Dallas, TX
Texas teen's abduction at Dallas Mavericks NBA game shows nothing is off limits: expert
The heart-wrenching ordeal of Natalee Cramer, a Texas 15-year-old abducted from a Dallas Mavericks game and rescued from sex traffickers in Oklahoma 10 days later, is a reminder that “trafficking can happen to anyone anywhere,” an expert told Fox News Digital.
“A trafficking victim can look like anyone, and a trafficker can look like anyone – people too often think ‘It doesn’t happen to me, it doesn’t happen in my country, it doesn’t happen to my community – it doesn’t happen to people here,’” said Stefany Ovalles, an attorney with the Center for Safety and Change who has legally represented dozens of sex trafficking victims. “To rely on that as a blanket statement is being too naive about what human trafficking looks like.”
Every two minutes worldwide, a child is sold into sexual slavery. Of the 4.8 million total victims of sex trafficking, 300,000 are American children, according to the Safe House Project nonprofit.
It is estimated that sex trafficking generates more than $150 billion in profits for traffickers and their facilitators, according to the U.S. Department of State.
TEXAS TEEN ABDUCTED FROM DALLAS MAVERICKS NBA GAME SHARES WHAT LURED HER FROM DAD
Natalee Cramer and her abductor, Emanuel Cartagena, were seen walking together at the American Airlines Center on April 8, 2022. (Dallas Police Department)
Natalee Cramer, now 18, was just 15 years old when she and her father attended a Mavericks game at American Airlines Center in Dallas on April 8, 2022.
Cramer, who is now sober and pursuing a GED, said she was dependent on marijuana and alcohol to cope with her anxiety at the time, and when the game started, she began to feel anxious, she told WFAA.
Cramer told her father she was going to the bathroom, but she left her phone at her seat and did not return. On the arena’s concourse, Cramer made eye contact with her alleged abductor, 33-year-old Emanuel Cartagena.
Cramer said she walked with Cartagena back to his car, where he said he had marijuana for them to smoke. A second person met them in the parking garage, and the three drove to a house in North Texas.
“He didn’t tell me there was anyone else there with him,” Cramer said. “It was just him. He told me we would walk back to his car that was parked in the parking lot… in the garage… and that’s when the second guy came. They told me the weed was just in the car.
TEXAS GIRL TRAFFICKED FROM DALLAS MAVERICKS GAME HELD AT HOTEL BY MEN WITH ‘AK-47 STYLE’ RIFLE: LAWSUIT
The Oklahoma City Police Department has arrested Saniya Alexander, Melissa Wheeler, Chevaun Gibson, Kenneth Nelson, Sarah Hayes, Karen Gonzales, Thalia Gibson and Steven Hill in connection to the trafficking case of a 15-year-old girl from a Dallas Mavericks game. (Oklahoma City Detention Center)
“They did give me weed,” she told WFAA. “But there was more that they had in mind.”
Ovalles told Fox News Digital that the way Cramer fell into the hands of her captors underscores the importance of having difficult conversations with your children that could save their lives.
“I learned in a couple of articles that the point of no return for [Cramer] was when she was being raped as opposed to any other sort of step before that,” Ovalles said. “It made me sort of wonder if a conversation happened about this being a potential danger, could she have known to trust her gut at the point of ‘Let me not follow this man to the parking lot’ or ‘There is another man here now that we’ve gotten to this parking lot.’ It’s why it’s so imperative to raise awareness that this is out there with hopes that it leads to more prevention.”
In some ways, Ovalles said, Cramer’s case is abnormal – “abduction in this way isn’t as common, [although] it does exist.”
TEXAS GIRL, 15, TRAFFICKED FROM MAVERICKS GAME IN DALLAS; 8 ARRESTED IN OKLAHOMA: POLICE
A negative review for the ESA – Oklahoma City Airport Hotel describes prostitution taking place inside the establishment. (Dallas County lawsuit)
Most victims are coerced into sex trafficking by someone that they already know, Ovalles said, like a romantic partner or family member.
“But everything that happened [to Cramer] after [she was abducted] is pretty much in line with what we see in other trafficking cases,” Ovalles said, referring to the physical violence that she endured.
The way that Cramer was inducted into sex trafficking falls under the umbrella of “guerrilla pimping”: when a trafficker suddenly, violently forces a victim into sex work.
