Long Beach mother Ruthey Smith was abducted by suspected human traffickers three years ago. With little progress made in her case by the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD), her family held a press conference on Monday urging the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to take over the case.
Her family also pleaded with the public to not forget about Smith, and to come forward with any information they may have about what happened to her.
“I will not stop until I bring you home,” Kathryn Renesto, Smith’s mother, said during a press conference on Figueroa Street in Los Angeles on Monday. “And I have to pray that this is a recovery of a live daughter, because I don’t want this outcome to be my daughter gone, dead forever. Three years, my granddaughter has been away from [my] daughter, her mother. Three years, my family hasn’t had their niece, their daughter, their sister. And I’m begging everybody, say her name: Ruthey Smith. Pray for her. Bring attention to human trafficking victims. They deserve to matter.”
Smith’s family has always been transparent about the fact that she would engage in sex work on Figueroa Street as a way to support her infant daughter. Figueroa Street has long been an area infamous for prostitution and sex trafficking.
“Yes, she was doing something she probably shouldn’t have been doing, but we’ve all made mistakes, and we shouldn’t have to pay for them for the rest of our life,” said Ingrid Klungreseter, Smith’s grandmother. “We need answers. We need prayers. We need help. There’s no playbook for this. There’s nothing to tell us what to do or who to turn to or who to ask for help.”
Smith was last seen on surveillance footage near Figueroa Street on March 3, 2022. The LBPD believes she was victimized by human traffickers. Despite the LBPD believing that Smith is a victim of human trafficking, her family had to find the last known footage of Smith on their own.
Her family visited local businesses near Figueroa Street asking for their surveillance footage, until they finally found the last known recording of Smith taken by an apartment building’s security camera. In the footage, Smith can be seen getting into the passenger seat of a car before it drives off. The license plate isn’t visible in the video.
Smith’s family said that although they provided a recording of the footage to LBPD, the police department did not ask them any questions about the video for a year.
Her family hopes LAPD or the FBI will be able to make more progress in solving Smith’s case. Although Smith was from Long Beach, she was abducted in Los Angeles.
“She’s been taken. She’s vanished. She’s kidnapped,” Renesto said. “So I’m asking the FBI, the Los Angeles Police Department, [each and every] person I can: take over this case. Find my girl, because she deserves life.”
Smith had recently stopped breastfeeding her baby daughter when she was abducted. Her daughter is now preparing to start school without her mother by her side. Smith’s family insists she would never have willingly left her child.
While the family has gotten some tips and online comments from people who believed they had seen Smith, they were all false alarms.
“Nobody has seen her out here,” Renesto said. “There have been people that commented and said they’ve seen her and we come out here and it’s a look-alike, it’s somebody who looks very similar to her. My daughter is biracial. She’s Black and white. She’s 5’4”. Very long, curly hair. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of girls with her description.”
Smith was 19 at the time of her disappearance, and would now be 22 years old. She is described as weighing around 152 pounds. Smith also goes by the aliases Grayson and Winter. She has a pierced nose and belly button, the names “Ezra” and “Lamarion” tattooed near one of her ears, and the name “Ocean” tattooed on her chest along with a wave.
“With her gone, I’m ripped apart, and we need to be a whole,” Renesto said. “I need to know she’s alive. I need to know Ruthey Smith is alive, and I need the world to pray with me and say her name.”
Anyone who may have information about Ruthey Smith is urged to call the LBPD Missing Persons Detail at (562) 570-7246 or Police Dispatch at (562) 435-6711. Those who wish to remain anonymous may submit a tip through “LA Crime Stoppers” by calling 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or visiting www.lacrimestoppers.org.
