Shauna Newell: Sex Slaves in the Suburbs (Video)
Shauna Newell, a teenage girl who was sold as a sex slave, is telling her story in “Sex Slaves in the Suburbs,” in hopes of preventing other teens from falling prey to human traffickers.
Shauna, now 18, was kidnapped, drugged, gang raped, beaten and sold into sex slavery at age 16 when a new friend she had met in high school asked her to come to a sleepover. Shauna’s mother, Lisa Brant, met the girl and her father because she wanted to make sure her daughter was safe.
The girl’s “father” was actually a convicted felon, and the girl, an accomplice in the abduction, had a history of prostitution.
Newell recounts her ordeal in an in-depth report with Today’s Natalie Morales on “Sex Slaves in the Suburbs.”
“Her dad took us to this house and said he’d be right back and he left us there,” Newell recounted in a taped interview. “And I asked for some water because I was thirsty. And I drank the water and I blacked out.”
Shauna woke up while being raped.
“My legs were being held down, and the guy that was raping me was holding my hands back,” she said in a quiet voice. “I kept screaming, ‘Stop, please don’t do this. Leave me alone.’ But I was so weak, I couldn’t fight them off. Like I was, I was so really out of it. And I blacked out a few times and I kept coming back to. And I was still being raped every time I woke up.”
In a stroke of luck Shauna was rescued, although barely alive, after three days of being raped, beaten and drugged.
Shockingly, no one was ever prosecuted in the case, and unfortunately Newell’s story is not unique.
Merideth Vierra’s interview with Shauna Newell and her mother can be seen in the video below.
The in-depth report by Morales on “Sex Slaves in the Suburbs” premieres at 10 p.m. ET Sunday, Oct. 12 on MSNBC.
Related Articles:
- Poison's Rikki Rockett in Jail on Rape Charges
- News Anchor Darlene Rodriguez Cop Husband Charged In Teen Rape
- Teacher Melissa Moss Sent Topless Photos to Student
- Beth Modica Former DA Faces Teen Sex Charges
- Gary Zerola 'America's Most Eligible Bachelor' Charged in 3 Rapes
- Update: David Copperfield Being Investigated for Rape by the FBI
Filed under: Across the Nation
This story has all the hallmarks of being a hoax or of the truth being radically different from what was presented on air.
You cannot fake the destruction rape brings into a life. Shauna, you are a brave young woman. Telling your story is the beginning of the end of being a victim. Remember, they cannot take the fire that burns in you. Nobody can own or take it without you letting them and you have not let them by standing up for truth. I was drugged and raped at 16. I have brought strength to many women as my justice. The more united we become, the taller we stand. Telling your story will free you. Being strong is your power gaining momentum.
It’s sad how people try to put the blame on the innocent victims. There are so many sick individuals in the world. I feel for Shauna and her family. She is a survivor! Everything she went through is sick and so many people look the other way. Strange world we live in.
I agree with Harry G…this story seems to have several issues with it.
Harry is correct, this story is a hoax, or half-true. First, how did the marijuana get in her system? Second, cocaine, they forced her to do cocaine? Sure. And why was she so smitten with an obvious sleeze. And why did she not get the plates when she saw the rapist the other day driving by her? And why no charges filed? In fact, mug guess, this is a business deal gone bad, she was going to do a little play for pay, and when she balked, they drugged her. AFTER she partied. “Innocent victims..” Sorry, why is she not showing pictures of her attackers? Horsefeathers
I am a victim advocate and I participate on a human trafficking task force and those of you who are saying this is a hoax are blissfully ignorant. Again, we see the sympathies lying with the perpetrators instead of the victims. This is the sad reality that we live in a society where women are held to completly different standards than men, and even in a most grotesque situation such as this, she is being blamed for her victimization. This young girl is incredibly couragous, much more so than the faceless idiots who are smearing her. The bottom line is, it doesn’t matter what she was doing. She could be running down the street naked and still, no one has the right to rape her, drug her, and SELL her. Unless you truly understand this crime, don’t pass judgement.
I do not think Shauna’s story is a hoax.
I see halmarks of drugs and rape and so do thousands of others. Gary your response and those of your friends make too many quick inferences without any deeper consideration or understanding whatsoever.
