Long Beach family uses billboard in search for their missing daughter

A mother made a desperate plea Friday, urging the public to help find her daughter who may be the victim of sex trafficking.

Ruthey Smith of Long Beach disappeared in March 2022. She was 19 years old at the time she went missing. Friday marks her 22nd birthday.

Her family, with help from the city of Long Beach, has put up a billboard at Spring Street and Orange Avenue, marking 1,000 days since her disappearance. The billboard asks anyone with information on Smith's whereabouts to come forward.

"Somebody somewhere knows something," Smith's mother Kathryn Renesto said. "We want to return her to her daughter. Ocean deserves her mommy. Ruthey deserves life. Only 1% of these victims come back alive. My daughter deserves to be that 1%. So I beg the public, you see something, say something."

Smith's last known location was Wrightwood in the San Bernardino Mountains. She has a pierced nose and belly button, with the names Ezra and Lamarion tattooed near her ears. The name Ocean and a wave are tattooed on her chest.

Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to contact Long Beach police.