Ovalles said it’s more common for a romantic partner to gradually ease the victim into sex work, a method called “Lover Boy Pimping.”
“It starts off with an older guy pretending to be in a relationship with you and at some point he switches it up and says ‘I have this debt I need to pay off,’ or ‘I could really use your help, and you’re doing this for me because you love me,’” Ovalles explained. “That’s how they get into this situation – they end up staying there due to coercion.”
TEXAS GIRL TRAFFICKED FROM DALLAS MAVERICKS GAME LISTED AS A ‘RUNAWAY’ BEFORE NUDE PHOTOS SURFACED
Oklahoma City authorities have arrested and charged eight individuals after a 15-year-old Texas girl was allegedly trafficked from a Dallas Mavericks game at the American Airlines Center on April 8. (Getty Images )
Cramer was rescued after her family hired a private investigator in Houston who specializes in abduction cases. Within minutes, he was able to find photos of Cramer posted in an online sex ad and trace her location to Oklahoma City.
Although it may seem brazen for a trafficker to post photos of an abducted girl online, Ovalles said it’s not uncommon, and that “there are a significant number of networks where Johns can have a safe space to look at online ads for children.”
The U.S. Senate and House passed the FOSTA and SESTA bills in 2018, which clarified existing sex trafficking laws and shut down sites like Backpage and the personals section of Craigslist, which were used to advertise sex work and commonly used by traffickers.
Now, such advertisements and photos are relegated to the corners of the dark web – but still accessible for those who are looking hard enough.
“They’ll find a way. They’ll say ‘This website is shut down? We’ll just recalibrate and go elsewhere,’” Ovalles said. “Traffickers are very, very savvy – it’s a multibillion-dollar industry for a reason.”
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A view of the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Dec. 17, 2020. (Jerome Miron-Imagn Images)
Not just abducted children are featured in these ads – Ovalles said a growing number of children are coerced into sharing intimate photos through “sextortion.”
“A child could be thrust into a sex trafficking scheme without ever leaving their home,” she said. “A predator befriends them over social media, catfishes them, gets them to send sexually explicit material and uses that batch to get more sexually explicit material by saying ‘I’ll expose this, I’ll send it to all of your friends and family members.’”
Eight people – Saniya Alexander, Melissa Wheeler, Chevaun Gibson, Kenneth Nelson, Sarah Hayes, Karen Gonzales, Thalia Gibson and Steven Hill – were arrested after Cartagena, the man who allegedly initially led Cramer back to his car before she was trafficked, was arrested by U.S. Marshals in January 2023 and charged with sexual assault of a child, according to WFAA. But a Dallas County grand jury decided there was not enough evidence to prosecute him.
Ovalles said she isn’t surprised that the man wasn’t charged – “while we have made strides in the area of human trafficking and getting more convictions, the conviction rate is so low compared to how many victims there are that it works to dissuade victims from coming forward and preventing this.”
Cramer’s parents have filed a lawsuit against the Oklahoma City Airport Hotel and other parties, claiming that they failed to acknowledge obvious signs that their daughter was being held against her will and trafficked.
But Ovalles said the family is unlikely to win in court.
“I can’t speak to what the case precedent looks like in Oklahoma for this, but it would be really difficult to hold the hotel liable when the trafficker himself isn’t even being persecuted for doing the trafficking,” she said. “It’s difficult to have the hotel assume liability. You’d have to show that they were so aware that this was happening and that she was underage. There would have to be so many precedents.”
Sunday was another frustrating game for Dallas Cowboys fans who had to watch the secondary miss one tackle after another against the New York Giants.
In addition to the poor angles and inability to wrap up, the defensive backs couldn’t consistently stop an aerial attack that was without their top two players. That sums up the season for the Dallas defense, which is why Matt Eberflus being relieved of his duties feels like a foregone conclusion.
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From there, the question turns to who will replace Eberflus. While there’s no shortage of options available, here’s a look at some of the top candidates if Dallas made fixing the secondary their primary goal.
Daniel Bullocks, DB Coach/Pass Game Specialist, San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers have one of the most impressive coaching trees. While Robert Saleh didn’t excel as a head coach, he returned to his role as defensive coordinator and continued to excel. They’ve also seen DeMeco Ryans do an extraordinary job in Houston as a head coach, with a staff loaded with former 49ers assistants.
