Los Angeles police authorities are offering a $110,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a 16-year-old girl who was tragically shot and her body abandoned on an interstate freeway three weeks ago.
Since Tioni Theus was discovered dead on the side of Interstate 110 in south Los Angeles on January 8, the hashtag #JusticeforTioniTheus has been trending on social media in the city.
Her body was dumped after she was shot in the neck, according to the authorities.
"She was dumped on the side of the motorway like trash, and she's a child!" says one witness. Lakesia Barrett, Tioni's cousin, spoke with KABC.
As of the time of publication, no arrests had been made, and police had not published any descriptions of the suspects.
After a 16-year-old girl who was on her way to a party was killed and her body was dumped on the side of the road, police offered a $110,000 reward.
Theus was last seen leaving her father's house in Compton, California, after informing him she was seeing a friend for a party, just hours before her death.
KABC reported that Theus' cousin Nafeesah Kincy said, "Whoever knows what occurred needs to tell something."
"It's just as straightforward as that. She was a living, breathing human being. "This is something she didn't deserve."
At a memorial for Theus held on Saturday, 22 January, her family and campaigners noted that a $250,000 reward had been given in a different Los Angeles murder case, that of 24-year-old Brianna Kupfer, just a few days earlier. The family made this allegation because, at the time of the allegation, no reward had been granted in Theus' situation.
As a result of the increased amount of attention being drawn to the probe on social media, California Governor Gavin Newsom contributed $50,000 and Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly Mitchell offered $10,000, according to the Los Angeles Times. The City of Los Angeles has now added its own $50,000 award to the pot.
It is four times more probable that cases involving Black victims will go unresolved, according to Mitchell's comments.
In light of the recent deaths of Black girls, it is critical that we do not allow implicit bias or adultification to impact media coverage and public indignation about these crimes.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón stated that Theus may have been a victim of human trafficking in his statement.
During an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Kincy said that a "guy in his 20s" had used manipulation and coercion to force her into sex trafficking.
"Children cannot provide consent to sex work," Tiffany Blacknell, a spokeswoman for the District Attorney's office, told KNBC. "(Tioni) was a child at the time. "Her life was important."
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