On April 3, 2002, Marita Verón left her home in Argentina to go to the doctor. She never came back.
A witness said some men put her in a red car. The police found nothing else.
Her mother, Susana Trimarco, was 47 years old and had no experience investigating. But she started asking questions on her own. And she went where no one wanted to look: she disguised herself as a prostitute and entered the brothels herself.
There, amid dim lights and closed doors, she found other daughters. Young women someone had locked up and nobody was looking for. She didn’t leave them there.
Because of her search, 129 young women forced into prostitution were rescued. That was the figure in the early years; today, the foundation she founded speaks of thousands.
In 2007, she founded the María de los Ángeles Foundation to support victims and families. Her case helped Argentina map out human trafficking.
Justice was slower. In 2012, the 13 people accused of Marita’s kidnapping were acquitted. In 2013, another court overturned that ruling and convicted them.
“I can’t abandon her. If I stop looking for her, no one will care about her.”
More than 24 years have passed. Marita is still missing.
Susana went looking for a daughter and opened the door to hundreds.