I do not think Shauna was a complete angel, but given the laxity of the law enforcement at the time it seems Shauna’s family is having to go to extremes to “jump through hoops” just so other people will understand the level of injustice. Shauna’s family is jumping through hoops to show that SHAUNA is a human being whose human rights were violated. The effort of “jumping through hoops” makes the story seem confusing, but it is not the only reason the story does not add up for other morons.
It is likely that none of you men have ever been raped by a crew of diseased dudes, so you probably can’t understand the level of confusion Shauna’s family has.
Given the level of exploitation of teenagers in Pop culture I can also tell there is a great deal of confusion on what is right and wrong and then you have your peers who are sometimes really nice even after being raised by convicted felons. A sixteen year old has difficulty discerning moral answers today and much more so when they are brainwashed and drugged. Do you not consider that by introducing one mind altering drug with another the effect can heavily cloud judgement and more easily introduce other drugs?
Picture this all you guys.. let us say you woke up and were getting gang raped. Your head is groggy, but you know something is wrong. Shauna says she screamed “stop” and in her drugged induced mind she probably did, only to the guys it sounded like pleasurable moaning which was a planned drug enduced response professional pimps already knew about.
Back to the story, you pass out, you reawake groggy again. You are not sure where you are, but strangely you are not scared, sad or happy. This is most likely because of the effects from any number of drugs. Of course you do not know that because you are only 16 years old at the time. Meanwhile, mixed up chemicals (Perhaps Extasy) in your system might even cause you to think you are enjoying the ordeal. Enjoying it even if you were a straight male being raped by other men. Drugs are powerful.
On the other hand, you do know you don’t like getting beaten and abused by a bunch of dudes and since the groggy feeling is dulling your wits and making you helpless you know you must get it to stop. A guy says to you.. “here snort this, it will straighten you up.” Cocaine kicks in and you are stupid, but energetically participating in your rape or something else to that effect. The ordeal takes it’s course.
So now you have a variety of chemicals in your system that these criminals hope will cause amnesia. Or in criminal minds it is hoped you will die of an overdose so that they can rationalize their injustice by saying “He or she went out high and happy.” However, the actuality is those criminal minds just wanted to get off scott free and make the whole crime look like a terrible tragedy that weak law enforcement could easily overlook. If human trafficking was involved it would not surprise me if some criminals made it on to the local police payroll. That would explain the prior lack of vigilance on the case.
So, let us continue with the hypothetical. Two or three years later you are 18 and you are not sure why you did not put up more of a fight and why all your chemicals were out of balance. You are confused because maybe you even remember the chemical dependency that draws you back to the situation. However, you do know that something was wrong. It has been three years and the doctors told you how many drugs were in your system, half of which you probably don’t remember taking because it was planned that way. These guys are professionals. They are pimps and not the cool kind that pop culture wants to build up as icons.
I admire Shauna for coming forward with this so early in her healing. I wish she would talk to my nieces because I think they would listen to her.
She has my admiration because, I know, that she knows, that young girls close to her age will not listen to her warnings when she is 25 or 30. Shauna probably knows this fact because she did not listen to the warnings either and lived in denial that it could happen to her. Given the scandalous nature of pop culture and her impressionable age16, she thought adults would not understand her friendships or were prudish. As a teenager, there were people, like her mother, who warned her, but were not cool enough to listen to. As a woman she wants to warn girls before people will stop listening to her too. It is a very confusing time for Shauna and abviously she is not as confused as some of you other men. Please excuse my accusatory remarks, but I am a little angry.
My son was murdered in the same area as shauna was raped and I haven’t been able to get help, there is so much corruption in the Panhandle of Florida. Please don’t judge a person until you have walked in their shoes, trust me you don’t want to walk in these shoes. you are walking through life and NEVER thought such a thing could happen to you…… The Bad guy wins when the good guy quits.
This whole situation makes me sick. And does anyone notice that the only doubt in this story comes from MEN?? The male cops, the male readers… because sex is meaningless to them. They will always see women as sex objects to be used and exploited. Well here’s the facts boys, the moment you stop thinking of people as human beings, you are no longer a human being. Whether or not she was drugged is not the issue. Just because a women is drugged that means you can have sex with her? that you can beat her? that you can SELL her??? Are you serious???? This is a fact of life boys- and sick fact- that children male and female are sold as sex slaves to MEN. How many women do you see BUYING people for sex? really? This is a MAN made operation and its sick! And then for those who are swore to help the helpless to consider them the criminals! how many 9 year old kids do you see WILLING to sell their bodies for sex??? Take a look at what you are saying- there are a lot of holes in the Bible but you believe that! Is that because it was also written by a group of men having sex with children?
