She was 17, living in Bonney Lake, when she was kidnapped and sex trafficked. More than two decades later, a woman named Shay is sober and speaking publicly for the first time about the years of addiction, a deadly car crash and a suicide attempt that followed — and about what she believes could actually help the women she once was.
Shay’s story is detailed in a new interview with KOMO News, which reports that for years Shay was hooked on drugs after the trafficking began, and that she survived both a deadly car crash and a suicide attempt during that period. Now, after what the outlet describes as 23 years of struggles, Shay is sober. She uses her experience on the streets, the report says, to help other women get out of the throes of addiction, describing what life is like on Seattle’s streets and what she believes is key to helping women who are currently struggling on Aurora Avenue.
A Corridor Still Under Pressure
Shay’s account surfaces at a moment when Aurora Avenue North remains a focal point for trafficking and prostitution-related crime in King County. Prosecutors filed 427 felony cases connected to the corridor between 2024 and May 2025, according to KOMO News, including 99 felony assault cases, 30 unlawful gun possession cases, 44 residential and commercial burglaries, and 67 organized retail theft cases.
Just weeks before Shay’s interview published, a King County man identified as Green was being held on $300,000 bail in a human-trafficking investigation tied to Aurora Avenue, the station's report notes. Green was charged with second-degree human trafficking, first-degree promoting prostitution and second-degree assault, per the same account.
Why Addiction and Trafficking Are So Hard to Untangle
Shay’s years of drug use alongside her trafficking reflect a pattern researchers have documented well beyond Aurora Avenue. A RAND Corporation report found that the co-occurrence of sex trafficking victimization and substance-use disorders creates challenges in identifying victims, providing services and pursuing criminal cases. The same report recommends developing strategies for rapid access to substance-use-disorder treatment, along with long-term care plans, peer support and survivor-led services that incorporate harm-reduction approaches.
Statewide conviction data underscores part of the difficulty prosecutors face. The number of people convicted of sex-trafficking crimes in Washington and Oregon fell 21%, dropping from 66 people in 2014 to 52 in 2022, according to the Washington State Standard. Over roughly the same window, victims identified through the National Human Trafficking Hotline in Oregon more than doubled, rising from 64 in 2015 to 160 in 2021, the outlet reported.
Children Among the Exploited
The scope of exploitation in the Seattle area has also drawn scrutiny from researchers focused specifically on minors. A 2019 follow-up report by Dr. Debra Boyer found an incidence of 231 children under age 18 who had been trafficked in 2018 in the Seattle area, according to data compiled by the King County CSEC Task Force. That same data page notes disproportionately high numbers of youth of color who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation in King County.
Enforcement and Survivor Support Along Aurora
Seattle police have tried multiple approaches to disrupt demand along the corridor. The department launched a six-month pilot project mailing letters to registered owners of vehicles photographed during suspected prostitution encounters on Aurora Avenue North, with 21 letters sent in the program's first month, according to the Seattle Times. Officials told the paper that dozens of other jurisdictions, including San Francisco and San Jose, California, send out similar letters. Police also continue to run sting operations targeting sex buyers and build criminal cases against pimps and traffickers, while investigating assaults, rapes and robberies along the stretch between North 85th and North 145th streets, the Times reported.
Survivor-led organizations have formed to fill gaps that enforcement alone cannot close. Trafficking survivor Noel Gomez co-founded the Organization for Prostitution Survivors in 2010, and nearby Aurora Commons provides unhoused neighbors with hygiene items, hot food, a clothing closet, restrooms, haircuts and access to clinics, according to Seattle Met. Survivors interviewed by the Washington State Standard said increased funding for social services, including housing and specialized treatment, could help trafficking victims safely participate in prosecutions if they choose to do so.
That emphasis on listening to survivors echoes federal guidance on the issue. The Office for Victims of Crime states that effective service delivery responses to victimization must include a focus on the needs, beliefs and interests of the victims. It is that same principle — centering the voices of people who have lived through exploitation — that runs through Shay’s decision to speak publicly about what she endured and what she now believes could help women still trying to leave Aurora Avenue behind.
