EMPTY BEDS ARE SCREAMING~Sound Of Freedom
By Diana Trepkov, Forensic Artist, Victims Advocate & Author
This movie, Sound Of Freedom, is a sincere, hard hitting truth of what really is happening to the precious innocent children around the world. Approximately, 2 million children are being trafficked every year. Truth is truth. A problem can’t be fixed if it isn’t recognized, child trafficking is a huge problem.
I can hear them loud and clear, the empty beds are screaming for help. After choosing a career as a forensic artist for over 20 years, I have witnessed so much pain in victims of crime and families of missing loved ones. I’ve never slept a solid night since I started my career as a forensic artist. I hear and see too much. Nightmares are a regular thing for me as my mind is always with the missing children. Why is it so hard to find them? If a body isn’t hidden or a person isn’t trafficked, why can’t we find them?
It all began 20 years ago when I found out that I had cancer, I was crying and so scared, I prayed to God to help me beat the cancer and I would help so many people. Luckily, I did beat it and chose a career in forensic art to help people who really needed my help. Currently, I am involved in my 243rd law enforcement cold case. This movie, Sound Of Freedom, reminded me why I’ve stayed true in this career.
I have witnessed the pain and suffering in families of missing loved one’s, which also include trafficked and murdered children. It is such a helpless feeling when you work so hard to find a missing loved one and you just don’t know where they are. So yes, I see the families in so much pain and it hurts me deeply. They live one moment at a time, just to survive another day, hoping for a miracle so their child can be found.
Sometimes, a bone is found and then confirmed with DNA to prove it is their missing loved one and now a family will finally know their child isn’t coming home alive. It is the not knowing that is mental torture. The pain is real and so is this movie, Sound Of Freedom.
Just like this movie, not many people will want to hear the real stories about crime victims. Some will say, it is too negative for the conversation, or this doesn’t really happen. Many people just can’t handle the harsh reality.
In this powerful movie, which is an intense movie to watch, but a crucial one, Tim Ballard is a homeland security agent that goes after pedophiles in human trafficking rings. Tim and others try everything possible to save the children who are trafficked in Columbia. Tim’s actions to save a young brother and sister from their traffickers, is one of the most touching parts of this movie.
I needed to go for a walk and clear my head after seeing this incredible and heartbreaking movie. I feel compelled to write this article and say what I know is true, this comes from the deepest place of my heart. This movie is a rude awakening for people who aren’t aware of what is happening in the world with human trafficking. I have been living this, seeing this and witnessing what families of missing loved ones go through. We can’t live in a bubble and pretend this doesn’t exist. It is like putting our head in the sand and saying we are not in a pandemic at this moment, but if you poke your head back up you will see that we are. We have to see what is really happening in the world in order to fix the problem. Protecting the most vulnerable should be everyone’s #1 priority. The children are innocent, they depend on us to protect them, they deserve to live a safe, long and happy life. This cruelty should not be happening to anyone. Seeing this movie, Sound Of Freedom, touched me like no other movie ever has as it really touched my soul.
Many years ago I started my career off by volunteering at a rape crisis centre to see if I can handle being a forensic artist. I needed to have a clear understanding of what rape victims go through, the emotional side before I could get into a career as a forensic artist as I will be dealing with precious crime victims. I learned way more than I expected to and that was about horrific rapes and ritual abuse. I was completely in shock to hear and witness that this was really happening in the world. I thought to myself, what kind of world do we live in? It was a rude awakening. Victims would speak up and I felt traumatized as I heard the real life stories, because I had no idea this actually happened. Can you imagine, if I felt traumatized from just listening, how do you think the rape victims felt? I would go home and have horrific nightmares all night after hearing the stories from these precious rape victims. That was my first wake up call about the abuse that innocent people go through.
The daughter of a close friend of mine is a human trafficking victim. She disappeared in Las Vegas Valley, Nevada, United States, in 2006. To this day we still have no answers to where she is or if she is still alive but we will never give up on hope. It is so sad, I check in on her mom regularly to see how she is coping. I will drop a heart of a cry face emoji just so she knows how much I care about her and her daughter as they are never forgotten. Family’s of missing loved ones have always said to me, “I never want my child to be forgotten and that is my fear.”
