Law&Crime Sidebar - Texas Teen Trafficked at Basketball Game Reveals Horrific Details After Rescue

Episode Date: October 10, 2024

Natalee Cramer was just 15 when she says she left her seat next to her father at a Dallas Mavericks game in search of marijuana. She would end up being kidnapped, raped repeatedly, and sold into a sex trafficking operation in another state. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber spoke with Natalee’s parents, Kyle and Brooke Morris, about the teen's experience, her rescue, and the search for justice.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Get 50% off of confidential background reports at https://www.truthfinder.com/lcsidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger and Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. She was just kind of labeled a runaway and it was left at that. But as each day kind of went forward, just the unsettling feeling that you feel in your was just getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Texas parents are sharing the heartbreaking story of their teen daughter's abduction and sale into sex trafficking.

Fortunately, this story has a happy ending. The 15-year-old was rescued, but her family says red tape led to delays in getting her back. I sat down with them to hear their story. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber.

Natalie Kramer was just 15-year-old. years old when she disappeared from a Dallas Mavericks game in April of 2022. She told her dad, Kyle Morris, that she was going to the bathroom, but she never came back to their seats. She was last seen on surveillance from inside American Airlines Center where the Mavericks were playing the trailblazers. She was seen walking with a man in black pants and an orange sweatshirt. And we learned what happened next from Natalie herself. She's 18 now. She spoke with local Texas news outlets and she says that she had been dealing with an addiction to vaping and marijuana and that she'd actually left her seat to go in search of someone to smoke with. She says the man

and the security footage took her to a parking garage where she learned he wasn't alone. Natalie says she was raped repeatedly in the American Airlines Center parking garage then driven somewhere else. She says she was repeatedly given marijuana. She doesn't remember a lot about what happened that night or over the next 10 days. She told her. WFAA in Dallas, quote, it's not like a guy with candy in the back of his van and you just get thrown in the back of the van. It looks like a normal conversation until it's not. You don't know you're in danger until you're in the middle of it and you don't know what to do and you can't get out. There's no room to judge people because they can't get out. If they could

leave, they would. Now, Kramer's parents, Brooke and Kyle Morris, say they were stonewalled by police because Natalie had run away from home before. The parents claimed that the police didn't take their case seriously, but a Texas anti-trafficking organization sure did, and they discovered adult ads online for Natalie were surfacing. And that's how they figured out that Natalie had been taken to Oklahoma. Ten days after she disappeared and Oklahoma police officers saw Natalie walking alone outside an apartment complex immediately took her to get care. Multiple people were arrested, charged, later sentenced for their involvement in this trafficking operation. The man that Dallas police believe lured Natalie away from the game and assaulted her.

Emmanuel Jose Cartagena was arrested in charge with sexual assault of a child, but a Dallas County grand jury decided there was not enough evidence to prosecute him, and it's our understanding he was released. Now, Natalie's family filed a lawsuit against the parent companies of the hotel in Oklahoma, where she was trafficked and raped, the extended Stay America Hotel near the Oklahoma City Airport. Eight people were charged for being involved in Natalie's trafficking. Kenneth Nelson, a convicted sex offender, is believed to have been the person staying with Natalie at the hotel. Authorities believe Nelson used someone else's Oklahoma ID to get the hotel rooms.

Natalie's family also claims that hotel workers and fellow guests saw her walking around with adult men who were holding guns, and they did nothing. The lawsuit claims that the corporate owners of the hotel not only knew that sex trafficking was happening at this location, but they did nothing about it. The suit claims that, quote, all defendants chose to turn a blind eye to the crimes and trafficking going on at the ESA Oklahoma Hotel and chose to put profits over people. Nelson entered a guilty plea to felony charges of manufacturing child sexual abuse material

distributing it, child abuse and human trafficking who sentenced to 25 years in prison. Two women were accused of taking nude photos of Natalie and posting them online. Another man was arrested for second degree rape and the other four defendants face charges connected to sexual abuse of a minor. Now, the family also says that American Airlines Center could have done more to protect Natalie as well.

