murders in long island have reignited a national debate about the role of ad-based websites like backpage and redbook in facilitating the business of human trafficking. regardless of the disclaimers, regardless of the legalese that these sites hide behind, the reality is the resultant behavior is illegal. while many men view the smiling women in online sex ads as independent contractors selling their wares, bridgette carr says americans need to wake up and face reality. what do you see when you see a young teenager advertising online? i see what really happens in the background, which is the abuse, the exploitation, the violence. we unfortunately in america have a conversation around the pimping culture as if it s glamorous and fun. if we really understood what it s like for girls and boys in these situations, we would never describe it as glamorous or fun. i think the internet has
die. so i just wanted to be very clear, when we came public, especially to the families of the deceased, we were not passing any kind of character assessment or moral assessment on their loved one, but given the nature of the business that was being conducted on backpage, like i said, it would have been unconscionable for us not to go public with what we knew. in may 2012 their hard work pays off. police arrest 24-year-old james brown in the detroit suburb of sterling heights. brown is held for several months on charges of arson and mutilation of a dead body. in november 2012 he s formally charged with four counts of first-degree murder. brown pleads not guilty and is currently awaiting trial. the case in detroit and a similar string of online escort
separate incidences where two young ladies in each incident have been discovered deceased in vehicles on the east side of detroit. we have four homicides of which a serial pattern is developing. the first set of women were found on december 19th, dead in the trunk of a car on promenade street on detroit s east side. investigators now believe three of the victims may have met their killer online in the adult services section of the website backpage.com. this tie for us is disconcerting. it s alarming. and obviously, women in the city of detroit, you know, were very concerned. the murders are a brutal reminder of the constant danger and fear that stalks girls and young women every single day they work in the underground sex trade. this is a dangerous proposition. there s no way to tell who you re dealing with, what their motives may be, and the ultimate
young girls do. in fact, there is no backpage link to demesha hunt. and chikita reminds us that her daughter renisha came from a solid family, had a well-paying job at chrysler, and no logical reason to sell her body for cash. they have a very large family. everybody helps everybody. if either one of them needed anything, they could have gotten it. but as far as them meeting with someone on an escort to get a couple of dollars, no, i don t believe that at all. but police say renisha landers and the other two women found a week later were posting ads on backpage. it s prostitution. and you know, not to cast any aspersions on the deceased. that is no reason for anyone to lose their life. that is no reason for any deviant individual to be able to manipulate a system and hurt someone who does not deserve to
people off of the street? investigators discover a crucial circumstantial link between the two cases. three of the four victims had posted profiles online in the adult services section of the classified ad website backpage.com. when there was a definitive tie to backpage.com, and adult escort services, from a serial pattern standpoint it helped us to understand who the targets are. this tie for us is disconcerting. the backpage connection helps police focus their investigation, but it also riles the victims families, who bristle at the implication that their daughters may have been selling sex online. they were not prostitutes. they were not prostitutes. they were young girls that had goals in life. my daughter was a mother. my niece worked. and they just wanted to go out and have a good time like most