She Was Kidnapped During A Road Trip And Was Held Hostage For Four Years Before Escaping
A TikTok creator who goes by the handle @szaddii is sharing the story of a woman who was abducted during a road trip and was held hostage for four years before escaping.
In 2011, a 19-year-old woman went on a road trip to Southern California, thinking it would be a great start to her summer.
She was in her first year of college and worked part-time at a coffee shop in Northern California. She was missing her cousin, so she decided to travel down to San Diego.
She planned to drive nonstop, only stopping occasionally for food and gas so that she would arrive by evening. She packed up her car and headed out onto California’s main highway for a six-hour drive.
She did not know that the highway was a route that human traffickers used. It had long, empty stretches and isolated shoulders that made it easy for people to vanish.
Around hour three, she needed to use the bathroom. She stopped on a relatively quiet stretch of highway and figured she could just duck behind some bushes to take care of business. It was broad daylight and cars were passing by regularly, so she felt safe enough.
But she had barely stepped out of the car when a van pulled up next to her. Two men jumped out of the van, grabbed her, tied her up, and threw her in the back before she could even process what was going on.
For the first weeks, she didn’t even know what state she was in. They moved her constantly, from Arizona to Nevada, then Texas.
She was trapped for four years. In that time, she was sold a total of 12 times. Each time, her captors told her this would all be temporary and that if she just cooperated, things would be easier for her.
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However, her situation only worsened. The second owner in Arizona barely fed her. The fifth one in Nevada kept her locked up in a basement for months at a time. By the time she got to the eighth owner in Texas, she had a plan to escape.
During the third year, she heard talk of taking her overseas. She was terrified to leave the country because she felt like all hope of escaping would be lost.
Finally, in 2015, her opportunity for escape came. Her final owner in Las Vegas got caught up in a federal operation. He had been controlling her through a combination of drugs, violence, and psychological manipulation.
Suddenly, federal agents swarmed the area. She made a desperate run for it and hightailed it across a parking lot at 2 a.m.
Six hours later, a truck driver found her passed out at a gas station and called the cops. She was rushed to a hospital, and they were able to track down her family.
She spent a week in the hospital recovering and being questioned by the police. When she was ready, she started working with the feds.
Over the course of four years, she had memorized faces, license plates, phone conversations, patterns, and the logistics of these illegal operations.
She provided details about routes and identified key figures in the network. Her information helped investigators better understand how traffickers use major highways and led to the arrest of approximately 30 people.
It has now been eight years since she escaped. She has slowly rebuilt her life and found a stable job. She is in a relationship and has even traveled again, although never alone.
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