At 13 years old, I became the first widely known case of an internet abduction when I was lured and kidnapped by an online predator. After nearly a year of chatting online with someone I believed to be a contemporary, I was lured outside of my home to meet this “friend.” Instead, I was met by a 38-year-old predator who kidnapped me. I was driven across state lines and chained in a basement where he tortured and raped me for four days — all while livestreaming my pain and degradation.
Hours before it was believed he was going to kill me, a law enforcement coalition rescued me. An online informant had recognized the little girl in the livestream as someone on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children poster and reported it. Members of law enforcement used publicly available data sources they had access to through private-sector investigative tools to identify my captor and trace his digital footprints to where I was being held captive.
Since my rescue, I have devoted my life to fighting predatory crime against children and adults. I worked to enact Alicia’s Law, which provides funding and resources to Internet Crimes Against Children task forces in at least 12 states. I’ve testified before Congress and advised the FBI, and I’ve provided training to help airlines stem the tide of global human trafficking.