They say that the man accused of luring Natalie had used a fake ticket to get in and that the man he'd gotten the ticket from was known to sell fakes. Now, Brooke and Kyle Morris as well as Natalie, they have started a non-profit foundation called Ashland. And the goal is to raise funds to support survivors of sexual assault and sex trafficking. By the way, as you're watching this episode of Sidebar, we actually see. searched for Kenneth Levin Nelson on TruthFinder, putting in his name and location, and court records confirm that Nelson was convicted multiple times for domestic violence and violating protection orders in Minnesota back in 2006 and 2007. We were also able to confirm that Nelson was convicted of failing to register as a sex offender

in at least three states, North Carolina, Minnesota, and Oklahoma. Now, law and crime, we partner with Truthfinder, and we use it to get details on people involved in our stories. But even if you don't work in true crime, this can be an excellent resource to give you peace of mind, especially when it comes to tracking sex offenders that may be in your area. TruthFinder is one of the largest public record search services in the United States. And with a paid subscription service, you can get access to unlimited reports about almost anyone. And by the way, right now, if you're interested, you can get 50% off of your first month of confidential background reports. You just got to go to truthfinder.com slash LC sidebar. Okay, back to

this. Okay, so right now I want to bring on two very special guests. I am joined by Kyle and Brooke Morris. They are the parents of Natalie, and they have been so generous with their time and generous to come on to talk about their experiences. Thank you both so much for coming on. And first, let me just say, I said this to you before we started. I am so happy that there was a positive resolution to this, and you have Natalie back. So great to see you guys and happy to hear this um first i just want to start how's everybody doing how are you doing how's the family doing how's natalie doing we we are doing substantially better um than we have been the last couple of years um natalie is doing well and thriving and trying to find you know just a new identity

after everything but um she's doing very well all things considered yeah i would say it's It's nice to be dealing with more typical or standard. Normal. That 18-year-old stuff now. Yeah. So that's been a pleasant change. I'm sure. Those present their own challenges, as I'm sure.

But that's a whole separate conversation. Oh, yeah. You know, I'm so happy to have you guys here. I wanted to talk to you about a few things. Kyle, first I wanted to ask you, you know, the idea of you're at this game and she disappears, what was that feeling like? feeling of like helplessness you know you're surrounded by 20,000 people and you don't even know where to begin it's some in an event that large with so many moving parts really around you

I mean I didn't know where to go so I did what you know I guess has been kind of ingrained in us as as humans in the U.S. for you know my entire life as you find a law enforcement personnel that they're there to help that's what they're there for that's that's what I did and we I talked to a law enforcement what I thought was a police officer and find out only to find out later that they're really a contractor there for the the American Airlines Center so it didn't really help me much and Brooke I was going to ask you what was it like these this first parts of the investigation I mean clearly it started off incredibly frustrating for couldn't even get a hold of the police officer to find out what was going on.

What was it like the first steps of this investigation? Frustrating is an understatement. For me, I was out of town, actually, when all of this transpired. And I was in a mix of emotions between really needing to be with my husband and really needing to find my daughter. Natalie had run away before, so this was not completely. completely foreign territory. So I think initially I was frustrated with her and I just wanted someone to take my husband seriously and do what needed to be done.

And that just wasn't that didn't happen for what three or four days. You mean police didn't believe that she was in danger? They, yeah, exactly. I think that's a good way of saying it. They, they did not, she was just kind of labeled a runaway and it. it was left at that. But as each day kind of went forward, just the unsettling feeling that you feel in your soul was just getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And how involved were both of you in the search efforts? You know, were you, I know that you hired a private investigator,

but were you calling the police every day? Were you putting up flyers? Were you going on social media platforms? How involved were both of you in the search for Natalie? And Kyle, I'll start with you on this one. Very, you know, since Brooke was out of town when this started. I was the one making all the phone calls initially and, you know, calling the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, you know, making sure that they had had a case started there, that they were getting her picture circulated. I was calling multiple law enforcement agencies here in the Dallas Fort Worth area. I was calling the Dallas Police Department trying to get someone there to to start actively investigating this.

Our local police department, they were helpful, but there was very little that they could do, given their distance from where our daughter actually went missing. So we were very involved outside of like boots on the ground, like actually in Dallas looking, we were making phone calls and trying to, you know, access as many different people that we could. that could help us because we didn't even know where to look. Well, once she walked away from the game, we didn't know where to go. Yeah, I mean, I'm going to echo exactly what Kyle said. But additionally, I mean, yes, we put this on social media.

We did as much as we could. I remember a day or so after I had come home, I drove out to Dallas just around AC just to see if I could see anything and I couldn't and to us it was just kind of a needle and a haystack we didn't know where to look there wasn't actually a search going on for her in Dallas so we really just felt you know I think we felt kind of shackled to the situation you know not able to really search not able to do anything because uh in in law enforcement opinion for For the majority, it was, you know, she'll pop up. She'll come back.

