NAPLES DAILY NEWS: Girl next door became Naples trafficking survivor, now helps others

By Mickenzie Hannon

Sudden abductions, unmarked vans and victims held in chains are what human trafficking often looks like in Hollywood movies. But when the lights go down, the cameras stop rolling and the credits fade, the reality unfolding in Lee and Collier counties looks far different.

In Southwest Florida, exploitation often hides in plain sight, masked behind romantic relationships, fraudulent job opportunities and psychological coercion.

Alina Donahue lived that reality firsthand right in her hometown of Naples. At 21, she was living with her parents, earning straight A’s at Florida Southwestern State College and had never experienced childhood trauma or physical abuse.

“I was very much your kid next door, your girl next door,” Donahue said.

More than a decade later, she would become one of Florida’s most prominent anti-trafficking advocates and the first person in Collier County to have trafficking-related felony convictions expunged under state law. But back in 2011, she was simply a college student who thought she had met her boyfriend.