A Texas teen abducted from an NBA game, sex trafficked and held against her will at a hotel 200 miles away has opened up about the horrific week of abuse she endured before investigators traced her photo in an online sex ad back to her captors.

Natalee Cramer, now 18, was just 15 years old when she and her father attended a Mavericks game at American Airlines Center in Dallas 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.

“I was feeling good and just ready to hang out with [my dad],” Cramer told the outlet. “We got there, sat down in our seats. … First quarter happened, and I started getting this anxious feeling. This craving for like getting high or drunk.”

TEXAS GIRL TRAFFICKED FROM DALLAS MAVERICKS GAME HELD AT HOTEL BY MEN WITH ‘AK-47 STYLE’ RIFLE: LAWSUIT

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. 

“I’m just walking around, and that’s when I caught that guy’s eye,” Cramer recalled. “I told him, ‘I’m just really looking to smoke. Do you smoke?”

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. 

TEXAS GIRL, 15, TRAFFICKED FROM MAVERICKS GAME IN DALLAS; 8 ARRESTED IN OKLAHOMA: POLICE

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)

“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.

“They did give me weed,” she told WFAA. “But there was more that they had in mind.”

Cramer was kept at the house against her will for several days before she was sold to a sex trafficking ring in Oklahoma.

Meanwhile, her father, Kyle Morris, reported his daughter missing at the arena when she never returned to her seat. But he was told he would need to report her as a runaway at their home police department 30 miles away. Cramer had previously left her parents’ home several times and had been reported as a runaway before.

A negative review for the ESA – Oklahoma City Airport Hotel describes prostitution taking place inside the establishment. (Dallas County lawsuit)

Desperate for answers, the family hired a private investigator in Houston who specializes in these types of cases. Within minutes, he was able to find photos of Cramer posted in an online sex ad and trace her location to Oklahoma City. 

Kenneth Levan Nelson, one of eight suspects arrested by Oklahoma City authorities in Cramer’s kidnapping, allegedly posted the nude photos online. 

Nelson, a convicted sex offender, “rented at least two hotel rooms” at the Extended Stay America Oklahoma City Airport Hotel “and was associated with at least two other hotel rooms” under a false name, according to a lawsuit filed against the hotel by Cramer’s parents.

Cramer was plied with “alcohol and numerous narcotics, including methamphetamines,” according to the lawsuit. She recalled seeing a family in the hotel as she walked intoxicated through the hall, flanked by men carrying assault rifles. 

TEXAS GIRL TRAFFICKED FROM DALLAS MAVERICKS GAME LISTED AS A ‘RUNAWAY’ BEFORE NUDE PHOTOS SURFACED

Oklahoma City authorities arrested and charged eight individuals after Natalee Cramer, then 15, was allegedly trafficked from a Dallas Mavericks game at the American Airlines Center April 8, 2022.  (Getty Images )

“I was more surprised to see a family with small children there, and they looked me in the eyes and could see that all of these people were older than me and still not say anything,” Cramer said. “The dad of these little children looked at me, and he couldn’t tell at the hotel. [The man who trafficked her] had a whole rifle by his side, and the family just walked on like nothing happened.”

On April 18, a police officer noticed the teen walking outside an apartment complex and asked if she was Natalee Cramer. She told the officer she had been raped and was rescued. 

She described her rescue as an answered prayer. 

“I was just praying to God,” she said. “‘I’m tired. I can’t do this anymore. I need someone. Please send someone.’”

The officer snapped an unrecognizable photo of her in the back of his cruiser. 

“I had braces at the time, and I was punched in the mouth by one of the guys,” Cramer told CBS News of the picture. “My whole cheek was just scratched. My braces were like inside my cheek.”

A view of American Airlines Center before the Dallas Mavericks and the Minnesota Timberwolves warm up for a game in Dallas Dec. 17, 2020. (Jerome Miron/Imagn Images)

Cramer said it was a matter of minutes after she talked to the officer before eight people — Saniya Alexander, Melissa Wheeler, Chevaun Gibson, Kenneth Nelson, Sarah Hayes, Karen Gonzales, Thalia Gibson and Steven Hill — were arrested. 

