Police: St. Louis vacation rental was sex trafficking headquarters

Authorities say they’ve broken up a sex trafficking operation inside a short-term rental home. The alleged victim is from Tennessee, where a relative helped uncover the dark secret. The quiet street corner at Michigan Avenue and Halliday Avenue, located in St. Louis’ Tower Grove East neighborhood, was swarmed with police over the lunch hour this past Friday afternoon. Denny Reinheimer said, “They were carrying, it looked like, assault rifles, and they all converged on the one house.” It happened right next to the Reinheimers, who were on alert and almost forgot they were expecting a package delivery. Karen Reinheimer said, “He knocked on the door, and we thought it was the police. We didn’t know if we were going to have to leave or what.” St. Louis police say they found a Tennessee woman being sold for sex out of a vacation rental home next door. We reached out to the host of the short-term rental, who told us that his protocols helped police make arrests in the case. That includes obtaining the identification of the person who rented the property. Martavis Walker is now charged with six felony counts, including kidnapping, rape, and sex trafficking. Court records say Walker forced the victim to St. Louis from Nashville and threatened to kill her if she tried to escape, while reportedly working with two others to post escort ads. A probable cause statement says the victim’s aunt in Tennessee found the ads and called police, who obtained a search warrant that led to the arrests. St. Louis News: FOX 2 covers news, weather, and sports in Missouri and Illinois. Read more about this story or see the latest updates on our website Follow FOX 2 on social media: YouTube: Facebook: Twitter: Instagram: TikTok: @fox2now SnapChat: