Her Hollywood dream became a nightmare: Mother's joy at reunion with daughter who was 'drugged and tortured by sex offender'... but family fears she's still at risk
- Satara Stratton, 24, moved to Los Angeles to pursue her dream
- Mother said she has been held captive since November by sex offender
- After media and Facebook campaign she has been found safe in hospital
- Mother delighted to 'hug her, talk to her, tell her none of this is her fault'
- In secret location due to threat posed by alleged captor
- Police are on his trail despite denying she was held against her will
- Mug shots document Satara's life spiralling out of control in recent years
The mother of a small-town girl who dreamed of becoming a Hollywood actress was today reunited with her daughter after she went missing for four months.
Sharon Stratton drove from Tennessee to Los Angeles to see her daughter Satara, who she says was 'drugged and tortured' by a registered sex offender who held her captive.
Ms Stratton told MailOnline of her joy at being able to 'hug her, talk to her, tell her none of this is her fault' - but said Satara was still in 'too bad a shape' to leave hospital.
And the family has refused to reveal Satara's current location, or the holiday she will be moved to, as they fear her alleged captor poses a continued threat to the 24-year-old.
Alive: Police have located actress Satara Stratton, pictured, who went missing in November. She was believed to be addicted to heroin and under the influence of a sex offender
The emotional reunion brings an end to the harrowing story of the wannabe star who saw her ambitions crushed by the reality of life on the dark side of Tinseltown.
Satara had travelled west with dreams of stardom, but was allegedly drawn into drug addiction after meeting a sex offender who took her into his care.
Her youthful good lucks were ravaged by heroin, and a series of police mugshots taken following drug-related arrests showed the toll that her lifestyle was beginning to take on her body.
Although Mrs Stratton reported her daughter as missing after she stopped returning her phone calls, authorities claimed there was no evidence she had been abducted.
But after a nationwide publicity campaign, Satara turned up at a Los Angeles hospital - apparently left there by the man who allegedly held her captive.
Police are now trying to track the man down and bring him to justice for his role in the young woman's dramatic fall.
Ambition: Satara dreamed of becoming a Hollywood star when she was growing up in Tennessee
Mrs Stratton said: 'That man destroyed my little girl. He held her captive for more than four months in a place where she could not escape from.
'He drugged her, tortured her, attacked her and who knows what else.
'She needs to be with her family and we need to get her healthy and back to normal and give her time to recover from the nightmare she has been through.'
She added that when Satara is awake in the hospital, she screams uncontrollably - terrified the man will find her and drag her away.
Los Angeles police announced yesterday she had been located in 'good condition' at an unspecified hospital.
Career: Satara (right) has appeared in several films, including the 2010 movie Fairer Blood, pictured
Ms Stratton, who is a university professor, said it was the registered sex offender who had kidnapped her daughter who left her at the hospital after increasing pressure from police.
He fled soon afterwards and is thought to be still on the run.
Satara, whose screen name was Satara Silver, is now being held in a secure place until he is found. She is being treated for some external injuries and bruising over her body.
She is also suffering withdrawal symptoms from the drugs she was injected with.
Over the last eight months, police have arrested Satara on several occasions, with her mugshots documenting how her life had spiraled out of control. Arrests have included possession of narcotics in a hospital.
Police are now looking for the sex offender whose offenses are listed as attempted lewd and lascivious conduct with a child under 14 and attempted forced oral copulation with a minor under 14.
Downfall: Police mug shots from drug charges show Stratton looking increasingly disheveled and ill
Her mother revealed that prior to this, Satara was a normal, happy and quiet young girl who loved dancing and soccer.
She had been acting since she was three-years-old and enjoyed early success in a handful of films, including a horror flick called Cult Movie.
It was when she was working in New York that she was advised to move to LA as she had dreams of also becoming a film director.
Determined to make a success of her new life, the petite blonde began taking classes and started a job at the Disney Store on Santa Monica Boulevard.
But it was short lived, as she was robbed outside a bank and hospitalised, causing her to miss a semester of school, her mother told the Los Angeles Times last month.
Hometown: Before moving to Los Angeles, Satara lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where her mother is a professor of anthropology at the University of Tennessee, pictured
Mrs Stratton added that her daughter's troubles worsened when a fellow employee began extorting money from her and harassing her.
She said she believes the employee may have been working with the sex offender as the two were friends.
Satara Stratton was said to be a happy fun-loving girl until she moved to Hollywood
'I don't know what their motive was or if it was a money thing,' she said. 'But my daughter is very petite and young looking and I believe one of the men is a registered pedophile, so perhaps that was why he went after her.
'She was very vulnerable. They singled her out and preyed on her. My daughter never touched hard drugs in her life. She was always a very demure and quiet girl.'
The university professor said she is just glad Satara is still alive after a threatening email was sent to Satara's boyfriend last month saying he was going to kill both her and her mother.
'I spent two weeks in LA looking for her after that. I got no help from police who warned me victims aren't usually found alive after three months missing,' she said.
'It was only when I made a plea on Facebook and then the media got hold of it that the police really started to investigate her disappearance.'
Police had considered her 'voluntarily missing' - but her mother refused to believe it, saying that Satara was always in touch regularly.
The last time Sharon spoke to her daughter before she was located was in November to arrange for Satara to see her grandmother before she died.
Satara’s grandmother, with whom she was close, died in January and 'she would never have missed that', Sharon told the LA Times.
Sightings: Stratton, who appeared in a handful of films, was seen 6500 block of Santa Monica Boulevard
Job: Satara was working at a Hollywood Disney Store when she was robbed outside a bank and hospitalised, missing a term of school. Her mother said that is where her problems began
Though Ms Stratton doesn't know the full details of what her daughter went through, she believes her daughter was stalked before being 'grabbed' after being offered a ride home.
It will likely be a while before her daughter can even talk about what happened, she said.
'I want to get my daughter back and give her the love and care she needs. The last four months have been a nightmare, I haven't been able to sleep or eat or work or even think.
'Once she is back to normal, I know Satara will go back to pursuing her dream. She will not give that up just because of what that man did to her.
She later posted a message calling for help on Facebook, writing that her daughter 'has health issues risk to life, and previous torture by this man lead to suicidal ideas, and he forced drugs'.
Authorities have never divulged the nature of her health issues.
On her Facebook page, the concerned mother wrote: 'Satara is not voluntarily missing; she has had no contact with not only family but friends throughout this occurrence.'
She added: 'On the surface, she’s an adult and can do whatever she wants.
'But you start digging below the surface and you find these connections and you can’t ignore these connections. So where is she?'
Hunt: Satara was noted as 'voluntarily missing' but her mother disputes this, saying they spoke every day
