Abduction Victim Warns Others of Internet Dangers
Posted on Sat, Nov. 11, 2006 Abduction victim warns others of Internet dangers Associated Press MCKEES ROCKS, Pa. - A woman who was abducted, imprisoned, and sexually assaulted as a 13-year-old girl by a man she met online telling her story to warn children of Internet dangers. "I'm basically here to save your life," Alicia Kozakiewicz, 18, told a group of fourth graders Friday at St. John of God School in suburban Pittsburgh. Kozakiewicz told students she made "some really bad mistakes" and had been online constantly, finding solace because she thought no one else cared about her. "It destroyed me, my life, my family," she said. "I was almost another body in the morgue." She began chatting online with Scott Tyree, then 38, of Herndon, Va. She knew his age, but it didn't matter, she said. "It was kind of like brainwashing," she said. "I really thought this guy was my best friend." On Jan. 1, 2002, she walked out of her parents home near Pittsburgh to meet Tyree. He drove her to his town house, where he held her chained to the floor for four days. She ate only once during that time and was beaten and sexually assaulted. Her parents pleaded for her return and distributed pictures. The FBI tracked her down when a Florida man told authorities Tyree had sent him a picture of a teenage sex slave who looked like the missing girl. Investigators traced a Yahoo account to Tyree early Jan. 4, 2002, and raided his home. Tyree pleaded guilty in March 2003 to charges of sexual exploitation of a minor and travel with intent to engage in sexual activity with a minor. He is serving a federal prison sentence of 19 years, seven months. Kozakiewicz, who is now majoring in forensic psychology at Point Park University, told the students to be careful what they reveal about themselves online, either in chats or on profile pages, and to make sure that their screen names are both innocent and gender neutral. While she said her ordeal is difficult to talk about, it is also cathartic. "Instead of having a nervous breakdown, I take all that hurt and angst and pain and turn it into saving other kids," she said. Over the years, she has done about 20 similar programs. http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/15989600.htm