Rachel too sees correctly that men often choose to become less human. I would hope that she would agree that those who do are also much less men.
Shauna and her family have given us a great gift! Many, Many Thanks!!!
For those who would try to justify themselves at their expense, may they be like chaff before the wind.
I happened to have watched this the another night and was struck by some of the holes in her story,
first her mother said at one time a cop gave her a phone number to where she was being held but she wasn’t there when they arrived
why did he have the number?
and secondly if she was goin g to be sold on the internet for 300.000 then that falls under FBI that falls under the FBI’s Child Poronography and Exploitation guidelines so they didn’t need to have the local police believe them
Unbelieveable? I don’t think so. The poor girl needed to be resesitated twice! Those who say this is a hoax are ignorant.
America’s criminal justice systems are sometimes very difficult to deal with depending where you live. ESPECIALLY when people like those who blogged that her story is not true, work within these systems.
My prayers go out to Shauna and her family.
Prostitution is the human condition. It will Never go away.
Shauna is a extremely beautiful girl so it is no suprise that men want her. It is neither right or wrong. That is the fate of humanity. God made mankind this way!
Her story has been told over and over and over again since the dawn of time and will be told in the future. Get used to it.
Patrick: being gangraped and abused and being drugged against your will isn’t something that one simply “gets used to it”.
I believe prostitution should be legalized and that yes it will never go away because the demand for sex with young teenage girls and really also young teenage boys too will never go away.
However, these young teens become innocent victims and being victimized is just terrible.
Whoever gangraped and nearly killed Shauna should be punished. Raping and killing is wrong and will always be wrong. Get used to it Patrick and stop rationalizing if you are one of the “dudes” who raped Shauna.
By the way for those “dudes” reading this who raped Shauna, one of you gave her gonorrhea and another gave her chlymidia. So really all of you need to get tested. What you did is wrong, it is bad and if you rape and abuse and beat and nearly kill an innocent human being, scarring them for life psychological, you have just earned alot of bad karma. It is very sad that there are men out there who are so mean, so exploitive that they don’t care if they hurt others in order for them to get their rocks off.
bravo to Shauna for getting her story out there, most likely there are many other “shaunas” who weren’t so lucky and ended up dying within weeks, months or years of being abducted and trafficked so some “dudes” could make some $ off of their misery.
i went to school with shauna growing up from elementary- high school. she may have been a troubled teen but why would she make something up that serious. she aint that type in my eyes!!!
Patrick:
You saying that just because Shauna was a beautiful girl “of course men will want her” implies that it was her own fault for looking the way she does. Clearly its just a “man’s desire” and he isn’t to be blamed for wanting a woman so bad he will drug and rape her to get what he wants since “God made him that way”. You give your sex a horrible name and reputation. You are justifying what these men did to an innocent (not to mention underage) girl. In my eyes, that makes you a pervert.
There is a time and place for justice. All that is unseen will be made clear as a summers day. One day these repugnant bastards will be held accountable for their actions. They will ask for mercy, but there will be none. They will beg and beg for forgiveness. It will fall on deaf ears. They will be ashamed of their transgressions. Heaven help them
no one young or old attractive or unattractive male or female or whatever deserves to be raped. and for the ones that did this to Shauna I hope each and every one of you rot in hell. my heart goes out to Shauna and her family.
I must say, i feel strongly about womens rights. I am an actor, and i see what happens to amazingly strong human beings such as Shauna everyday. i have devoted alot of my time and planning into several orginizations battling this, and this is on the top along with Saint Jude Childrens Hospital. i want to say: “Shauna, i comend your strength. You are a strong individual. As i continue to grow in fame i will bring your name with me. Your messgae will be heard. God bless you, and your family.”
I just want to say you are awesome Andrew and thank you for trying to make lame people understand this horrifying thing, and Z you rock. As for Patrick rape is not something you should just “get used to” it is a very scary, painful, and humiliating experience you need to spend one day working with rape victims. Then maybe you will change you lame a$# attitude about this henis violation against the physical and spiritual being of some one. would you feel the same if you heard on the news about some one engaging bestiality? I think not. you would think disgusting freak and these monsters are no different. Men who use they members for FORCED SEXUAL ACTIVITIES should be CASTRATED
How can this be a hoax? What does she have to gain from making this up?
