An unidentified 14-year-old girl has been arrested and charged for the March murder of the daughter of a California activist who advocated for victims of human trafficking. 20-year-old Kendra Reana McIntyre was shot to death on March 21, 2024, while walking in a part of South Los Angeles known for sex work and human trafficking.
According to investigators, McIntyre was a victim of human trafficking herself. She was gunned down while walking near the southeast corner of 70th Street and Figueroa Street around 4:20 a.m., according to a press release from the LAPD.
McIntyre's mother, Debra Rush, is the cofounder and CEO of Breaking the Chains, which is a nonprofit based in Fresno, California. It runs a safe house aimed to “break the chains of human trafficking” for survivors.
According to the website, "the BTC campuses are a remarkable example of our community’s dedication to helping juvenile and adult victims exit re-occurring systems of exploitation. BTC operates a beautiful, safe house that provides long term shelter to lives impacted by human trafficking, a trauma treatment center that is equipped with an executive office, reception area, counseling offices, a large classroom/recreation area, childcare center, and a gym; law enforcement focused impact center, ER shelter, mobile command unit, and newly opened rural community offices."
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"Our stellar trauma-informed services and evidence-based curriculums are operated by an army of volunteers and 12 paid staff members," the website continued. "This allows us to offer trauma-informed services regularly to an average of 75 survivors and their [families] every day. It has been amazing to see the vision launched just seven years prior come to life in such a short period. Please know that community support has been and continues to be essential to all that we do, and we believe that together we can break the chains of human trafficking in the lives of these precious survivors forever."
In a statement written by Rush, she described her daughter's journey with mental health issues. "Kendra's story is just like so many others. She was a child with deep rooted vulnerabilities that stemmed from early childhood trauma, and a severe mental health issue that emerged seemingly out of nowhere," it read.
"Kendra's struggle with severe bipolar disorder began to emerge when she was about 14 years old. We started noticing her lack of impulse control, rapid mood changes, and inability to cope rationally with her emotions and everyday situations. Then in the summer of 2020, the unthinkable happened. Our lives were shattered by a violent in-home robbery, Kendra was home alone when the two men entered. The details are too difficult to share. From that incident, she spiraled very quickly. It truly was like a fast ball that we just could not get in front of."
Rush herself was a victim of human trafficking, sharing she exited "the life" when her daughter was 4 years old. "In my own limited understanding, I truly thought that all of that was behind us, that under the roof of a better neighborhood, new friends, and a new life, everything else would just wash away behind us, I couldn’t have been more wrong," she said.
"I trusted the system, and in the beginning, even my daughter trusted the system; courageously testifying and working with prosecutors to try and secure a conviction. Unfortunately, following that testimony, she would be attacked two more times, this would be the catalyst that would push Kendra away from everyone and everything," the statement continued. "Unable to find safety in her own mind, in her own home, and even in her own community. She ran and never stopped running."
"I don't know when exactly the first trafficker was able to [lure] her in, I will probably never know that, but what I do know all too well is that once you walk through that door, it is an iron vault that can only be unlocked by the person within it," Rush concluded. "Every day at BTC we stand waiting for those vaults to be opened. Waiting to reach our hands in and help the tired and weary to their feet. My daughter never got the chance to unlock her vault, even though we stood outside, banging on the door, crying and pleading for her to open it."
