Family shares 5 photos showing how daughter escaped sex trafficking
DALLAS - Standing around the kitchen table, everyone agrees, the large clear zip-lock bag the North Texas parents are holding is disturbing.
The contents are telling.
"… a shirt, some underwear, a makeup brush,…" says Brooke Morris who has collected these items from her teenage daughter's room.
Investigators had asked them to put it together in case they needed to compare the DNA from the personal belongings to their daughter's body.
"This was so that she can be identified as mine," admits Morris.
"…as horrible as everything is, it's important to understand the growth that's going to come from it because the story is far from over."
That was the conversation the Morrises had with the I-Team in March of 2023. They were explaining the last few months of their lives.
Nine months later…
Fast forward to December, nine months later, and it's clear how "far from over" their story is. The I-Team sat down again with the Morrises, in the same living room, but this time, they shared something else.
Reaching for her phone, the teenage girl's mother said, "I'm going to show you a couple of hard pictures."
The Ad
In April 2022, their family made national headlines. Kyle Morris and their then 15-year-old went to a Mavericks game. After leaving her seat, she disappeared. She was last seen on surveillance video with two other men.
Nine days later, a private investigator traced her to an Oklahoma hotel room. He'd found her picture in an ad which the parents shared with us.
The first picture Brooke Morris pulls up on her phone is an ad. You see the then 15-year-old's long dark hair, back and shoulder from the side.
The ad states:
"How are you gentlemen doing? I am here from Dallas visiting, looking for some company. Just hit me up and we will go from there."
This is not a photo the Morrises wanted to share, but the next one is.
The Police Car
"This is a hard one," says Brooke Morris staring at the photo on her phone.
"This is in the police car when she was recovered in Oklahoma."
The young girl is sitting in the back seat of the police car staring into the camera. She is wearing a green, short sleeved t-shirt and shorts. Her shoes are on the seat next to her. She has no make-up on and appears very young, dazed, and almost unrecognizable.
Morris says she sees sadness and darkness in her daughter's eyes.
"She was crying. Praying to God that He would find her and save her," Kyle Morris explains what his daughter was doing just moments before the picture was taken.
"That's the picture we use to identify her while she was in the car still."
The parents are sharing these images for the first time ever, because they say their daughter wants her story heard. They say she is just not ready to do it herself.
"Her main message would be you are believed," says Brooke Morris talking about what their daughter would be saying if she was sitting with her parents.
"No matter what other people say. No matter what attorneys say, what a judge says, what the media says. You are believed! That I know beyond a shadow of a doubt. That is exactly what she would say."
The Puppy
The young girl is now 17- years old. She recently got her driver's license. She would like to finish high school.
And, she is working on rekindling and creating new friendships- especially one in particular.
"I know that might sound silly, but she has this puppy," says Brooke Morris. "…and it has really given her something to take care of. Something that needs her. Something that relies on her."
The Morrises explain how important this relationship has become.
Two pictures show the young beagle named Gunter and her loving on her new friend.
"She loves this puppy, and she does everything for this puppy and this puppy's well-being is her responsibility. And I think that has really helped kind of shape her into more of a caregiver instead of like a care receiver."
One image shows the teenager, her hair hanging over her shoulder, wearing a white tank top and holding the paws of a little brown and black puppy. She's kissing the side of his face.
The Morrises say their daughter is sad about what happened to her but also strong. She does not have a victim's mentality. And she is not angry.
"Having her here and whole and happy to me transcends, you know, anything else," says Brooke Morris. "I would say she's happy."
She was not at home during the interview with the I-Team. Letting her out of their sight now is a skill mom and dad say they have acquired through faith.
"…that is the only way I can tell you that we've been able to cope with any of this for the last 18 months. The peace that comes to you that doesn't make sense like how do I feel okay with this? I really don't feel okay with this. It's knowing that when we didn't know where she was God knew exactly where she was."
Being home for the holidays is a blessing. This time, last year, their daughter was in treatment- dealing with the demons of trafficking.
Today, she's safe and, as the last two pictures show—they say, she's more than surviving.
Looking back one year ago, Kyle Morris says, "Hope was waning."
Brooke Morris agrees and says, "We were just surviving a year ago."
But now, she says, they are all "thriving!"
"Now"
Flipping to the last two pictures on her phone, she says, "This is what she looks like now."
The image is a beautiful, young girl with her hair straight, long hair partly pulled back. Her green eyes are glowing under long eye lashes. This time, there are no dark circles and no fear in her face. She is smiling.
Brooke Morris says, she sees "joy" in this image.
"Yesterday"
And then the couple flips to one last picture. And this one is drastically different.
"This is a new picture." The parents smile with pride. "This is yesterday."
Her brownish hair has blonde highlights. It's curled. She has makeup on. And she's glowing.
Her parents agree she looks so healthy. She's staring directly into the camera, smiling. She appears youthful but confident.
"There is that is the power of prayer. And that is just a redemption story. Right there. Just in the photos she saw, I don't think I have to tell you the story for you to have looked at those five pictures and say, 'Wow!' "
The Morrises say they are starting a non-profit to help other young girls who have become victims of sex trafficking. They say their daughter wants to speak to other teenagers who are dealing with similar issues. She believes she can reach them better than any adult who has never experienced, first-hand, the ugly side of this growing crime.
As the I-Team has reported, there were several arrests and prosecutions in Oklahoma related to this case.
Last month, Dallas County closed its case against the Texas suspects with no further arrests or prosecutions.
https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/north-texas-sex-trafficking-case-closed-without-arrest/