That’s why looking at their staff is a wise move. One name to consider is Daniel Bullocks, who has been an assistant with San Francisco since 2017. He currently serves as the safeties coach and pass game specialist. While they haven’t been elite this year, his unit is usually among the best in the NFL.
Aubrey Pleasant, Assistant Head Coach/Pass Game Coordinator, Los Angeles Rams
Aubrey Pleasant has been a name to watch for years, even interviewing for multiple defensive coordinator vacancies. He’s been with the Los Angeles Rams since 2023, and was promoted to assistant head coach in 2024.
Cory Undlin, Pass Game Coordinator, Houston Texans
DeMeco Ryans was mentioned earlier as a great coach to come out of San Francisco. One assistant he brought along with him is Cory Undlin, who has been a pass game specialist for the 49ers (2021-2022) and now the Houston Texans (2023-present).
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Houston has a vicious defense led by hard-hitting safeties and physical cornerbacks. Undlin deserves credit for helping develop their young talent and could help Dallas get back on track in the secondary.
Al Harris, Pass Game Coordinator/DB Coach, Chicago Bears
Everyone who follows the Cowboys knows, and loves, Al Harris. He was part of Dan Quinn’s defensive staff and was credited for developing ballhawks such as Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland.
Harris left this offseason and while the Cowboys fell apart, the Chicago Bears began to generate turnovers at a high rate. We’ve seen enough to know Harris should have been kept.
Raheem Morris, Head Coach, Atlanta Falcons
Raheem Morris was fired after two seasons as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, but that doesn’t mean he’s a bad coach. Morris remains one of the more well-respected defensive minds in the NFL, even winning the Super Bowl in 2021 as the Rams’ defensive coordinator. That was his second Super Bowl ring, as Morris earned one with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers following the 2002 season. That year, he was a defensive quality control coach for Jon Gruden.
Morris excels at coaching defensive backs and brings extensive experience to the table. He may be exactly the kind of hire Jerry Jones would feel comfortable making, and one Cowboys fans could believe in.
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The Dallas Cowboys wrapped up their 2025 season on Sunday and will now turn all of their attention to offseason work in the name of not finding themselves out of the playoffs this time next year. Obviously that is much easier said than done.
This upcoming offseason is one of the most important and critical in recent Cowboys history as they have multiple first-round draft picks for the first time since 2008. With the Cowboys now officially done for the season, we know where they will be picking come the 2026 NFL Draft.
Updated 2026 NFL Draft order
Here are the first 12 picks of the draft, through the Cowboys selection at number 12 overall, courtesy of Tankathon.
If all of this sounds familiar it is because it is… the Cowboys held the 12th overall pick last year and used it to select Tyler Booker. They also used it in 2021 to select Micah Parsons, more on him in a moment, although they picked it up after trading back two spots. For what it’s worth the Detroit Lions held the pick in consecutive seasons beginning the year after and landed Jameson Williams and Jahmyr Gibbs, so hopefully that type of success is what the Cowboys find.
While we know where the Cowboys are picking, it is still unknown exactly where their other first-round pick will land. Dallas holds Green Bay’s selection in the 2026 NFL Draft and the Packers are currently set to visit the Chicago Bears in the Wild Card Round which means we are all rooting for Chicago to take care of business.
Updated rundown of Cowboys Draft Picks
Keep in mind that Dallas has also already dealt away 2026 draft capital as well.
The Cowboys are projected to receive a couple of compensatory picks as well, potentially in the fifth-round, but those are not fully known at this time.
It seems like a match made in urban planning heaven. Most metro areas have an abundance of underperforming retail property, such as half-vacant shopping centers, and a shortage of housing that average Texans can afford. Turn that retail into housing, and voila, two problems solved at once.
But no complicated problem has such an easy fix. The North Texas growth juggernaut means that burgeoning exurbs need additional retail space even as dilapidated strip centers plague core cities and older suburbs. Some homeowners may fear and fight plans for new, higher-density housing near them, even when it replaces obsolete shopping centers.
Yet reinvigorating or repurposing underused commercial property can improve a neighborhood’s quality of life while also adding value to a city’s property tax base. That new revenue is especially important because state lawmakers have been keen to limit homeowners’ property taxes. Responsible city leaders need to grow other parts of the tax base just to keep up with the increasing cost of providing public services and maintaining aging infrastructure.
