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RALEIGH – The disappearance and death last week of 5-year-old Shaniya Davis in Fayetteville highlighted a disturbing problem in the country and in North Carolina – human trafficking.

The little girl's mother, Antoinette Davis, is charged with human trafficking and felony child abuse involving prostitution.

“It's really evil,” said N.C. Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, D-Orange County. “We don't use that word very much anymore, but it is an evil we've got to be aware of and try to prevent.The innocence taken away from those children – I wish someone could have been there for that child. What a terrible way to end a life. That's what we hope we can do is prevent this from happening to any more children.”

According to the Department of Justice, the Federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act defines human trafficking as a person “induced to perform labor or a commercial sex act through force, fraud or coercion.”

“Based on my experience working this violation for the past few years, the majority of minor victims are taken into an involuntary servitude position by a family member,” said FBI Special Agent John Price. “That seems to be the most common situation.”

The U.S. Department of Justice says from January 2007 through September 2008, there were 1,229 alleged cases of human trafficking nationally. 1,018 of them, nearly 83 percent, were sex trafficking cases. And 391 of those, more than 30 percent, involved child sex trafficking.

“Six years ago, we put in criminal statutes,” Kinnaird said. “Up until that point, all the statutes were federal and they simply did not prosecute, even if a case turned up.”

State leaders say one of the most important things they're doing now to crack down on human trafficking in North Carolina is training law enforcement officers to recognize it.

“We are in the process of getting grants so we can train our law enforcement, from people with just a sheriff and a couple of deputies all the way to the big Mecklenburg Police Department, so they are aware this is going on right under our nose so they can recognize it and deal with it immediately,” Kinnaird said.

State and federal investigators say North Carolina is prime real estate for human trafficking.

“North Carolina is unique because we have a coast on one side. We also have three busy interstate systems that pass through our state from the southwest, the southeast, on the way to the northeastern states,” Price said. “So it's a state that's uniquely positioned to handle the transit traffic that goes up and down the coastline.”

“These women, they're not prostitutes,” Kinnaird said. “They're victims of kidnapping and trafficking.”