The hidden work danger: an all-expenses-paid business trip can sound glamorous and high-powered, but it also can carry surprising safety risks. Here, former Manhattan sex-crimes prosecutor Linda Fairstein tells what you must know--before you check in.(Real-Life Reads)

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The last person known to have spoken to 21-year-old Jennifer Lee Hampton--aside from the man who raped and killed her--was her mother. The two were very close, usually chatting on the phone several times a day, and Jennifer called home at about 11:30 p.m. this past September 19 to say good night. A former homecoming queen from a tiny Alabama town, Jennifer hoped to someday study nursing. For the time being, though, she was working for an Alabama restaurant chain called Mama Blues--a job that, indirectly, led to her death.

That Friday night, Jennifer and three restaurant colleagues were on business in Knoxville, Tennessee, training the staff of another restaurant set to open there. All four had been staying for several days at a Days Inn motel, each in a separate room. They parted at about 9 p.m. to go to bed, agreeing to meet the next morning in the motel parking lot and head back to the restaurant.

But Jennifer never showed up--behavior completely out of character for someone described as responsible and dedicated by friends and employers. When the manager unlocked her door, the room was found to be in disarray, and her personal items were still there. A manhunt was organized almost immediately for the 5-foot-3, 110-pound young woman, but it was already too late. Her body was found days later by a fisherman along the shore of a nearby lake.

The horrifying details soon emerged: Valentino Vasquez Miranda, the man eventually charged with her murder, was a motel employee. His girlfriend, who also lived and worked at the motel, testified in a pretrial hearing that he left their room at about 4 a.m. after asking her for the motel's master key, which could open any room's door.

Miranda allegedly used the key to enter Jennifer's room, where prosecutors say he beat her, sexually assaulted her, and strangled her to death. He then allegedly transported her body to the lake. His girlfriend later found blood on his clothes and turned them over to police, whose technicians linked Jennifer's DNA to Miranda.

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