Sex trafficking survivor furious case appears closed: "Dallas [police] did horrible, horrible!"
DALLAS – A photo of an almost unrecognizable 15-year-old Natalee Cramer shows her sitting in the back of an Oklahoma City police car in April of 2022, nearly two weeks after she disappeared from the American Airlines Center during a Mavericks game.
Cramer said she vividly remembers the day the photo was taken. An Oklahoma City police officer had found and rescued her after she said she had prayed and begged God for help.
"I had braces at the time, and I was punched in the mouth by one of the guys," Cramer said of the picture. "My whole cheek was just scratched. My braces were like inside my cheek."
In the photo, her shoes were off, sitting on the seat next to her.
"I had walked and walked and walked for miles," she said, after she was finally able to leave a hotel room and get away from her traffickers.
Now 18, Cramer thanks Oklahoma for what law enforcement and prosecutors did on her case there. She is also angry because she says Texas dropped the ball on her case, which could leave many other young women to face the same danger.
Cramer is now speaking out in hopes of alerting others and law enforcement to the sex trafficking danger she experienced.
"It's just to spite women, just brutal. Just no respect," she said. Cramer has repeatedly told the I-Team she is lucky to be alive.
Cramer is now wondering if her case in Texas is closed.
The night she disappeared
On April 8, 2022, Cramer attended a Dallas Mavericks game with her dad. She got up to go the restroom and never returned.
Surveillance video captured Cramer walking around voluntarily with two other men during the game.
Later that night, she says she ended up in the parking garage, drugged and raped. Ten days later, police found Cramer in Oklahoma with sex traffickers.
Cramer said she encountered several men during the ordeal. She said they were not all connected nor part of the same organization.
"There were the guys from the American Airlines Center, completely different from the guy that punched me in the mouth. And the guys at the American Airlines Center were completely different from my rapist," Cramer said.
Early on, Cramer's parents told the I-Team they were furious at the way the Dallas Police Department and American Airlines Center security handled the case. They said DPD dismissed Cramer, deemed her a teenage runaway and did not desperately search for her using evidence from surveillance pictures.
Cramer is now echoing her family's concerns.
"I think Dallas [police] did horrible, horrible," she said. "I don't agree that people, whether you know, they are in danger's way or not, they're not just runaways," Cramer said. "My case is a perfect example of cops not doing their job. I was walking around outside when the game ended."
Cramer said law enforcement should have been able to locate her that night at the AAC.
"When the game ended, everyone was rushing outside. They would have found me. They just didn't look at all. They would have found me," she said.
In addition, she said she remained in Texas for the next three days about 20 minutes from the arena.
I-Team questions Texas law enforcement
DPD eventually arrested a Texas suspect, but a Dallas County grand jury declined to issue an indictment, no-billing the case.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Dallas County District Attorney's Office told the I-Team "our case is closed as it was no billed by the grand jury."
The I-Team also took Cramer's questions to the Dallas Police Department and asked for an interview.
DPD responded with a statement, which read, "We cannot identify or confirm the identity of the victim of a crime. Based on the date, location, and type of case you provided, we can confirm DPD investigated the incident. We cannot comment further due to the confidentiality of juvenile information under the Texas Family Code."
Cramer said she wonders why her home state has handled this so differently than Oklahoma.
"All of those people in Oklahoma are convicted," Cramer said.
She said she "100%" believes more needs to be done in Texas to investigate and prosecute the suspects in her case.
"My first sex trafficking incident was with the people at the American Airlines Center. That is Dallas' deal," Cramer said. "That is their responsibility that happened in in their area. That's not Oklahoma's to deal with. I was [trafficked] by Dallas men. Dallas police needs to deal with it, not Oklahoma police."
Cramer said it's been months since a DPD detective has interviewed her.
"Last time I talked to a detective? Six months after. Haven't heard anything. They don't talk. They interview you like they care and then they don't do anything else," Cramer said.
She said her case stands "at the very end of the line." This is why she is speaking out now.
"It doesn't matter to them, but that's why I feel like sharing my story will open people's eyes to this is real," Cramer said. "Cops need to get on onto this type of thing and hopefully my story will spread to people who are survivors and people who just want to support because they care."
Now an adult at 18 years old, she did not ask the I-Team to blur her face in videos or photos. She wants to be seen and heard.
"I'm not afraid," said Cramer. "I'm not scared of them. I'm not, I'm not that scared person I was when I was with those people."
And to "those people," Cramer has a direct message:
"I would say, 'Thank you, because you made me who I am today. You made those things happen in my life that made me stronger, made me be more resilient. But I will never I'll never forgive you and I wish the worst on you 100%. I wish the worst on you. But I thank you,'" she said.
Cramer's family is still holding out hope for more arrests, and they have reason to be encouraged: a meeting with the U.S. Attorney's office. They said they received a surprise call from a federal prosecutor reaching out to talk.
Changes at the Dallas Police Department
While they say it was a small victory, Cramer and her family said they are happy they encouraged a change in DPD protocol regarding runaways.
A spokesperson for DPD confirmed those changes in a statement:
Effective September 1, 2023, the following changes were made:
- The age of a runaway went from anyone between the ages of 10 to 16 years old to anyone 17 years old and younger.
- Officers will immediately begin a Missing Child (Runaway) investigation regardless of the jurisdiction in which the child went missing.
- A Missing Child (Runaway) report will be made regardless of the jurisdiction in which the child went missing.
