A California mother who became part of Los Angeles’ unsheltered population is mourning the loss of her 1-year-old daughter, who passed away last month while the family of three was living under an overpass near Los Angeles International Airport.
The mother tells reporters the child would still be alive if the city had more places for her and her two small children to sleep at night.
The infant, identified as Yayra Rutherford, along with her mother, Amantha Van Cleave, and the baby’s brother, had been residing on the streets of Westchester for eight months.
New to the city and fleeing from a bad relationship, Van Cleave and her children first lived in their car. The mother cared for the little girl and her 2-year-old brother, Judah, by driving for Uber. When she could afford to rent a room in a hotel, they would have housing.
Over the past month, they transitioned to camping out at LAX. The family also spent time at a bus stop near the airport—the very location where Yayra eventually was found dead.
The mom said she is trained as a pharmacy technician and had hoped to continue in that field in Los Angeles, but because she had no stable housing, she could not secure employment.
“I used to be a pharmacy tech. I have a degree. I’ve never been on drugs. I take being a mother very seriously, and I know there are things being said about me that are not true. I made sure they (her kids) ate three times a day. Some days I didn’t eat. I made sure they ate, and they were clean,” Van Cleave told local station Fox11.
Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson Brian Humphrey reported receiving the call and responding at 9:37 a.m. on Dec. 20 to the area near Sepulveda and Century Boulevards.
The caller described trying to perform CPR on young Yayra until the LAFD arrived and took over. However, upon their arrival, firefighters pronounced the child deceased.
KTLA reports that a Los Angeles Police Department detective said that the…
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