New London, Conn. "She would only do in-calls at hotels where she knew that the front desk had security and video cameras."

Brainard-Barnes, a single mother from Norwich, Conn., struggling to support two children, was introduced to prostitution through a modeling job in Manhattan, her sister said.

To her family, it was an unexpected path for a bookish young woman who published poetry on her MySpace profile and invented games for her children. Brainard-Barnes insisted to her sister that it was not her full-time profession and in early 2007 she worked as a telemarketer.

By July, however, Brainard-Barnes had been laid off and faced eviction from her apartment, Cann said. On Friday, July 6, 2007, Brainard-Barnes left her children with their fathers, took a train to Manhattan, got a hotel roomnear Times Square and posted an ad on Craigslist, Cann said.

Brainard-Barnes did not return to Connecticut the following Monday, as she had promised, Cann said. She did call friends that day -- her last contacts before going missing. "There was nothing distressful," Cann said.

The next year, police contacted Cann and asked whether her sister had ever worked on Long Island. "Never," Cann replied.

Police then told Cann a surprising detail: Her last cellphone call pinged a tower on the South Shore, Cann said.

Wanted to open hair salon

Melissa Barthelemy had already had a brush with prostitution's dangers. A john once tried to mug her near her Bronx home with a knife. Barthelemy, who stood 4-foot-11 and weighed 95 pounds, grabbed the weapon and stabbed her attacker, her mother said.

"She was