Southwest
Texas teen abducted from Dallas Mavericks NBA game shares what lured her from dad
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
Natalee Cramer and her abductor, Emanuel Cartagena, were seen walking together at the American Airlines Center on April 8, 2022. (Dallas Police Department)
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.
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Southwest
Texas jail inmate charged with capital murder after allegedly attacking detention officer: 'Pure evil'
A 28-year-old detention officer in Texas is dead after allegedly being attacked by an inmate while he was returning the inmate to his cell.
During a news conference Tuesday, Ellis County Sheriff Brad Norman revealed that Officer Isaiah Bias was killed Monday during the alleged attack at the jail.
“It’s with great sadness that we stand here today and acknowledge the loss of one of our own. … Isaiah Bias, 28 years of age, was a dedicated detention officer with over six years of service to the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office,” Norman said.
Norman called the alleged attack by 45-year-old suspect Aaron Thompson “pure evil” but did not disclose details about how Bias was killed.
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Ellis County Detention Officer Isaiah Bias died after being attacked by Aaron Thompson, left. (Ellis County Sheriff’s Office)
“Most of the time, law enforcement officers and detention officers deal with good folks having a bad day. Occasionally, we deal with bad folks,” Norman said. “I can honestly say that my staff over the last day has dealt with pure evil.”
Norman said Thompson was charged with capital murder, adding he would be recommending the death penalty.
CHICAGO-AREA POLICE OFFICER KILLED WHILE RESPONDING TO ‘ARMED OFFENDER’ AT BANK, SUSPECT CHARGED
Isaiah Bias, a detention officer at the Ellis County, Texas, jail, died Monday after allegedly being assaulted by an inmate. (Ellis County Sheriff’s Office)
“It was a heinous, horrific, purposeful murder that was senseless and not needed,” Norman said. “The ultimate decision will be made by the district attorney’s office, whether or not they seek the death penalty in this case. If I have anything to say about it, that’s exactly what will happen, but the ultimate decision lies on the DA’s office.”
According to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by KDFW, Thompson punched Bias, knocking him to the ground, and then allegedly began choking and hitting him in the head with his fist, knee and foot.
The affidavit said Thompson then went to a table and sat down, leaving Bias in a “large pool of blood.”
Thompson was booked into jail last month on three counts of assault on a public servant and evading arrest and was in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day, Norman said.
Norman said he met Bias when he was a teenager in the jail’s explorer program.
CHICAGO LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS ID SUSPECT, ANNOUNCE CHARGES IN MURDER OF POLICE OFFICER
During a news conference, Ellis County Sheriff Brad Norman said detention Officer Isaiah Bias was killed after being attacked by an inmate Monday. (Ellis County Sheriff’s Office)
“He wanted to be in law enforcement. He came in to work for the jail,” Norman said. “You can work in the jail when you are 18. You can’t be a peace officer in Texas until you’re 21,” Norman said.
Norman also described Bias as a “very family-oriented person” and said he had just become an uncle a week before his murder.
“His sister’s baby was a week old, and he was able to see the baby the day it was born,” Norman said. “He loved what he did. The people around him loved him. Law enforcement was a career path he loved.”
The Texas Rangers have taken over the murder investigation. Thompson was arraigned, and his bond was set at $2 million.
Stepheny Price is writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. Story tips and ideas can be sent to stepheny.price@fox.com
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Los Angeles, Ca
‘Shut up, I’m trying to steal!’: Burglars ransack Southern California homes while posing as deliverymen
Residents are frightened and angry as a group of suspects continue ransacking San Fernando Valley homes, leaving a trail of destruction behind.
A Valley Village resident said she was stunned and shaken up after thieves targeted her home on Dec. 17 between 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The break-in was captured on home surveillance cameras as a male suspect approached the house and appeared to be disguised as a delivery man.
“Ten minutes after we left [our home], someone was knocking at the door and our dog was barking away,” she said. “Then within a minute, someone had broken into the back of the house, smashed the glass door, came in and locked the dog in a room and just trashed the house. They took all of my jewelry.”
Photos of the aftermath showed drawers in every room were removed and emptied and all of the woman’s belongings were thrown across the floor in heaping piles.
“It was very frightening and very scary,” the homeowner, who did not want to be identified, told KTLA’s Angeli Kakade.
