As a young adult, Kelley Marshall had a promising start. She had a young daughter, a good job, a new apartment, and a new car. After falling on some hard times due to a traffic accident, a man came along who at first seemed to be her knight in shining armor. Initially expressing genuine concern and interest in Kelley and even helping to financially support her and her daughter, he appeared at first to be her altruistic, caring boyfriend… All along the way never revealing that he was actually a pimp, until it was too late.

Utilizing grooming and psychological manipulation built upon Kelley’s traumatic upbringing, the man eventually coerced her into becoming a prostitute, separating her from her daughter and sending her down a path riddled with horrific abuses and multiple different traffickers across multiple states. After spending six years as a sex trafficking victim, Kelley finally managed to escape and rebuild her life from scratch. In the time since, she has become a vocal advocate against human trafficking.

Stories like Kelley’s are unfortunately far too common. According to the United Nations, an estimated 27.6 million people are victimized by human trafficking worldwide. In today’s world, the warning signs can be difficult to recognize for many, and anybody can potentially be a victim regardless of socioeconomic background or location. The bonds keeping trafficking victims from escaping are not always purely physical either, with traffickers often utilizing blackmail, fraud, violence, and other coercive methods of control.

In this episode, Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly will be speaking with Kelley as she shares her story, as well as Dylan Wecht, a representative for the nonprofit Kelley now works with, “Truckers Against Trafficking.”

Director Kelly will also be speaking with an unidentified undercover agent tasked with spearheading enforcement of the issue, and with Sara Runyon from The Center for Prevention of Abuse.

Together, they will explore the nuances of human trafficking and discuss potential approaches to seek justice while also helping victims.

East St. Louis is a city that has struggled with just about every possible difficulty that a community can be subjected to. High crime rates, lack of job opportunities for its residents, and a plethora of other issues have resulted in the city losing over 75% of its population since peaking in the 1950s. At various points, the city has had the highest per-capita murder rate in the entire nation. With such a negative public perception, attracting businesses to invest in the area, despite being in a very desirable geographic location for shipping and transportation, has been extraordinarily difficult.

While the fight is still ongoing and the broader issues are far from solved, several efforts have made substantial progress in East St. Louis. In particular, the ISP’s Public Safety Enforcement Group (PSEG) has made great strides in facilitating effective collaboration between local and state agencies. In a partnership that was previously unprecedented, Illinois State Police officers have worked alongside and pooled resources with East St. Louis Police officers, resulting in more solved cases, more convictions, and an overall decline in the city’s crime rates during the program’s tenure.

In this episode our host, Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly, will be speaking with and hearing the story of Brittany Williams, a local woman who was unexpectedly caught in the crossfire of a shootout while at an East St. Louis gas station with her family, ultimately resulting in her nephew being killed and her son being hospitalized.

We will also be joined by several individuals involved in the ongoing fight to save East St. Louis and to enable it to build back stronger, from the perspectives of both law enforcement, with representatives from the local police department and the ISP, and from community outreach organizations from the area, such as the Community Lifeline Center.

After being the victim of a sexual assault in 2021, Northwestern University undergraduate student Kaylyn Ahn set out on a journey to close a legal loophole in Illinois, regarding alcohol and substance consumption, that prevented prosecutors from pursuing a case against her aggressor.

Ahn drafted a bill to close the loophole and update the definition of consent in the state’s sexual assault law. Introduced into the Illinois General Assembly by Rep. Mark Walker (D-Arlington Heights), the bill passed in 2022.

Since then, police departments across the state have been re-training officers in handling sexual assault cases, and thousands of previously unaddressed sexual assault cases are now eligible for prosecution.

Ahn has continued to be a vocal advocate for reforming sexual assault legislation, speaking at universities, fundraisers, and political events across the country.

In this episode, hosted once again by Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly, we also hear from several other experts representing law enforcement, forensics, and victim advocacy centers- all discussing the complicated nuance of sexual assault prosecution, and how to better seek justice and peace for victims while retaining accountability and due process.

Intro and Outro narrated by Bill Kurtis.

Original Theme music by David Huizenga.