JACKSON, MS (Mississippi News Now) -
Claims of human trafficking surround the disappearance of a Jackson teenager found this weekend near Orlando, Florida. According to the teen's mother, her daughter was abducted and forced into prostitution.
Police, however, say the evidence doesn't add up to human trafficking.
Selika Corley was heartbroken when her daughter went missing New Year's Eve, and days later she received text messages from her begging for help.
"As a mother it just made me feel helpless that I couldn't help her," said Corley.
Brianna Ellis, 19, told her mother that she was abducted and drugged after meeting new acquaintances at the Red Roof Inn on I-55 in Jackson. Corley told WLBT that shortly after Christmas the teenager met two girls from Florida.
Corley said her daughter only knew nicknames of her new acquaintances, but she would not release those.
One of the girls reportedly called Ellis Dec. 31 asking to be taken to the hospital because she was feeling ill and did not know the city. The Jackson resident said when her daughter arrived at the hotel, the unidentified acquaintance asked her to come upstairs to the hotel room while she took a shower.
"And the girl offered her something to drink. She said when she woke up, she was in a car with a wig on, different clothes and the people who were with her...she didn't know them," said Corley.
Corley said she and family members tracked her daughter's location through her cell phone's GPS. Ellis told her mother that from Tuesday until Saturday she was taken to numerous places including Alabama, Atlanta and finally Florida.
"She was basically forced to work as an escort with several different girls. She never knew any of them and the only way that we basically found her is they didn't know that she had her cell phone," explained Corley.
Corley believes it was a case of human trafficking.
"We actually had to go down to [Jackson Police Department] headquarters on Friday and sit there to get something done," said the distressed mother.
The 38-year-old accused JPD of doing little to help rescue Ellis while the family did the legwork and contacted authorities in Belle Isle, Florida. According to Corley, incoming and outgoing calls on her daughter's cell phone show up as a number for "Escorts in College."
Jackson police say the night of her disappearance, Ellis and another friend were approached by the acquaintances and asked if they wanted to be escorts. That friend told investigators that she declined but that Ellis went with them voluntarily.
JPD Assistant Chief Lee Vance said detectives worked diligently throughout the week with Florida law officers until Ellis was located Saturday night. She returned to Jackson early Monday.
Chief Vance said Ellis is not cooperating with police and missed a Monday two o'clock appointment to give her formal statement to investigators. Corley said she expected police officers to come to her Jackson home to talk with her daughter Monday.
Ellis refused to go on camera with a statement.
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Corley said she and family members tracked her daughter's location through her cell phone's GPS.
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