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A suspect is seen on security footage rummaging through a victim’s closet in the San Fernando Valley. -
Three hooded burglary suspects run into the backyard of a San Fernando Valley home, knocking over any security cameras they spot. -
Home surveillance cameras captured a fake delivery man knocking on the front door of a Valley Village home while several suspects shattered the back door to burglarize the home on Dec. 17, 2024. -
The male suspect posing as a delivery person is seen walking away. -
The destructive aftermath of a burglary at a Valley Village home on Dec. 17, 2024. -
The destructive aftermath of a burglary at a Valley Village home on Dec. 17, 2024. -
Three hooded burglary suspects run into the backyard of a San Fernando Valley home, knocking over any security cameras they spot. -
Three hooded burglary suspects run into the backyard of a San Fernando Valley home, knocking over any security cameras they spot. -
The back door of a Valley Village home was shattered as a group of thieves ransacked the property on Dec. 17, 2024. -
The destructive aftermath of a burglary at a Valley Village home on Dec. 17, 2024.
She posted the surveillance video on the NextDoor app and was shocked to discover how many other nearby residents came forward with similar burglary stories.
“I didn’t know this was going on until I let our neighbors know and then you start finding out that it’s happening all the time,” another neighbor told KTLA.
A Sherman Oaks resident posted a video of a thief rummaging inside a closet and at one point, he was heard yelling to the homeowner, “Shut up bi*ch! I’m trying to steal!”
Victims reported the same details — a fake delivery man knocks on the front door to check if anyone’s home while several accomplices enter the house by shattering a back door or window.
At times, when the suspects would spot a security camera, they would quickly run over and knock it to the ground.
The Valley Village victim said she’s angry over the constant break-ins her community is forced to endure. The worst part, she said, was that she had no idea it was taking place. She believes local law enforcement needs to prioritize alerting citizens of burglary threats.
“I’m very frustrated because I feel like if people had let us know, maybe we could’ve taken more precautions,” she said.
The burglaries remain under investigation and no suspects have been arrested. Anyone with information can call the Los Angeles Police Department at 818-374-9500.
Oklahoma lawmakers support eliminating the Department of Education, after President-elect Donald Trump promised to do away with the department during the campaign.
“I personally believe that we should have more of our education at the state level as opposed to Washington, D.C.,” Republican Policy Committee Chair-elect and Oklahoma Rep. Kevin Hern said. “This has been something that goes all the way back to Ronald Reagan so this is not a mystery where Republicans are. Let our parents, and our teachers, and our administrators do their job.”
“Just maybe the one size fits all is limiting us,” Rep. Josh Brecheen, R-Okla., said. “You don’t have innovation and ingenuity when you have one model.”
FILE – President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with the House GOP conference, Nov. 13, 2024, in Washington. (Allison Robbert/Pool via AP, File) (Allison Robbert/Pool via AP, File)
GOP SENATOR DEBUTS BILL TO ABOLISH DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION FOLLOWING TRUMP CAMPAIGN PROMISE
He added that states should have complete control over education.
Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters in November supported the abolition of federal department and sent a memo to schools in the state to prepare for that possibility.
“The federal government has hijacked our education system, using taxpayer dollars to impose harmful policies and control what is taught in our schools,” the memo states.
After Trump signaled during the campaign that he supported abolishing the department, the idea has been gaining momentum. He said he’ll prioritize “closing up the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., and sending all education and education work it needs back to the states.”
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who Trump appointed to lead a team to make the federal government more efficient, gave their approval to a proposal that abolishes the department.
Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters supports President-elect Donald Trump’s idea to abolish the Department of Education. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
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He added that states should have complete control over education.
While Oklahoma Republicans are on board with disbanding the Education Department, one GOP lawmaker wants to ensure federal dollars continue to go to state and local schools.
“My issue is, if you’re capable of doing that, how do you implement it,” Rep. Frank Lucas said. “The state of Oklahoma is the primary funder of public schools. Local property taxes are an important element, but federal dollars are really important too.”
He continued, “Reading programs, disabled programs, those kinds of issues, how do you make sure those resources are still available to local school districts?”
Elon Musk, Co-Chair of the newly announced Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), arrives at Capitol Hill on Dec. 5, 2024 in Washington, D.C.; Vivek Ramaswamy, chairman and co-founder of Strive Asset Management, arrives to meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. (Left: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Right: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., told The Oklahoman that he’s all for abolishing ED, but some federal funding is needed—particularly, federal Impact Aid.
“If you’re going get rid of the Department of Education, I’m not for getting rid of Impact Aid because that’s tens of millions of dollars to Oklahoma schools who are educating these kids would not be here but for that,” he said. “I agree with president about educational bureaucracy – it’s bloated, and frankly it’s wrong-headed in many of the policies it pursues… But honestly, I don’t see where you get the 60 votes in the Senate.”
Read the full article from Here
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