What North Texas needs is a variety of tactics to address these related issues: streamlined rezoning, public incentives to redevelop infrastructure, increased public education about budget issues, and a greater tolerance for change. Fading retail centers can be revitalized in ways that preserve their original use or transform them into something totally different, such as housing. It just takes determination, money and imagination.
Retail abundance
Dallas-Fort Worth has about 200 million square feet of retail space, and it’s about 95% to 97% occupied, said Steve Zimmerman, managing director of the brokerage group at The Retail Connection. Colliers, a real estate services and investment management firm, reported in August that retail rents here have been rising about 4% annually. Those statistics suggest that retail space isn’t severely overbuilt.
But not all retail centers are full of high-performing, high-value businesses. Aging strip centers tend to attract vape shops, nail salons, pay-day lenders, check-cashers, doughnut shops and vacancies; their capacious parking lots remain mostly empty. Those underutilized properties don’t enhance nearby neighborhoods or the tax base as much as busy, attractive retail centers would.
Last year, the Texas Legislature created a new tool to help redevelop commercial properties. Known as Senate Bill 840, the law forces large cities in urban counties to allow multifamily and mixed-use residential development on commercial, office, warehouse or retail property without a zoning change.
SB 840 is meant to encourage developers to transform bleak, underperforming retail spaces into badly needed housing. For example, it might have prevented the fight over Pepper Square in Far North Dallas.
That shopping center languished while the developer and nearby residents sparred in a bitter and protracted rezoning dispute. It is a prime example of how local government processes and NIMBYism make it hard to redevelop in Dallas.
But implementing the new law has been more complicated than we’d hoped. For starters, some North Texas suburbs reworked their zoning code to try to sidestep the new rules.
Irving, for example, set an eight-story minimum height requirement for new multifamily or mixed-use residential development — much taller than what’s typical in the area. Frisco pulled a different trick. Senate Bill 840 exempts industrial areas, so Frisco changed its zoning code to permit heavy industry in commercial zones.
Market conditions also may be slowing commercial-to-residential redevelopment. Our newsroom colleague, Nick Wooten, reported in November that there is a temporary over-supply of apartments in Dallas, fueled by a construction boom and a stream of remote workers in the post-COVID years.
(Unfortunately, that oversupply hasn’t made rent much cheaper. Even if a lease is relatively inexpensive, there are plenty of added costs, like electricity and Wi-Fi. Plus, building managers often nickel-and-dime residents with mandatory fees for trash collection, parking lot security gates, parcel lockers, pets and on and on.)
The temporary situation doesn’t erase the region’s long-term shortage of lower-cost homes. We need SB 840 to work because we need a larger, more diverse stock of housing, including multifamily and townhomes, across the entire region. With a more generous supply of all types of homes, both rental and owned, housing costs should eventually decline.
More options for faded retail
Senate Bill 840 is only one strategy for remaking forlorn retail properties into something more useful and valuable. Some creative owners, managers and public officials have found ways to maintain a property’s retail orientation while adding unique experiences and features.
Carrollton updated design standards and established a “Retail Rehabilitation Performance Grant Program” to encourage property owners to reinvest in underutilized retail centers. One notable success: Carrollton Town Center, where occupancy had dipped to 20% more than a decade ago, according to a story in PM Magazine. Now it is a bustling, walkable, Asian-focused retail and restaurant destination.
Hillcrest Village in Far North Dallas is part of an entire block of aging retail along Arapaho Road. A public-private partnership transformed a parking lot into the “Hillcrest Village Green,” a 1.5-acre expanse of turf with a playground at one end. Restaurants with oversize patios overlook the city-owned greenspace.
Local developer Monte Anderson, a champion of “incremental redevelopment,” is remaking the Wheatland Plaza shopping center in Duncanville. He’s reworking interior spaces and reclaiming some of the parking lot for food trucks, new landscaping, and eventually, a dozen for-sale townhomes built with Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity.
Cities can speed retail redevelopment with small and large incentive programs. Retail properties typically don’t have the utility infrastructure needed for housing; grants and revolving, low-interest loan funds can help residential developers keep costs down so their end product is more affordable. Elected officials need to help constituents understand why most cities need denser, higher-value redevelopment to keep tax rates lower.
D-FW has matured into a metropolis with a vibrant, diversified economy. To accommodate population growth, cities can’t ignore languishing commercial property, or allow only one type of new housing, or permit property tax bases to stagnate. By tackling all three issues at once, they can lay the foundation for a more prosperous future.
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