Danica Childs was 17 when she disappeared from Federal Way, Washington, in the winter of 2007. On December 21 Danica spoke to her mother about plans to go Christmas shopping with sisters and friends; that was the last confirmed contact. She is biracial with brown hair and brown eyes, about 5 feet 2 inches to 5 feet 3 inches tall and 80 to 107 pounds. At disappearance she wore a black sweater jacket with a fur hood, a Mickey Mouse t-shirt, blue jeans and black suede boots. Nicknames include Neek or Neeka.

Danica’s purse, coat and cell phone were found at the Sunset Motel in Kent, where she had spent the night before vanishing. Messages recovered from her phone pointed to involvement in sex work; her family learned she had been seeing a man they say was a pimp after meeting him in a dual enrollment program. Authorities considered that she might have left voluntarily in the company of an adult male, but her family believes she was trafficked and is being held against her will. Her mother, Dianne Zoro, went on to co-found the Federal Way Coalition Against Trafficking in Danica’s honor.