CRIME HUNTER: Canadian porn star’s BDSM date with death

Article content

There are around 185 souls in Long Harbour, N.L., on a good day.

Article content

The coast along Placentia Bay would appear a long, long way from the horrific fate that befell one of its native daughters.

Article content

No, porn is a big-city enterprise and there is never a shortage of desperate young women — and more than a few men — eager to find fame, fortune and maybe their next meal by having sex on camera.

So, Long Harbour isn’t alone in producing girls with stars in their eyes. Think podunk towns in Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio and Texas.

Natel King, 23, was one of these girls. She was the blond from Newfoundland and eager to make a career for herself in the red light district of modelling. She had even adopted a new moniker — Taylor Summers.

And on Feb. 29, 2004, while doing a BDSM shoot in rural Pennsylvania, she disappeared. Sadly, one of the oldest stories in the book was about to add another chapter.

Article content

Article content

“For any girl who is working under the umbrella of the adult industry, there would be immediate cause for concern,” Gene Ross, co-owner of adultFYI.com, a Los Angeles-based industry website, told the National Post.

“There are a lot of kooks out there and there are people who have been known to stalk adult stars.”

RECOMMENDED VIDEO

***

Natel King was climbing her way up the sexxx-rated ladder. Now based in the Toronto area, most of her work was directed at the emerging internet and technology was making porn a lot easier for aspiring auteurs to get into.

Men like Anthony Frederick who ran a low-rent porn operation from a cabin outside Allentown, Pa. King had worked with Frederick in December 2003.

She didn’t like him and told fellow porn star and roommate Autumn Rayne she was uncomfortable around Frederick.

Article content

But, she needed the money and drove to Pennsylvania. She called her friend on Feb. 29 saying she feared for her safety and that is the last anyone heard from her.

Frederick gave her creeps and might not pay. Her roommate advised her to split and call him in five minutes.

“She had trouble with Tony before,” Rayne said in 2004, adding she had torpedoed the pornographer’s efforts to enlist her.

***

Now, King was missing and detectives in Pennsylvania and Peel Region were turning up the heat.

Pals claimed that the missing model was a pro who skipped the drugs and booze portion of the business. She would not appear with men nor would she engage in extreme sexual action — even though she could make more money.

“She wasn’t a star yet, but she was getting there and she definitely had her scruples together,” said Brandon D. Steele, owner of Michigan-based Steele Shot Productions.

Article content

But King’s Achilles heel, according to pals, was that she was young. Invincible. And as a result, she skipped precautions like bodyguards or even friends on set. Frequently, she traveled alone.

***

On Feb. 29, 2004, King was alone and in Pennsylvania. She left few details with friends. When they didn’t hear from her, they call cops in the Keystone State.

She was last seen in a Philly suburb headed to a local eatery. Her red 1992 Saturn with Ontario licence plates was found parked outside Frederick’s studio.

Frederick later played dumb with detectives.

Her pal Autumn Rayne later said: “I don’t think she was taken from a bar. I don’t think she ever went to that bar … All I know is that her car was sitting at his studio for days with all her stuff inside it and he didn’t report anything.”

Article content

Their worst fears were confirmed on March 23, 2004 when the young woman’s partially decomposed remains were discovered in a Pennsylvania forest. Cops said she had been stabbed to death with deep wounds in her chest and neck.

RECOMMENDED VIDEO

“She put up quite a fight against her attacker,” U.S. District Attorney Bruce Castor said. “I believe that she met her demise at the hands of (photographer) Anthony Frederick, as part of a sexual bondage fantasy.”

According to cops, when’s King’s body was discovered she was wearing an S&M ball-gag device and a chain with small clips that can be tightened with tension screws located partially under her body.

A rope used as a sexual restraint device and duct tape were also found. Castor later said that it appeared Frederick was making a “snuff film.”

Frederick pleaded guilty to thrid-degree murder to escape a date with the death penalty. He claimed in court that King was killed in a dispute over money and that she attacked him with a knife.

He was sentenced to 51 years in prision. Frederick is eligible for parole in 2029. His assistant was also caged for two years for her role in the cover-up.

[email protected]

@HunterTOSun

Article content