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Former Houston resident and Katrina evacuee Freddy Lee Welch faces new charges from a prostitution ring investigation involving a 13-year-old Houston girl.

AP

Phoenix police say Welch -- who was wanted in Louisiana on murder charges -- took the teen to Arizona and made her work as a prostitute.

She was rescued after his arrest last weekend.

The young victim's story began like that of many others who come to this city in search of a better life.

Another teenager we'll call Kim left Chicago to follow the so-called money trail with her pimp.

"He was like 'We can get big money in Houston. Houston is a money city,'" said Kim. "My family didn't want to help me. They didn't want to give me a place to stay so I was out on the streets."

On the streets and working as a prostitute at age 16.

"I would walk up and down the busy street with my little short skirt," remembered Kim.

Finding clients on Tidwell Road in North Houston was the easy part.

"Give me a signal like raise their hands," she said.

Getting her share of the money for the tricks she turned was the hard part.

"Over $5,000 for him. For myself -- I made nothing," she said.

Kim admits there were times when the sex turned violent and she didn't know if she would make it out alive.

"He pinned me up, he duct taped me and took me to the back room and he choked me," Kim remembered.

"Unfortunately, it's very common," said Mike Blockson with Houston's Covenant House.

Blockson is an outreach worker for the Covenant House who believes Houston is a hub for child prostitution.

"Because it's sprawling, there's lots of places that they can go, especially in the Montrose area," said Blockson.

He said many child prostitutes are abandoned by their parents or come out of the foster care system and fall into the slick hands of pimps.

"He made it look easy, he made it look like it was the best thing in the world," said Kim. "I fell into this life because I wanted to be liked I wanted to belong somewhere."

Until she realized her life was too valuable to live on the streets.

"I'm just lucky that I didn't get killed," said Kim. "I'm lucky, I'm so lucky."

Now, at age 18, Covenant House is helping Kim start a better life.

So how can we prevent these from happening to more kids?

Experts tell us it's all in the education. They say federal funding is needed to help agencies that offer outreach programs to let kids know there are alternatives to this kind of lifestyle.