Kingsport local selected to present research on human trafficking in Appalachia

KINGSPORT — Kayden Douthat may have moved nine hours away from Kingsport, but her dedication remains at home. Douthat, a rising junior at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, presents her research project on human trafficking in Appalachia on Wednesday, inspired by care for her home region. Douthat graduated from Dobyns-Bennett High School in 2025. During her time at DB, she participated in color guard and Air Force JROTC. Douthat originally planned to join the military but was medically disqualified because she had broken her shoulder. "That kind of threw a wrench in my plan. I wanted to do something with the military. I didn't know what I wanted to do," she said. When a career in homeland security was suggested to her, Douthat did some research and came across Embry-Riddle, the only university to offer a homeland security course of study without obligatory military service. "That kind of left me with a singular option. So, I came down to Florida and started homeland security, basically knowing nothing of what I was getting myself into," Douthat said. Now, she is working towards a Homeland Security and Intelligence degree and luckily loves it. Her professors are former or current FBI, CIA, NSA and military personnel and classes include courses like introduction to terrorism, current events and interrogation. Douthat currently has an internship with the NSA and sees herself pursuing a career with one of the mentioned government agencies. Recently, Douthat took a research methods course, and needed to formulate a hypothetical research project for the class. "I knew I wanted to do something that tied back to the area," she said. A n issue that Douthat said has always stayed in her mind are the disappearances of Summer Wells and Layla Santanello. "I was I want to say 13 or 14 when Summer disappeared," she said. "I was kind of more confused because that thing, that doesn't happen in Kingsport. Like, that sort of thing never happens." "It was in the forefront of my mind. And then when I got to doing this project, it was one of the first things I thought about," Douthat said. "That was what pushed me to finish the project.'" The project was purely hypothetical in the beginning, but Douthat's teacher encouraged her to make it a reality. "My teacher knew how invested I was in actually doing it, so he was like, 'Hey, why don't you work your butt off all summer and submit it for the summer research symposium in July?'" Douthat had doubt at first, but she pushed her through and brought the study to life. "I basically never slept from then until now." After a lot of trial and error, Douthat ended up with her project title "Hidden Human Trafficking in Appalachia: Structural Vulnerabilities, Rural Communities and Missing Person Case Studies." The project is focused on the circumstances in the region that allow people to disappear. When it came to the connection to real life missing person cases like those of Wells and Santanello, Douthat clarified that she has been very wary of how she mentions them, as human trafficking is not confirmed in either case. Her inspiration to action was centered more on how such disappearances happened in the community. "I'm basically using these to show vulnerabilities within East Tennessee," Douthat said. Douthat found that poverty was the strongest predictor of human trafficking prevalence. Other factors, according to Douthat's research, included small law enforcement departments and a lack of connection between cities and counties. These factors contribute to low public awareness, explained Douthat, leading to a 32% variation in human trafficking reports between Hawkins County and Sullivan County. "Basically, the further out you go from Kingsport, the less it's getting reported, the less funding they have. It's basically hidden human trafficking if it's not getting out there so it's not getting solved," she said. Douthat is presenting her research at the research symposium on July 29. She is one of just two homeland security majors selected to present their research at the symposium. Douthat shared that being selected makes her feel like her hard work is paying off. "This is definitely my passion project right now," she said. There is also an opportunity through the symposium for her project to receive funding. If Douthat was awarded funding to continue her research, she could examine a much wider pool of Northeast Tennesseans and Southwest Virginians for her statistics, making her findings more concrete and allowing her to compare different areas. "Who knows, we may end up uncovering something that got swept under the rug," she said. No matter where her studies and research take her next, Douthat intends to keep it close to home. "Even if I don't get funding to continue the human trafficking aspect of it, my plan is to use their [Wells and Santanello's] cases for every project I have," she said. Douthat intends to serve her hometown and its people through her academics and career.