This week we're not talking about a case from our usual area.

We're going out west to cover a disappearance with ties to human trafficking.

And one of the reasons I'm covering this case is that there are a lot of misconceptions

about human trafficking.

I mean, we've all seen the posts on social media.

I was at the mall and this man asked me a weird question and then I saw him near my car

in the parking lot.

I was almost trafficked.

No, you weren't almost trafficked.

You might have had your purse stolen or been card jacked or mugged.

What actual human trafficking, where men, women and children are put to work against their

will, that's far more likely to be connected to someone you know or someone you think you

know.

There are multiple risk factors for being trafficked.

If you are excessively using or abusing drugs or alcohol, if you are struggling with addiction,

if you come from an unsafe or unstable home such as a place where the adults they struggle

with addiction or if there is domestic violence in the home, if you're in foster care, people

living in these situations, people who have issues in their lives leading to instability,

unpredictability and unsafe situations, these are the people most likely to be trafficked,

not middle-class women frequenting a well-traveled suburban mall or grocery store.

And to understand how Kelsey Emily Collins was trafficked, how she ended up in a dangerous

situation while still in close contact with friends and family, while still attending

...