(Editor’s note: MidlandToday is using the pseudonym Kelly Carter to protect the woman’s identity).
MIDLAND - Kelly Carter is raising the alarm bell over something no parent wants to think about, but remains a very real threat.
Carter says human trafficking isn’t just a big city problem, but affects young impressionable girls living in smaller centres like Midland and Penetanguishene.
And the now 33-year-old local woman knows of what she speaks. Growing up in the area, she first ran away from home at age 15 and ended up homeless in Toronto, surviving on McDonald's garbage and the kindness of strangers.
“It’s a road I have gone down,” says Carter, who lives in Midland with her two children and for the past eight years been married to a loving, supportive partner.
Despite coming from a loving family, Carter says she was an impressionable and vulnerable youth who was bullied extensively at school and could thereby be “easily manipulated” when she thought someone loved her.
“It grew to the point that I actually tried to commit suicide,” she says, noting that a later being diagnosis of bipolar disorder helped explain part of her constant yearning to be loved.
“Kids are mean right? I just wanted to get away.”
After her initial foray to the city and living the life of a homeless person for a couple of years, Carter returned home.
But the appeal of the big city just had too strong a pull and she left again. This time, however, she encountered the worst of humanity.
What she imagined at first to be nothing more than a one-night stand turned into something greater when the man began showering her with the affection and attention she’d always sought. She thought she’d met the man of her dreams.
“I just thought he was really good looking and I was just a poor single mom," says Carter, who points out she'd never been a "partier" or drinker and had never done drugs. "I never really felt loved and always had a specific image of what love was.
"He wined and dined me. It was like love bombing. Anything that a girl could ever want, he gave it to me. He would say and do anything for me. I fell in love with him."
During an extensive interview with MidlandToday, Carter comes across as an easily likeable and intelligent young woman with a big heart.
But what started out as a period of being swept off her feet quickly turned into one of being treated like a doormat.
She describes living a life that saw her held captive for three months with the man, who she considered thought infalllible, controlling her every move and advertising her for sexual services through underground avenues. She also suspects her food was drugged to keep her compliant and began to experience agoraphobia.
“He would beat me, and one time put a gun in my face,” she says, noting she just started to go along with what she came to view as a normal experience.
“During the time it was happening, I didn’t see it as a bad thing. When I was in it, maybe I was making up excuses for his behaviour.”
But one day after coming to the realization that what she was experiencing wasn't right, Carter says she got up the courage to run away while the man she calls "Calvin" was otherwise occupied. She ran to the apartment of another woman, who had been friendly towards her, and asked for help.
“I was scared," Carter says. "I don’t think I’ve ever been that scared."
She ended up hiding in a closet in the woman's apartment and calling the police. According to Carter, what happened next was like something out of a Hollywood thriller as the man began running through the halls of the 30-floor building shouting her name.
By the time nearly 40 Toronto police officers had arrived on the scene and began scouring the building, she says the man had somehow managed to escape.
According to Carter, the man was arrested a week later and ended up going to prison for what he had done to her.
"In 2019, he trafficked someone else in Niagara Falls after coming out of jail," she says. "To my knowledge, he's still in prison for that."
Carter says the experience of being trafficked for three months left her with post traumatic stress disorder. As well, she says her bipolar disorder diagnosis helped explain part of her constant yearning to be loved.
“I have a great relationship with both my parents and a great support team now.”
Carter says parents need to ensure they have open communications with their chlldren as she has with her 13-year-old daughter about the dangers of running away and ending up in a dangerous situation.
“For her age, she is in a better place mentally than I was. There’s a lot of stuff that goes on in Midland.”
Carter has also spoken with local Children’s Aid Society and OPP officials about her experiences.
“Some people get quite emotional when I'm telling my story," she says, "but it makes me feel uncomfortable because I’m not looking for pity or for people to feel sorry for me.”
Carter says her only hope is that her story inspires parents to talk to their children about the dangers that can lurk for vulnerable teenagers, including those from small towns like Midland.
"This is something they shouldn't be shy about teaching their children," she says. "Any child aged 12 and up needs to be made aware of this. It happens in Midland. Parents need a reality check. If you wait, it might be too late."
And for kids, she offers this advice: "When your parents are telling you not to talk to strangers, listen to them."
And now a number of years removed from her own trauma, Carter reflects on the experience as a survivor with something to offer the world in terms of guidance.
She adds: "When I look back on it, I don't even know who that girl was."
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