Popularity…. yeah right. I’m so sure she wants to be known for this. That’s like wanting to be popular for staring in a Preparation H commercial. Someone close to me was raped, and I saw first hand the effects it had on her. Trust me when I say the last thing rape victims want is to broadcast what happened to them to the world.
Money… no way; especially since we all know this a such a lucrative business model right?
In regards to the story changing, from what I can see, the general story stays the same. Occasionally, minor details are changed.
Even so, does it matter? How can you expect a girl to give you the play-by-play for something that happened to her years ago while she was in a drug induced state? I’m surprised she remembers as much as she did. I can’t remember what I ate two days ago.
In regards to the drugs in her system, once again does it matter? Even if she was a doped-up crack fiend (which I have no reason to believe), she didn’t deserve what happened to her.
When I see her interview, I see a young traumatized girl about my age that is clearly begging for justice– not to mention warning others of the atrocities that are happening in our country.
@ Glen
“First, how did the marijuana get in her system? Second, cocaine, they forced her to do cocaine?”
Are you saying it’s not possible? She stated that she was beaten and threatened several times even at gunpoint. I don’t see how this is so unreasonable.
“And why did she not get the plates when she saw the rapist the other day driving by her?… Sorry, why is she not showing pictures of her attackers?”
Does she look like a detective? Do you think she was holding a photo shoot while she was being victimized? Your statements have no value…
I would expect her to be scared out of her mind if she saw one of her attackers. I can’t even begin to image how she felt while she was being victimized.
“And why no charges filed?”
If you paid attention to her story, you’d understand why. According to her, she states that the police would not pursue the matter unless she was willing to be interviewed by herself which she was obviously unwilling to do, and I can’t blame her for that– especially after what happened to her.
“In fact, [my] guess, this is a business deal gone bad, she was going to do a little play for pay, and when she balked, they drugged her. AFTER she partied. ‘Innocent victims..’”
Even if this was the case (which there is no reason to believe it is), she is still an innocent victim.
@ Andrew
Good job at describing a possible scenario that corroborates her story.
@ Rachel too
Please keep your man-bashing, femi-nazi comments to yourself. Not all men are sexual predators.
If I recall properly, it was a FEMALE friend that set her up, and it was her brother (who has a PENIS and is therefore by definition MALE) that rescued her.
“there are a lot of holes in the Bible but you believe that! Is that because it was also written by a group of men having sex with children?”
Wow, now you’re attacking religion as well.
Your bias comments are just showing the world your own ignorance.
@ Mara
In regards to the mother receiving the phone number from the police, the police officer may have worked similar cases and therefore knew about that number.
In regards to your FBI comment, I believe that the issue may fall under their jurisdiction; however, I don’t believe the FBI is as competent as you make them out to be.
@ Patrick
Let me see if I follow your logic…
“Prostitution has existed for a long time, still exists, and always will exist.”
I agree.
“Shauna is an extremely beautiful girl.”
I agree.
“Men want her which is neither right or wrong.”
I agree.
“Her story has been told over and over.”
I fail to see your point.
“Get used to it.”
So because crime exists, society should just accept it? Wow is all I can say. It scares me that people like you can vote.
@ Shauna Newell
If you ever read this, I want you to know that you are a beautiful girl and what happened to you is unforgivable. No one deserves that and don’t let anyone tell you any different.
I admire your strength, as I know it takes a lot to come out and tell your story. You are a brave woman, and it’s unfortunate that you now have to deal with skeptics and critics– not to mention the treatment you received from the hospital staff and police.
I want to encourage you to move on with your life, which is easy for me to say. Each person has there own way of coping with tragedy; I encourage you to find yours. What those lowlife punks did to you was horrible, but to let it ruin your life is even worse. Don’t give them that. You’ve deserve better.
For what it’s worth, I believe you. I wish I had a way to tell you this directly as you need all the support you can get. Nevertheless, Just know that you now have a friend on the other side of the country that supports you and your cause.
My original post was deleted… hmmm… weird.
Anyways, in regards to her story, I can’t see any reason why this would be a hoax. Seriously, why would anyone fake this?