But I felt kind of like they were talking about maybe a lost puppy instead of a kid. You know, just saying, oh, she'll come back. Don't worry. She'll come back. Did you see the video of her at the, that the center where she was walking away with this individual? Had you'd seen that video at that point and they still said, you know, she was going to come back? Not at that time. Not at that time.

No, we did not see that till many, many, many, many months later. Wow. But did police know about it and just not share that information with you? Yeah. So that night, they spent the majority of once I had reported her missing, they, to my knowledge, they spent the majority of their time actually trying to have someone go back and review cameras to find out where she had gone instead of actively looking for her. Right.

They were just trying to go back and find out what had transpired. to i guess create the missing situations and but they didn't they weren't actively full out 100% looking for her which would have changed could have potentially changed everything if they had done that especially in the immediate in the immediate moments after she disappeared had i i feel like and will likely always feel like that had they had more urgency and looked immediately i mean we might we probably would have avoided this entire thing because we do know we do now know that when she had been out of her seat for about 10 minutes she had just at that point she had like just gone outside the building when I reported her missing so if information had

been communicated effectively to all of the officers that were working the event I think and I'm pretty sure you agree that they would have found her because she was initially walking around outside the building with with a couple of guys well and and I will add to that I think the most the biggest punch in the gut for us was when we did view the footage and you could see that as the game was ending and everyone was filing out of the stadium she was right there she was on the steps and there was police officers around her and other people and I just you know you just can't help but think had the officer taking the initial report simply radioed and said hey we're looking for a girl this is what she's wearing this is what she looks like i mean they would have

seen her i'm i'm sorry that's that's like you said frustrating is a not it's not even the right word to use there and then you know as this progresses you see these online i'm sorry online sex ads about natalie what was your reaction to see seeing that? Well, when we were told, when, you know, we contacted our private investigator, and he told me that he had had a match based on some photos that I had sent him, I just thought he was crazy. I just thought, oh, he's found somebody else, it's not her.

My brain was not wanting to process what it was. I was on the most embarrassing sight like you you could even fathom and just when I saw her ad specifically it wasn't vulgar like in the terms that you know you would think of but I didn't even believe it was her and that helped in the investigation though because it helped determine where she might be and we know that she was absolutely rescued and recovered so that as disgusting as that was it helped it helped Well, it truly, it truly was a God think. I will tell you, as soon as we were finally able to tell him, you know, hey, yes, this is her. He, with just a few phone calls, and then our PI was in, is in Houston. And he called, I think his local 911 and then asked to be transferred up to Oklahoma City. were able to tell her he was able to tell which hotel chain I guess it was and then he when he got a hold of the vice unit up in Oklahoma City they helped him

narrow down again confirming the hotel chain and you know like like the location and everything and that very night they were able to orchestrate a raid on that hotel and I will tell you the the most interesting An interesting piece of information from that was this was middle of the night, some guy from Houston that we had never met, we had never vetted, was able to call Oklahoma City and talk to a 911 operator and let her know, hey, we have a juvenile, you know, being trafficked and we, I mean, they were able to get boots on the ground that night. Wow. or who strike something. See, that's the importance of having this out there and having people see what's going on and understand that this looked odd.

You know, if you both can share, and Kyle, I'll start with you again, when you found out that Natalie had been rescued and you had the opportunity to see her for the first time, if you can both share with us what that moment was like for both of you, you know, finding out that she had been rescued and then you're for the first opportunity you had to see her. We were in different states the day she was found. Well, I do want to jump in and say the raid was unsuccessful. Yes. The raid to get her was unsuccessful.

And in fact, inadvertently caused more separation. So she ended up being gone another couple of days. I see. I'm sorry for that. Okay, I see, I see, I see. No, no, no, you're fine. But I think it's important to note that even though the raid happened, The raid was unsuccessful, which was terrifying.

How did it progress from there? Yeah, I was to say, I think it did kind of motivate law enforcement a little bit more. They definitely, there was a lot more news articles, a lot more mentioning of her name and showing of her picture after the unsuccessful raid at the hotel that Friday morning, early Friday morning. Yes. Yes. What the raid did was it more or less, for lack of a better word, spooked them. The guys that, the individuals that had her, this caused them to separate from her and they were arrested later that night.

I believe the next night. Yeah, I think maybe the next night they were arrested. What had happened is my daughter was there when the raid took place. They had just moved her to another room. So she didn't, she didn't know what was going on. And after the raid and everything cleared, she ended up just walking, trying to find help. And she met another individual that I believe she thought would help her. And in fact, he ended up sexually assaulting her over multiple days himself. I'm so sorry. So it's really like a

double, like a double punch. Yeah. So when she was officially rescued and she was recovered, going back to what was that moment like for both of you? Yeah, she was in Oklahoma. I was back in Texas. At this point, we didn't know where she was going to turn up again. So once Oklahoma City Police had kind of narrowed down where she was before prior to the raid, after that it was, we had no idea. They didn't know where she went. There was, you know, several leads that were looking to take her out of Oklahoma.

