“Tears jerked from her insides. “Colton let me hold the puppy and said there were more in a van. I wanted to see them. He said that was the plan all along. My mother was to bring me to the playground and let him show me the puppies.”Mirrored Reflections
It happens so quickly. They are here. They are gone. It’s a parent’s worst nightmare and greatest fear. According to LosAngelesCriminalLawyer.pro, every 40 seconds a child is abducted in the US. In 2021, 8 million children were abducted worldwide; 2300 in the US….90% of those were parent abductions. Only 1% were stranger abductions. The rest were runaways or missing.
In the USA, Alaska has the highest number of abductions followed by Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Vermont. Turkey tops the international abductions with a rate of (4.86) per 100,00. Followed by Canada (13.82), Kuwait (11.52), Switzerland (8.61) and China having 20,000 per year. Ages average from 12-18 or teens. Non-family abductions were done by such acquaintances as uncles, boyfriends.
This fear is real. Kidnapping/abduction really does happen.
In my book Mirrored Reflections, Sierra’s case is a child abduction. She was only being nice and returning a puppy to a stranger — an adult hidden in bushes, away from mom who was busy reading her phone.
According to Sexploitation:Human Trafficking, it all starts with trusting someone they shouldn’t. Then that turns tragic. All this is calculated.
First – lure them. Gain her trust with compliments physical and mental. Convince her she’s special, unique. There is no other like her who could please him-the boyfriend, family member, neighbor.
Then he tests her trust to see how far she will go to please him… nude pictures he wants from her. Meanwhile, he is learning all about her: home, parents, friends, who she trusts most, the people who cares for her.
Second – the honeymoon stage:
He – the pimp/ boyfriend – makes her fall in love with him. He buys her unbelievable gifts, takes her out to the best restaurants, shows her off to his friends who pretend they are so jealous. They are ever so romantic. He will have sex as often as possible and make promises that he has no intentions of keeping. He will say he wants to marry her, have the perfect family. She will never want again for anything. And then, once he has her alone and away from any support comes…
Third – Coercion and manipulation: mind games, less communication, connecting sex with money. Pimp/boyfriend will start to play with her emotions by not talking, sulks, gaslights/makes things her fault, because she isn’t pleasing him…after all he’s done for her. Suddenly, he plays nice and then change back to anger, abuse to keep her off balance, which is of course, her fault. Well, if she really wants him to be happy, so she will do whatever she must to please him. After all, she must have done something really wrong. Now, she owes him.
Finally – Exploitation: Self-esteem is broken. Manipulation/threats/isolation and no one to turn to. Pimp owns her…body and mind. And now, she believes that no one could love her…only him. To survive, she must do as he asks or demands, or else. She must have sex with men to repay him. Then he will be happy again. After all, see what his buddy’s girl does for him.
If she even thinks of fleeing, he threatens to beat her like the last time or kill her and/or her family, friends. Alas, she had no one to turn to. He is her only friend. The only one she can rely on. She is now trapped in a life of hell.
Fear is the factor now. She is isolated and trapped. Reaching out for help becomes nearly impossible. She is now looking for some fragment of hope. Someone, somewhere, who really cares.
Fortunately, there are places she, and others also caught in this trap, can turn to. TruckerAgainstTrafficking/TAT, BusesOnTheLookout/BOTL, law enforcement, truck stops, hospitals. Groups like TAT and BOTL who are eyes on the road, proves that together, we all can make a difference and stop this living hell.
In Sierra’s case, she was snatched away, lied to about her parents, raised to perform. To escape her hell, it took a tragedy and a dream to find hope and then love.
For more information about MIRRORED REFLECTIONS, as well as my other books…visit JFRidgley.com Be sure to visit my website www.jfridgley.com to sign up for my very infrequent newsletter.
