She went to the bathroom right before halftime. Surveillance footage showed video of her leaving the arena with a man that night. A week and a half later, on April 18, police found the teen in a hotel room in Oklahoma City after her parents identified her through nude photos that had been posted online in sex advertisements. Fortenberry is representing the family in the ongoing case. Last week, he sent a letter to multiple parties he believes could have done things differently in the situation, possibly even preventing the situation from escalating.
In the release sent out by Fortenberry's office late last week, American Airlines Center, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Police Department and the Oklahoma City hotel where the teen was found were all listed as parties that could have prevented the situation. Fortenberry said the teen's father notified police at the game when he realized she was missing. But, according to Fortenberry, the father was told to report it to North Richland Hills Police, since that's where he lives.
He said he called North Richland Hills Police that night. Fortenberry said NRH police weren't able to help because, they said, the incident happened in Dallas. Fortenberry said the Houston-based human trafficking agency Texas Counter-Trafficking Initiative was able to use their face-recognition technology to help break open the case. That agency then contacted Oklahoma City Police, which is the agency that found the missing teen and arrested eight people in connection to the case.
In response to a request from WFAA, Dallas Police confirmed that an off-duty officer who was working the game on April 8 was notified that the teen was missing.
The department said the arena was searched, and shared this about protocol for these situations: "Texas Family Code Those cases per code are to be filed where the juvenile resides. The department said the teen was entered in the national missing person database by a. Dallas Police said they helped North Richland Hills PD and created a bulletin for the missing teen that went out to the department on April Fortenberry said those efforts weren't enough.