So I was here in Texas, Brooke was still in Oklahoma. I was actually at our local police department dropping off a couple of old cell phones that Natalie had used in the hopes that the police department had indicated they may be able to kind of peel back some layers and they were really kind of just, you know, grasping at stalls at that point. So I was there dropping those phones off when Brooke called me to tell you got her. And I immediately left the police department, came up, grabbed my bag from the house that was already packed and ready to go. And then I started the three-hour drive north to Oklahoma City. And then, once I got to the hospital, I know you had more interactions before I got there. I think he got to Oklahoma in record time. It was pretty quick.

It was pretty quick. Speed limits don't apply. Not in that time. Definitely not. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. So when she was recovering, and I was with her, I was actually with our PI, and we were about, we were getting together because we were going to just watch a couple of parking lots and see if we could see her. And then when the police, both undercover and on duty, came up to us and were like, you know, hey, we got her. you know I didn't I didn't know what to do I said you know okay take me to her you know what do I do and they said well you can't like we can't take you to her right now and and then I'm

sitting in the car with RPI and he said you need to ask for a picture of her and I you know said why and he said you need to make sure it's her he said too many times they get somebody think it's the right person you need to verify that it's her and they sent me a photo of her in the back car and it was definitely her he looked like this just so what's the word just somebody who had had just hit the end of the road yeah just somebody had the hit it was the end for her and um i confirmed it was her they told me they told us to go to one hospital and so then we're driving to that hospital and they said no don't go to that hospital because there's too much media so they said just come to the police station so then we went to

the police station and waited and then they called back and they said no she needs to go the hospital we're going to another hospital like the other side of Oklahoma City so we drove I mean we just drove as fast as we could and when I got there there was police everywhere I knew she was there but at the front desk they would not confirm that she was there and I kept saying I'm her mom like they told me to come here and it was a good 15 minutes before whatever level of clearance it was I could get back to her but um she was very happy to see me but she was extremely sad um the one of the very first things out of her mouth are um was where's daddy? Wow. And I said he's coming. And then I think you were there like within the hour. Like it was it was very, very quickly that he was that he was actually there. Because I was kind of preparing her, hey, it's going to be a couple of hours. No, he was. Yeah. Again, I'm so happy to hear that resolution to this. And you know, it's interesting now because unfortunately, we live in a day and age where everything's on the internet.

People have a lot of comments, people have questions, and since Natalie's been recovered and since Natalie has spoken out about what's happened, in a way you're seeing people have, there's blowback, right? They're asking, well, why didn't she pick up a phone to call for help? Why did she walk away during that event and leave her dad? When you're seeing this criticism and you're seeing these questions, what is your reaction to all of that from people online? Surprisingly enough, you know, I will say about. 10 years ago if this had been me and someone attacking my my daughter this way, I would have thought back and defended her. And I just feel like it's her story. And she may not know for many years why she did or didn't do something. And I just dismiss it. One of the main criticisms

that I have seen has been mainly on Kyle and it's why did why did he let her go to the bathroom by herself well she was 15 I mean and and but I realize on social media social media can be such a great tool but also I mean there's just always going to be people on there that are just looking to start an argument or looking to start a different narrative and we really just ignore it because we know the truth and we know that she has been traumatized enough I I we don't tell her any of the negativity that we see none of it it's just not helpful I'll be honest I was off social media for probably two years years I'm just now getting back onto social media or Facebook let me advise you you're not

missing much. You should probably get off. I know, right? I know. Right on there. Negative comments. I mean, that's kind of what social media has invited and really accepted into our society is people have the ability, really,

to just say whatever they want with, you know, they're not going to say it to your face, but they'll say it online. And, I mean, it is what it is. I don't put much stock into people running off and, you know, saying, saying bad things about us or about our daughter. I have no doubt that we made many missteps along the way

and our experience over the last couple years could be very easily examined and kind of picked apart. So, you know, if they think they could have done better. Well, here's the good news. Here's the good news. There is a benefit to social media and that is amplifying a positive message. And that's what I wanted to end with. I wanted to ask you. Yeah, yeah. Oh, I will tell you about 95% of comments are supportive and loving and that's great like the the vast majority has been positive it's just a sliver of people that that would say right negative of course and I understand that and I guess what I'm trying to say is you know even on with social media now right if you wanted to give people advice right you've gone through such an experience that unfortunately a lot of families

