Tioni Theus case: 1 year later murder of young South LA girl remains unsolved

LOS ANGELES - It's been exactly one year since 16-year-old Tioni Theus was killed and dumped alongside the 110 Freeway in South Los Angeles.

Her family, community and police are still searching for the suspects responsible for her murder. 

"If they're watching, they can just turn themselves in or if someone knows something, a family member, just turn yourself in. What if it was your family member. This was someone's child."

Theus was last seen January 7, 2021 by her dad, when she told him she was meeting a friend to go to a party. The 16-year-old had been staying with dad, since her mother was placed in an assisted living facility, to recuperate from a serious hit-and-run.

Her body was found by California Highway Patrol on the side of the freeway a day later. 

Investigators say she was shot in the neck and her body was dumped on the west Manchester Avenue onramp near S. Figueroa street.  

"This is one thing that I would never put on the worst, the worst of the enemy," a family member said during a press conference Saturday. 

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: 

• Tioni Theus may have been victim of human trafficking: Gascón
• Tioni Theus: Community calling for justice for teen whose body was dumped on side of 110 Freeway
• Tioni Theus: Teen's dad recalls last moments with his daughter

A $115,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a suspect. 

South LA leads the city in cold case murders with nearly half of homicides going unsolved, now community leaders are calling for more state and federal funding to increase th use of DNA technology and techniques to create leads on cold cases.