Nearly twelve years have passed since Natanalie “Naty” Perez vanished in Miami, and the mystery surrounding her disappearance remains. There are major clues that she may still be a victim of human trafficking.
On June 1, 2012, Natanalie was seen at Burke’s Motel on Southwest 8th Street in Miami, Florida, and disappeared without a trace.
After her high school graduation from Sebring, Florida, Natanalie relocated to Miami, Florida, at the age of nineteen.
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On June 1, 2012, Natanalie’s sister, Villanueba, received a call from her sister’s boyfriend in Miami, informing her that her sister was missing.
“What do you mean that she’s not there?” stated Villanueba.
The boyfriend claimed that after their argument the previous evening when he awoke, she had left. Her family called her phone repeatedly, but the calls ended up in voicemail.
Her family sensed trouble months before they even found out she was missing.
Living in Miami, Natanalie’s cousins informed her mother that they had seen her around town with the wrong crowd, with people who ‘scared’ them.
In the months before her disappearance, Perez had been unusually reticent on social media and with her family.
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Her family claimed that she hardly ever called or texted them, and when she did, the conversations didn’t sound normal; her responses to their inquiries were brief and gave the impression that someone else was listening in.
When she finally asked her aunt for assistance, she was brought home by her aunt’s cousins. Perez was traumatized, had blood on her hands, her fingernails flipped back, and her hair ripped out when her cousins arrived to get her.
She revealed to her aunt that she was sold into prostitution against her will and that the traffickers had used her as a commodity for sex with powerful, affluent men.
Although Natalie went to live with her mother in Sebring, it’s possible that the traffickers were keeping an eye on her because she was on the phone nonstop. Her family pleaded with her not to go, but she was adamant about going back to Miami after her brief visit with her mother. Then she was gone.
Read: Without A Trace: 18-Year-Old Colleen Perris Disappeared In Florida, September 2000
According to authorities, Perez is most likely being trafficked once more. Although it wasn’t verified, there was a potential sighting of her in August 2012 at the Dolphin Mall in Miami.
Her case is still open.
If you have information on this case, please call the Miami Police Department at 305-603-6300.
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