across this world have gone through but if you're able to provide advice to parents out there um to a takeaway from what you've experienced what natalie's experienced and by the way this could be amplified on social media youtube so a lot of people see it what would that advice be to other parents and i'm also going to ask you about the organization that you're a part of as well and how that can provide help to the community i think my advice to parents and i was just asked this the other day as a matter of fact is you know foster a relationship with your teens foster a relationship find out what is going on we found out and can to enter continuing to find out you know from from our daughter just some of the things that she was dealing with you know problems with friends

problems with boys problems with you know how she felt about her body like all all these things that we didn't realize were such a pressing issue in her life because we thought everything on the surface was you know fine everything with the status quo and um um You know, not to say it could or couldn't have prevented it, but I just feel like there were so many things that had we maybe been a little more in tune with, you know, that we would have seen. And she wouldn't have felt like she needed to seek validation from people. She doesn't know or from, you know, guys and things like that.

And the organization, and I'm mispronouncing, is it Oshlin? Am I saying it correctly? Yes, you did say correctly, yes. Tell us a little bit more about that. So Oshlam is Gaelic for for dreaming or to dream. And my muse behind it was in Oklahoma City. I was sitting in the ER with my daughter. Well, we both were. And my dad was there. And I was so upset and frustrated. And I just said, you know, we've got to get legislation passed. Like, how does this even happen? How did police not pay attention?

Like, you know, all the questions. And, you know, I was just like, this isn't fair. You know, I'm going to change something. We do. And my dad goes, you know, huh, keep dreaming. And he was just saying, and not to dampen my spirit. That wasn't his thing. But he's just like, this is an issue.

This is going to be an issue. If you really want to do something, you know, do it. But, you know, if you just think this is something, they're just going to pay attention to overnight. You're sadly mistaken. Right, right. Well, it sounds phenomenal. Kyle, I'll give you the final word about that as well

if you want to say anything about the organization. So I'm Irish. So the fact that she incorporated some of my family history, I guess, or some of my ancestry into this organization. I think it's great. It really is a great opportunity, or it's an opportunity for us to continue to educate. I think that's a big piece for the organization is educating parents.

Hey, pay attention to your kids. Social media stuff is, it is what it is. We're not going to get away from it. The parents, I would encourage them to have an open mind, have open eyes. If you see something and it makes you feel like uncomfortable or anything, talk with your kid about it. I know that we've heard from several families over the last year to particularly kids that have unfortunately been taken into this kind of dark underbelly of society. they recognize some things in hindsight that maybe they could have addressed and I think for us that's a big thing is you know talk to your kids on enforcement talk to these kids if you see

them if if you see them walking down the street and you're pulling them over or you're wanting to arrest them talk to them how did they get there what led them there everything is not as black and white as we may want it to be all the time there's a lot of gray and and I I will say, I have an anecdote real quick. We have become very good friends with an officer, with a police officer, and as we were making him aware to not just our story, but just kind of everything we're fighting for and all of the change, he was very upset, and he said he was so embarrassed to think about how many times he had made an arrest for prostitution or detained somebody for being a runaway

and then said, but had I asked more questions, I might would have found out that it wasn't prostitution. Right. Right. Like they were there against their will. They were being coerced and things were being held over their head to do what they're doing. And so that's also a big piece of what we're doing is law enforcement, education. It's my understanding that, of course they're trained on sexual assault and domestic violence and all of that stuff and as well as prostitution but this this whole thing of sex trafficking and and the manipulation tactics is still a relatively new topic yeah to detect it to see it to know the warning signs listen this is an incredibly important powerful message that you're delivering and we're going to put up more

information about this organization but listening to natalie's story having the chance to speak with you, Kyle and Brooke. The one thing that I take away from is the strength of your family. And I think that's pretty evident to anybody who watches this. So again, I am so happy that you guys are reunited. I am wishing nothing but the best for all of you.

I'm sending my best to Natalie. And again, thank you so much for the work that you're doing. And thank you so much for coming here on Cybar to get this message out and Natalie's story as well. Thank you so much. Yes, absolutely. Thank you. You got it.

Best of luck, guys. Thank you so much. Thank you. So there you have it. really, really powerful words from Brooke and Kyle Morris. We were wishing our best for them, for Natalie. Just an unbelievable story. And now we get a better sense of what was happening behind the scenes. That's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get

your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. Speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this law and crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.