Internet Luring Victim Devastated Over Incident Similar To Hers

PITTSBURGH (NewsRadio 1020 KDKA) -- In 2002, Alicia Kozakiewicz was the victim of an Internet luring.

She was abducted and spend days in a Washington D.C. suburb basement that she describes as a dungeon.

She was rescued and now is the founder of "The Alicia Project" so that other children won't suffer her traumatic experience.

She joined Bill Rehkopf after a chillingly similar incident that happened to her happened to a young woman in Maine, the only difference is the girl wasn't as lucky as Kozakiewicz was, the girl was found dead.

She was in contact with the family of the missing girl. She says that, "The family is devastated."

Kozakiewicz is also devastated, with the incident being so similar to hers, she says, "It hits home." Kozakiewicz is upset that it happened.

Authorities called the missing Maine girl a runaway. Kozakiewicz says that runaways don't get the same attention adding, "no child is just a runaway. A child on the street is a child on the street and they are in danger. If they are away from their family and loved ones and the people who care about them, they are absolutely in danger."

When asked why people categorize a runaway differently than an endangered child Kozakiewicz says, "It's a way to relieve their own need to search for this person or to think 'okay well this girl is just a runaway' it makes it easier for them to say this could never happen to my child."

Some are blaming the parents her the girls murder. This upsets Kozakiewicz who says about the mom of the murdered girl, "she did what she could to protect the child."

The "monsters" as she calls them can grab young girls the second a parents puts their guard down. You can listen to the Afternoon News With Bill Rehkopf every weekday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on NewsRadio 1020 KDKA.