Tips sought in killing of teenage girl in South Los Angeles

By STEFANIE DAZIO
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities are pleading for people to come forward with information in the killing of a 16-year-old girl whose body was left on a freeway ramp in South Los Angeles earlier this month. Tioni Theus died of a gunshot wound to her neck. Drivers reported seeing her body dumped on the ramp’s shoulder off the 110 Freeway the next morning. Officials plan to offer a $110,000 total reward for tips that result in the arrest and prosecution of the killer. Community members have questioned why the reward for Theus, a Black teenager, is less than half of what was offered in the slaying of Brianna Kupfer, a white woman, as she worked alone in a furniture store. A suspect in Kupfer’s killing was arrested the day after the reward was announced.