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.

“I know that there are things I could have done to prevent this, but I know not all of the choices that were made were my choices,” Cramer told WFAA. “Part of me felt guilty, but I had to come to the fact that this is my life, and they have ruined my life. I cannot feel sorry for them because they did not feel sorry for me.”

Cramer said she didn’t realize anything was wrong until she was being raped and that her kidnapping wasn’t the typical “guy with candy in the back of his 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,” Cramer said. “There’s no room to judge people because they can’t get out. If they could leave, they would.

“I did not know how to leave because I was scared,” she continued. “I could have asked for the phone, but they would have been right there. What was I supposed to do? Even if I had run, where would I go? I didn’t know where I was.”

Cramer’s family has since started an organization called Aisling to help survivors of sexual assault and human trafficking.

The quick action of a Navy veteran turned Arizona State University student may have saved the life of a fellow student, who was repeatedly stabbed in a seemingly random attack on campus.

On Sept. 19, Kaci Sloan, 19, allegedly lunged at Mara Daffron, 19, as the pair arrived for class at ASU’s West Valley campus in Glendale. 

Police said that Sloan stabbed Mara twice before classmate and Navy veteran, Matthew McCormick, intervened.

“I’ve never seen anything like this and I hope I never do again,” McCormick told FOX 10 Phoenix.

FOX TRUE-CRIME PODCAST WITH EMILY COMPAGNO ‘CRIMES ON CAMPUS’

WATCH:

The veteran said that he was settling in his microeconomics class when he spotted Sloan lunging towards Daffron, saying that he immediately felt “compelled” to do something to help the situation.

“In that moment, I didn’t really have a thought going through my head, I just knew that I felt compelled to do something,” McCormick said.

I just knew that I felt compelled to do something…

— Matthew McCormick, ASU Student

McCormick’s quick action stopped Sloan – as she was going in for a third strike.

“As she was going for a third attack, I was able to grab her wrists and apprehend her before further damage could be done,” he said.

ARIZONA COLLEGE STUDENT STABBED TWICE IN RANDOM CLASSROOM ATTACK

Police corroborated McCormick’s account in a probable cause affidavit obtained by Fox News Digital, saying that one of the witnesses “was able to disarm the defendant by pulling the knife away from the defendant’s right hand and threw it [sic] away from them.” Another witness then “kicked the knife to the back of the classroom.”

Mara Daffron was allegedly stabbed twice in an ASU classroom by fellow student Kaci Sloan. (Facebook)

McCormick noted that he was not the only good Samaritan to step in, saying that they were “locked in.” Maricopa County authorities said that 13 witnesses were present at the horrific attack.

“It was a great job by everybody that was in that room; by the EMTs, the paramedics and police. Everybody responded really, really well. 9-1-1 calls were pretty instantaneous and everybody seemed pretty locked in and knew what to do,” he said.

The stabbing occurred in a classroom on ASU’s campus on Sept. 19. (FOX 10 Phoenix)

After the attack, Daffron was transported to a nearby, where she underwent surgery following the attack.

INDIANA UNIVERSITY FRATERNITY BROTHER ACCUSED OF ATTACKING MULTIPLE FEMALE CLASSMATES IN ONE WEEK

“We miss you. To you and your family, I pray for your return, and I’m just so thankful that your family was able to remain whole through this tragedy,” McCormick said.

Maricopa County authorities charged Kaci Lenise-Charlie Sloan, 19, with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and disorderly conduct with a weapon in connection with the attack against student Mara Daffron. (Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office)

According to court documents, one professor told police that the stabbing occurred “without any provocation or any words spoken.”

Chilling letters found by authorities following the stabbing showed that Sloan referenced an act she was “about to commit,” but it did “not specifically state what she was referring to.”

Sloan also apparently expressed the desire to “hurt somebody” in class that day in an interview with detectives after the alleged attack and chose to target Daffron because she was “an easier target” than the other person she apparently considered attacking. 

Sloan is facing several charges in connection to the stabbing, including attempted murder in the first degree. 

Fox News Digital’s Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.