NORTH TEXAS— Her local Dallas story made national headlines. Now, the 18-year-old North Richland Hills sex-trafficking survivor is ready to discuss every horrifying detail.
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“This is my first birthday home since, like, two years…,” Natalee Cramer said smiling.
He spoke for the first time, explaining what happened in April 2022.
At the age of 15, he missing from the Dallas Mavericks game at the American Airlines Center. He was found 10 days later with dealers in Oklahoma.
“I can change people’s perspectives and make them feel like they have a voice,” Cramer said.
Once scared and too strong to tell her story, Cramer now wants her voice to be heard.
“I’m not afraid. I’m not afraid. There’s nothing to fear. And it’s very strong, it feels strong to say,” said Cramer. “I feel strong saying that. I never thought a year ago. I never would have made it here. I never thought I could do it. I’m proud of myself.”
On April 8, 2022, the Mavericks play the Trailblazers at the American Airlines Center.
Cramer and his father sat in section 221 until the 15-year-old went to the bathroom and never returned.
Over the next 10 days, her story made headlines across the country. AAC camera capture is only indicative. He was last seen with two men on surveillance video at the arena.
“I was planning on going to the game but then I got worried … I needed something,” Cramer said.
Cramer said he struggled with anxiety and addiction to vaping and marijuana.
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“So I just went and I found a boy. I was like, ‘Hey, are you smoking?’ And he was like, ‘yeah.’ He asked who I was with and I was like, ‘I’m with my dad, I don’t know where he is, but we can relax.’
Cramer said he found a turn in the parking garage.
“I thought he was the only one … and he wasn’t. He had a bag of weed and a roll of paper,” Cramer said. “It’s enough that they kind of show me, I was just shoved in, not thrown in. But I didn’t have a choice.”
Cramer said it didn’t take long to realize he was in danger. He said, “…not sober enough to do anything. I don’t know.”
He said the details of that night and the next 10 days would come back to him. They are very difficult to hear.
Cramer said she was raped three times in the AAC parking garage and then kicked out elsewhere.
“I would say … 20 to 25 minutes away from the American Airlines Center … and he continued to smoke marijuana and was raped again,” Cramer said. “And when I found out I was sex-trafficked when the man was wearing a gray hoodie… I remember him asking me, he said, ‘Can you take a shower and put these clothes on so we can go down the street?’ … I don’t think of selling myself.
Cramer’s His parents, desperate for answers, hired a private investigator which, in 24 hours, was made to look scary. He found an adult ad online for his daughter. He was sold in Oklahoma.
Cramer said he doesn’t remember being driven to Oklahoma, but he does remember being there.
When asked why he didn’t find the phone to call for help, he said that part of the story was hard to understand.
“…that’s what a lot of people are going to doubt,” Cramer said. “There was a time when there was a phone, and I could call… I didn’t, it didn’t run through my mind. I, I walked. I walked for drugs. .”
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Cramer said his family is not number one.
“I sabotaged myself,” Cramer said. “I put myself in a position I shouldn’t have, but… I just didn’t call. I don’t know why I didn’t call.”
A private investigator alerted Oklahoma City police to an adult ad for Cramer. Ten days after Cramer disappeared from the AAC, Oklahoma officials found Cramer wandering outside the complex where one of his traffickers would later be arrested.
“I’m tired. I don’t know. I don’t know what to do,” Cramer said. “I was so confused that I saw things that weren’t there… so, I just walked around the apartment, like I was praying. the police, an ambulance, something, random people on the street.’ I was like, ‘God, I can’t do this … please.’ And, ‘Who, please, please save me.’ And not five minutes (later), a policeman pulled up next to me and said, ‘Are you Natalee Cramer?’ And I said, ‘Yes, I am.'”
Cramer became very emotional, saying his prayers were answered.
“He felt it. God said to him, ‘This is him. Go get him.’ Like, God is there.”
It’s been two and a half years since that night at AAC, and Cramer thinks he’s escaped and recovered thanks to faith, family, therapy, and Gunnar. Gunnar is her dog, who arrived shortly after she got home and started therapy.
“When I got Gunnar, I was in manic … every morning he forced me out, I had to take him out. I had to feed him,” Cramer said. “He brought that motivation back … he’s a dog. He didn’t know it, but he completely saved my life.”
Cramer said he is lucky to be alive.
“I knew I was going to die. I knew it,” Cramer said. “It’s scary to think that it happens every day. But I hope what people take from this is real. It’s real and difficult. And you may not think it will happen to you until then.”
He has a message for other victims and survivors.
“Don’t give up on yourself, even if this happens to you, don’t give up on yourself. It will get better. There’s nothing to be ashamed of. You just have to embrace it and know that it’s not your fault. . No!”
Cramer is still recovering, but she is ready to help others who may be in the same situation as her.
“I’m not giving up,” Cramer said. “I’m going to keep talking about it even if it means telling my story 100 times over and over again. It’s not just my story being told. the story.”
Cramer said she is a 9.5 on a scale of one to 10. She is working on her GED and wants to start Veterinarian school. She said she would be a “10” if she did.
Cramer and his family started a non-profit foundation. Aisling for Life helps raise support and resources for victims of sexual assault and sex trafficking. The Irish word “Aisling” means “dream.”
When several people were convicted in Oklahoma in connection with the case of Cramer, Dallas the investigator made an arrest but later dropped the charges against the suspect.
