Murder Investigation Points To Drug And Human Trafficking

Jamie Oberg, News 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Police say Francisco Gomez and Jimmy Lee Massey may be tied to local drug and human trafficking operations in Oklahoma and that the murder of Carina Saunders was meant to be a message to others to cooperate.

12/20/2011  Related Story:  Bethany Police Arrest Man, Seek Person Of Interest In Carina Saunders Murder

12/20/2011  Related Story:  Authorities Arrest Person Of Interest In Carina Saunders' Murder

A woman who was forced into that world of child sex trafficking right here in the metro has decided to speak out.  The shocking details surrounding Saunders' death is bringing back childhood memories for her and the reality that child sex and drug trafficking is happening around us.

"They'll beat you.  They'll rape you as a punishment.  It's very violent," trafficking survivor Samantha said. "That's what it's based on, fear, power, coercion and control."

Abducted and forced to work the streets as a child prostitute, Samantha's has shared her dark past with us before.

"Shameful, dirty and it happens all the time," she said.

Police believe Saunders was picked up at random and was not involved in trafficking, but the witnesses and events surrounding her murder have child and drug trafficking in the spotlight.

Samantha isn't holding back anymore.

"This is the first time I'm showing my face on camera," she said. "I'm here, I survived and now I'm telling."

She says she's speaking up so Oklahomans will open their eyes to the fact that human and drug trafficking is happening right here at home.

"I can't even imagine how it would feel as a parent myself to have one of my children missing then find them murdered because of something like this," Samantha said.

She hopes by sharing her story more people will open their mouths and talk about the realities out there and prevent future tragedies.

"I would be dead, I would be dead," she said.

"It's right here in Oklahoma.  It's our backyard.  It's happening every day.  Every minute it happens."

It took Samantha 20 years before she could share her story.

Here's the story from when Samantha first shared her story with News9 but asked not to have her identity shown on camera.

11/3/2011  Related Story:  An Inside Look Into The Shocking World Of Human Trafficking 

Samantha was working at a prison at that time, where she would see gang members affiliated with those who forced her to prostitute every day.

Now, she has a new job and feels safer facing the cameras and her traffickers.

According to court document the witness who came forward in this case told police, while being forced to watch the torture and death of a teen girl she was given a message to relay to her associates that this is what happens to people who don't cooperate.