When I was watching Sound Of Freedom, there is a segment where street security camera’s shows videos of actual abductions. This brought me back to a young boys case that I discussed in my book. This boy was bringing up trashcans from the curb and was waiting for a carpool drive to his part-time job and vanished. He disappeared in his own driveway at the age of 19. That happened in 2001, to this day he has not been located and sadly there are no clues to his disappearance. His mom is such a sweetheart.
The reason I named this article “Empty Beds are Screaming”, is because of all these precious families that I have stood by. I’ve seen them suffer year after year. They talk about how they feel so alone, their heart feels so empty because they have no idea what happened to their child or where their child is hidden or if murdered, where are they buried. Something that the families would say is, “never in a million years did I ever think this would happen to my child.”
I have known families who have lost jobs, lost their house and get sick while they search for their missing loved one. Bottom line, they just can’t find their child. How do you go to sleep at night not knowing where your child is? It is complete mental torture. Many parents have told me that they go into their child’s room and sit on their bed or put on their sweatshirt to smell their scent so they can feel close to them or they just lay in their bed, breaking down crying. The part in this movie, Sound Of Freedom, when the dad was crying on the bed really hit me hard. I was crying in the movie theatre because it brought me back to all of the families that I have gotten to know through the years. As the dad was crying in this movie, his daughter is screaming being abused by traffickers in another country. Empty beds are screaming, it is a horrific vision but it is a cold true reality. I could relate to this movie on so many levels, as it is a hard hitting truth and my body felt so tense as I watched it. Sound Of Freedom was so well made that I wouldn’t leave the theatre for a second as I didn’t want to miss any part of the movie. It is over two hours, but to me felt more like a half hour movie.
This movie is REAL, no one should knock this movie down. If you don’t know the truth then please take the time to investigate it by researching about human trafficking and missing children. I am here to tell you what I have witnessed for the last 20 years in my career. Children don’t vanish into thin air, they are somewhere and sadly many of them are being trafficked. Some may have died as an accident and we just can’t find their body, other’s are murdered.
Why would someone try to prevent this movie from being played in a theatre? What if it was their child that was taken away and being raped? This movie is the most important movie I have ever watched in my entire life because it is real. It is heartbreaking to watch but it will save children worldwide from these pedophiles from, stealing and raping them. Thanks to Sound Of Freedom, this movie is changing the world. These children who are trafficked have a chance to be rescued and the public can learn what is really happening in the world today.
This movie was so well put together, all I could think about is families in pain searching for their missing loved ones and it reminded me of the families that are so close in my heart. Honestly, I wanted to hug each child in the movie, and all of the children that are being trafficked around the world. Everyone is equally important and is someones child.
If anyone feels empowered and they want to help, please reach out to Operational Underground Railroad or Angel Studios and ask how you can help. You can even buy tickets for people to see this movie, as awareness is key.
Gods children aren’t for sale, that is so true. All the children need us to protect them and they need to feel we won’t stop searching for them until they are found.
Thank you to everyone who is involved in this remarkable movie, by bringing awareness to this horrific crime of trafficking children. A huge and sincere thank you to Tim Ballard and his wife for their incredible courage they had to make it possible for a trafficked brother and sister to be reunited again with their loving dad, and many other children that were saved because of their unselfishness to make a huge change in the history of human trafficking. Thank you to Angel Studios for believing in this incredible story and knowing that it is something so special and that the entire world needs to see it before it happens to someone they know and love, as prevention is key. Thank you to Tony and Sage for raising 19 millions dollars for this important cause at his 60th birthday party in L.A., I personally witnessed this as I attended Tony Robbins birthday with my boyfriend.
Even though the world can feel so cruel at times, we are all so blessed with all the incredible people who really care and are passionate to make the world a safer place.
This is proof of the special message at the end of the movie from actor, Jim Caviezel who was outstanding, (the entire cast was incredible), his message was loud and clear. I felt compelled to write an article after seeing this movie, Sound Of Freedom. Thank you Kyla Dillard for asking me to write an article since I am a forensic artist and a victims advocate for a huge part of my life, my heart said yes immediately.
These innocent missing children need to be found, not all of them are deceased, many are trafficked and they are waiting to be rescued. Let’s all work together as a team and help to put a stop to child human trafficking. Every child deserves to be located and brought back home where they belong.
Miracles happen when we work together as a team. After just learning that the movie has hit 50 million dollars in sales, I think this really speaks volumes. We are on the right track to exposing this horrific child trafficking. Remember it is always about the children, it always will be.
My dream is that we will all listen to the precious children singing which is the beautiful Sound of Freedom!
