officer noticed a boy walking outside an apartment complex. The officer asked her if she was Natalie Kramer.
Natalie was rescued 11 days after she was kidnapped at a Dallas Mavericks game.
“When you're found, it's definitely God saying, 'I'm not going to give up on you, I'm not going to give up on you, I'm not going to let you die,'” Natalie said.
Eight people were arrested and later convicted of being involved in Natalie's sex trafficking. In January 2023, U.S. Marshals arrested 33-year-old Emmanuel Cartagena. This man was the one who met Natalie at the arena and kidnapped her. Cartagena was charged with sexual assault of a child.
Natalie and her family also believe that the Dallas Police Department could have prevented her from becoming a victim of sex trafficking.
“I think it’s Dallas. [police] I did a terrible thing, I did a terrible thing,” Natalie said. KTVT-TVHe added: “My case is a perfect example of the police not doing their job. When the game was over, I was walking around outside. When the game was over, everyone was running outside. They just didn't see it.” They would have found me. ”
Kramer said there were three men involved in her sex trafficking in Dallas. Dallas police arrested a suspect in Natalie's case, but a Dallas County grand jury declined to indict and filed no charges in the case.
“My first sex trafficking case was with the people at the American Airlines Center. That was the Dallas deal,” Natalie said. “That's their responsibility. That happened in their area. That's not what Oklahoma should be dealing with. Mine was.” [trafficked] By the men of Dallas. The Dallas Police Department needs to handle this, not the Oklahoma Police Department. ”
Natalie also shared a message for those who abused her. “I would say, 'Thank you, because you made me who I am today. You made things happen in my life that made me stronger and made me more resilient. But… '…I will never forgive you, and I wish you the worst. But I thank you.'
Natalie also warned others about sex trafficking.
“It’s not like a guy with candy in the back of a van just gets thrown in the back of the van,” she said. You don't know you're in danger until you're in the middle of it, you don't know what to do, and you don't know how to get out of it. ”
Natalie, now 18, said she is sober and pursuing her GED.
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