A flight attendant, Shelia Fedrick, was working on a flight from Seattle to San Francisco for Alaska Airlines.
Towards the start of the flight, she noticed a pair of passengers who seemed to stand out for some reason, it turned out she’d not soon forget them.
It was reported that at first, she saw a girl sitting in a window seat. “Shelia guessed the girl was about 14 or 15 years old, with greasy blonde hair. Shelia recalls thinking she “looked like she had been through pure hell.” Next to the teenage girl was an older man.
“He was well dressed, that’s what kind of got me, because why is he well dressed and she is looking dishevelled and out of sorts.”
Said Shelia, it was the contrast between the two that caught her eye.
“Something in the back of my mind said something’s not right.”
When Shelia addressed the pair, she was struck by the fact that the man spoke for them both, he just never let the girl answer for herself.
The girl seemed to avoid eye contact with Shelia, and Shelia noticed that the more questions she asked the more defensive the man got.
Under her breath, Shelia signalled for the girl to go to the bathroom.
Shelia left a note on the bathroom mirror for the girl. After she used the restroom, the girl added onto the note with a message for Shelia: “I need help.”
Shelia quickly informed the pilot about the grave situation. Without seconds notice the pilot contacted the airport in San Francisco.
By the time the plane landed, police were on the tarmac waiting to pick up the man.
Shelia had left her phone number on the note for the girl. “I guess she memorised it,” says Shelia, “a few weeks later, she called me.”
It turns out, the girl had been kidnapped and was the victim of human trafficking. Who knows where that girl would be today if not for Shelia’s heroism!
Now, the girl has been able to start a new life, she is attending college and her and Shelia are still in touch.
Share to pay tribute to this amazing lady who listened to her gut and saved this young girls life!