Also, it sickens me that many people are attacking her when she is the victim. Who cares what drugs where in her system or how they got there, in the end she was still victimized. Also, I’ve seen comments regarding her story changing. From what I’ve seen the main points are essentially the same, maybe a few discrepancies between minor details, but that’s normal. Do we really expect her to be able to remember ever detail for something that happened years ago while she was in a drug-induced state? Also, I don’t see why the credibility of her story should depend on how competent/incompetent law enforcement was at the time.
When I saw her story, what I saw was a young traumatized girl about my age bleeding her heart out on national TV. I saw a girl that is crying for justice to a deaf crowd. I saw a girl with a message warning others of what happens in our country that nobody wants to believe.
I wish I had a way to talk to her directly as she needs all the support she can get; but since I don’t, I just have to hope that someday she stumbles across this thread and reads my comment.
Shauna, you are a beautiful girl, and what happened to you is unforgiveable. Nevertheless, I want to encourage you to move on with your life (which is easy for me to say). Everyone has there own way with coping with tragedy. I encourage you to find your way. You are a brave girl for telling your story. I would know as someone close to me who was raped and I saw firsthand how it affected her. I admire your courage. For what it’s worth, you have a friend on the opposite of the country that supports you and your cause.
this story is most definitely NOT a hoax. The people saying such things might have a personal agenda to say so. they might be rapists themselves. They might be traffickers themselves. Who knows?
This story was part of an investigation. It is most definitely TRUE. There are no “holes in her story” once you see the entire documentary everything is explained. Also some of you are confusing the facts around a bit – a bad memory or on purpose who knows.
She was taken to a condo told she would earn money cleaning it. The other teen girl had spent MONTHS gaining her trust. Then the man posing as her friend’s father gave her some water that was drugged. As the story says she woke up to being raped. She was then held by some men in a house, moved at least one time to another location and all that time she was sold to other men who also beat and raped her. When she was rescued she was covered in bruises and bite marks. As well as internal injuries.
those who are accusing this girl of lying are pathetic and disgusting people!!
Anonymous,
You are entitled to think that all of us who have doubts about the veracity of Shauna’s story are pathetic and disgusting, but your name calling doesn’t make it true.
For me, there are missing pieces. It doesn’t make sense that the police would ignore the case if Shauna’s mother reported that she called and said “Mommy, help me” and then the phone went dead. It also doesn’t make sense that neither the police nor the FBI has been able to catch Shauna’s “friend” or her friend’s “father,” even though they know who they are.
Another part of the story that looks to me like it may be a hole is her 14-year old brother’s claim that he forced Shauna’s abductor (or at least one of them) to let him have Shauna by whipping out a knife he was carrying and threatening to kill the man.
I wish the documentary I saw had addressed those issues. Until they are explained, I’m not going to decide what what I think did or did not happen.
That said, I want to say to Patrick about his comment that because stories like Shauna’s have happened again and again since the dawn of time and there will always be more of them, so we should “get used to it,” the following: It saddens me that you have lost your humanity. If something like what Shauna says happened to her happened to your daughter or sister, I’m sure that being told to “get used to it” would be one of the most painful things someone could say.
An this is the country that tries to tell others how to live. Incredible. and this guy is still walking around free. I am surprised that the local community menfolk havent taken matters into their own hands if the so called justice system has let them down this badly. This guy would have to be well hidden if this happened in the UK or he would not be long for this world. What a brave girl, my respect is boundless. This guy should be looking at a death sentence is the buden of proof is met.
Sorry, was so furious when I wrote the above my typing let me down.
Wow, what a bunch of stupid comments! First of all, suggesting that this story is a hoax is not “blaming the victim.” If it is a hoax, she isn’t a victim.
I also note the ever-popular all-men-are-pigs crap is getting aired here. Why do the actions a few people in Florida reflect on all men?
Should we use the Octo-mom as proof thath all women are irresponsible?
Here’s my favorite retart comment: “this story is most definitely NOT a hoax. The people saying such things might have a personal agenda to say so. they might be rapists themselves.”
Right…..you’re surrounded by rapists.
A hoax, the blood, the drugs, the bruses, the rape, you call that a hoax, people like you are the problem, and should just keep your comments to yourself. We should be calling the police officers everyday for a conviction.