16-year-old girl, Potential Human Trafficking Victim Murdered

A 16-year-old Black girl, Tioni Theus, has been murdered in Los Angeles, California and she was dumped at an exit along the 101 Freeway. She was found early in the morning on January 8, days before the death of Brianna Kupfer. 

Why she was killed is unknown, but police suspect she was a victim of human trafficking. She was found with a gunshot wound in her neck, and there are no known suspects.

It has since been nearly three weeks, and Los Angeles leaders are offering a large reward, now $115,000, in order to solve the killing. 

According to the New York Post, the reward comes from a combination of sources. The state is offering $50,000, Los Angeles is also proposing $50,000, and Los Angeles County is providing another $10,000 to the cause. The last $5,000 come from a community nonprofit called Operation Hope.

“There has to be an individual out there that witnessed at least a portion, if not the entirety, of this case,” exclaims California Highway Patrol Assistant Chief Jesus Holguin. “We know that people out there witnessed something that we can follow up on and hopefully get to the bottom of this crime as soon as possible.

CNN describes the teenager as especially vulnerable to facing human trafficking. Court documents identify Theus as a commercial sexual exploitation of children victim, or CSEC. 

She was a noted victim of child sexual exploitation, and Theus’s mother was incapacitated following an injury. Spectrum News 1 reports that the injury came as a result of a serious hit-and-run accident in 2019, something that resulted in the teenager living with her father while her mother recovered.

Some of this is explained by the Los Angeles County Defense Attorney’s (LAC DA) special advisor, Tiffini Blacknell. “Children cannot consent to sex work,” Blacknell continues, “[Tioni] was a child. Her life mattered.”

“This speaks as to why we need to do more for survivors of human trafficking, especially children who are exceptionally vulnerable to the coercive tactics of traffickers,” LAC DA George Gascón says, regarding the aforementioned court documents.

LAC Supervisor Holly Mitchel claims that too many deaths of Black females have drawn too little interest. “It is imperative we do not allow implicit bias and or the adultification of Black girls to continue to influence the lack of media coverage or public outrage over their murders,” Mitchell insisted. 

“We have come together as elected leaders … to elevate her murder because of the trend we experience where Black women and Black girls deaths go unacknowledged, underreported and too often unsolved.”

According to NBC Los Angeles, Theus’ family members described her as a straight-A student who enjoyed dance and golf. The girl was living in Compton and a student attending Centennial High School.

After her mother’s accident, Tioni Theus is noted to have been more rebellious. She disappeared for long periods of time and was eventually taken into prostitution and theft by a man she’d met on Instagram, according to some of her cousins.

Cousin Nafeesah Kincy says, “We’re definitely not pretending that Tioni was an angel. She faced trauma. I want to humanize her. I don’t want her to be seen as a prostitute or a runaway…” 

She continues, “It’s so many young women out here being victimized and being taken advantage of physically and sexually. So, it’s my cousin today. But it could be your cousin, your daughter, your friend tomorrow.”

This is especially upsetting to consider when remembering that the death of Brianna Kupfer, a 24-year-old White UCLA Graduate, occurred in the wealthy LA neighborhood of Hancock Park. This is days after Theus was killed, and came with a markedly higher reward of $250,000.

On Wednesday, CHP Captain Jeff Lofton asked anybody with information about the case to come forward. “If you’re from the community here and you have cameras in your vehicle and you were driving along the route, along the 110 Freeway that morning, please look at your video,” Lofton said. “If you find something at Manchester and the 110, call investigators.”

Investigators at the agency can be reached at 323-644-9557.