The Missing: Kristen Galvan, sex trafficked in Houston
HOUSTON - Houston's Bissonett Street is notorious for prostitution. Those who venture down certain side roads will see the city's dark underworld on blatant display. That's where Kristen Galvan was found the first time she went missing.
"She had run away with her boyfriend," explains Robyn Cory, Kristen's mother. "She was gone for a week and a half. I got a phone call from Houston police and they had picked her up."
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Kristen Galvan was 15 years old at the time. Family says she was never the same after what they believe was a brief, yet traumatic, encounter being sex trafficked.
Weeks later, on January 2, 2020, the Spring teen disappeared again.
"We had given her back her phone. She went missing the day after," Robyn recalls through tears in an interview with FOX 26.
Robyn turned to private investigators. She personally scoured the streets and dug to the bottom of Kristen's social media and everyone Kristen was connected to online.
"I followed their accounts. I learn about their gangs, and this deep dark world of sex trafficking. Child sex trafficking," says Robyn.
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Along the way, Robyn had many false alarms. Messages from people claiming to be Kristen, texts from people threatening her for trying to find her daughter, and even a message from someone claiming Kristen had a baby and it was in a port-a-potty. Police would later tell her the DNA was not a match for Kristen.
The search was emotionally exhausting. Then, one day, the District Attorney brought Robyn a photo. They asked if it was Kristen.
"That picture was 100% my daughter," says Robyn, who was told the photo had been taken recently in Atlanta. "They would not reveal the website, so I scoured the web and found my daughter on an escort website. I flew up there. There were other girls listed in the same ad as her."
THE MISSING: Families gather to support each other
Robyn found the other girls. She did not find Kristen.
In all, Robyn has helped find and rescue several missing girls in her quest for Kristen. She has watched them successfully return to their life and families. She says it's great to see them achieve closure.
Yet in her quest for her daughter, Robyn says she’s running out of leads. No closure, even after multiple men were charged in connection with the trafficking Kristen was pulled into.
While some parents of missing children don't know anything about where their child is, Robyn struggles with knowing that her daughter is being actively sex trafficked. It tears her apart.
"I just heard the stories I’ve never heard at my daughter's testimony. I’ve met survivors of sex trafficking and I can’t stop and look the other way. It’s not just my baby. It’s not just my daughter -- being sold, raped -- nobody can find her. My daughter has a price tag. How much is your child worth?"
The Missing: Families gather to support each other
In FOX 26's ongoing series 'The Missing,' we've spent weeks getting to know local families who are desperately searching for answers in the case of their loved one who has vanished and each of them have stressed the importance of support and awareness.
And so, Robyn carries on her search, if for nothing else than to help bring a spotlight to the dark clutches of human trafficking.
"I’m not here for the likes," says Robyn. "I’m not here for the views. I’m here to fight for my daughter who has been silenced. Who is still missing. She’s a child. A baby. I have to find my baby."
Want to try to help find Kristen? Follow Robyn's YouTube channel by clicking here. You can also follow the Find Kristen Galvan Facebook Page by clicking here.
If you think you've seen Kristen? Call in your tip to 936-760-5800.
Want to help find other missing people in Houston? Watch our segment on how to help find the thousands of missing people in Houston.
Follow our series The Missing on The NewsEdge weeknights at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m., and online at fox26houston.com/shows/the-missing