By David Mccormack PUBLISHED: 09:53 EST, 14 September 2013 | UPDATED: 11:10 EST, 15 September 2013 A woman who spent her teenage years trapped in the sex trafficking trade has revealed how the tragic death of a friend she helped recruit has caused her to turn her life around and find a renewed sense of purpose saving other victims. Leah Albright-Byrd, now 29, has spent the past 11 years recovering from the harrowing experience and processing the terrible guilt she felt after her friend Bridget Gray was strangled to death by a client in Las Vegas on her 22nd birthday.
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Leah Albright-Byrd ran away from home at 14 and soon found herself being pimped out for money
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She also introduced a friend, Bridget Gray, to the sex trafficking industry
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While Albright-Byrd got out after four years, Gray wasn't so fortunate and was murdered on her 22nd birthday in Las Vegas
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Albright-Byrd felt responsible and it took years of intensive therapy to help her recover from the trauma of living 'the life'
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She now runs 'Bridget's Dream' a non-profit setup to help other victims of sex trafficking
She even started to recruit other underage girls, including a 14-year-old girl called @placeholder.