The family of a missing Long Beach woman who they say is a victim of sex trafficking is hopeful that a new billboard they recently put up will help her get home.
Ruthey Smith went missing in South Los Angeles almost three years ago in March 2022 and has not been heard from since.
Friday, Smith’s birthday, is an especially difficult day for the family, a day they normally celebrate the missing mother.
“My daughter is 22 years old today, wherever she is, happy birthday,” said Smith’s mother Kathryn Renesto. “We will find you.”
Renesto led the charge to place the billboard, which lists all of her daughter’s identifying information and a photo, on the corner of Spring Street and Orange Avenue.
In the past, they’ve put up flyers hoping someone would report seeing Smith, and after more than a thousand days of nothing, they’ve taken a big step toward finding their loved one.
“I don’t know where she is, she was my only daughter,” Renesto said.
Police confirm they continue to investigate Smith’s disappearance, which took place along the infamous Figueroa Corridor, famous for prostitution and human trafficking.
“We can confirm that Ruthey Smith is still missing and is believed to be a victim of human trafficking,” Long Beach Police Department officials said in a statement to KCAL News. “She was last seen on March 2, 2022 near Figueroa and 70th in the city of Los Angeles. Our detectives are actively following all leads in this investigation.”
They shared surveillance camera footage of Smith, which they believe is the last time she was seen.
Renesto says her daughter worked as a prostitute to support her daughter, who was one year old at the time.
“She just told me that she was kind of at the end of her life, that she was scared and didn’t want to do that anymore, but she was afraid to get away,” she said. “One percent of victims come back alive, so I have to pray that Ruthey will be that one percent. But that’s the 99% that don’t. These women deserve to be as important as my daughter, all of them.”
The billboard was installed at no cost to the family through the city of Long Beach and in partnership with Clear Channel, the building that owns the billboard space.
Anyone with information on Smith’s whereabouts is urged to contact the LBPD at (562) 570-7246.
