Unhoused mom says she begged for housing months before 1-year-old died near LAX

LOS ANGELES - A mother experiencing homelessness is speaking out after her one-year-old baby girl, Yayra Rutherford, died at a bus stop near Los Angeles International Airport.

Amantha Van Cleave, 26, moved to Los Angeles eight months ago to escape a bad relationship.

"This was supposed to be a fresh start. I was with my children's father, but that wasn't a situation they needed to be in," Van Cleave explained.

Van Cleave said she drove for Uber to get by. She said sometimes, she could afford to stay in a motel, but she would mostly live in her car with Yayra and her two-year-old son, Judah.

Yayra Rutherford, 1, was found dead at a bus stop near LAX on Dec. 22, 2023.

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"Housing and stuff fell through because the county building actually promised housing and what not, because they made it seem like people with children are a priority, but we ended up sleeping in my car when I had my car," Van Cleave recalled. "When my car died, that's when everything went downhill. We ended up outside, sleeping at LAX for a good two weeks, during all that raining, we were outside."

Yayra's cause of death is still being investigated, but Van Cleave said it could have been a medical emergency or a result of their living conditions.

"It's possible that her father may have had some type of heart condition, and I wasn't told about it, and it's very possible that she did freeze to death. It's possible because she was fine the night before. She was fussy, but she had six teeth coming in as well. How does a teething baby go to sleep and just not wake back up?" asked Van Cleave.

Van Cleave remembers that harrowing moment.

"I'm like let me wake Yayra up, so she can eat breakfast too, because Judah was already awake and when I went to touch her, she didn't move," Van Cleave said. "And that's when we picked her up and she went forward, and she had some kind of black vomit come out of her mouth and I just remember running towards the intersection and there was a pilot there, and I tapped on his chest to call somebody, call somebody, and I don't know what happened after that. They said after she was pronounced dead that I tried to run out into traffic twice. I don't remember it, but it's believable because that was my baby."

Van Cleave said she used to work as a pharmacy technician, and was trying to get a job in Los Angeles, but had trouble without housing. She said she did her best to provide.

"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's things being said about me that's 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," said Van Cleave.

Van Cleave said the city of Los Angeles and the lack of homelessness services are to blame for her daughter's death.

"Three days before my baby passed away, I remember calling 211, LA Family Housing along with homeless shelters, Volunteers of America, PATH, and they would all say 'You're on the waitlist,' or ‘We just got started on these applications,' and 'they (a different family) applied in 2017, and you applied this year, so it's gonna be a 10-year wait,'" Van Cleave said. "We got the run around the whole time, but I have a call log to this day of calling around and nobody had answers for me or anywhere for us to go. I feel like they should be ashamed because I know we aren't the only ones going through this."

Van Cleave was provided with a motel room by PATH following her daughter's death. She is now living there with her son and her godmother, Stella Bethel, and Bethel's son. However, they are supposed to check out on Thursday.

"The only reason why we are in a hotel right now is because of the media," Bethel said. "The media has been the one that is putting the pressure and shining the light, asking the questions. Mayor (Karen) Bass has not reached out. She sent over a couple people from the Mayor's Office, but they came here rudely. They treated us as if we didn't matter. The first thing they said was, ‘What are you gonna do?’" said Bethel.

On Wednesday, FOX 11 cameras were rolling as employees from an LA housing agency showed up to give Van Cleave permanent housing forms. However, the employees left because they did not want to be on camera.

"This is why Yayra is dead. Mayor Bass, these are the people you send out. They do nothing but play with people," said Bethel.

In a December roundtable discussion, Mayor Bass said her office has housed 21,000 Angelenos, and has spent $67.3 million on homelessness.

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"You're lying," Bethel said of Bass. "You have not helped homeless people. What are you doing with the state's money or the city of LA's money? You're not housing people. If you go to LAX right now, you will see your citizens lying on the floor sleeping, but you housed so many thousands of people. How did you miss my family?"

Bethel is also homeless and said she has tried to receive help for one year.

"They would not give me any help because I don't have any dependents. My son is 24. If I go and ask for help, I'm met with, 'You don't have any dependents, you're able-bodied,' and I understand that, but if someone needs help, they need help," said Bethel.

Van Cleave is trying to remember her baby girl, Yayra, for who she was.

"She was sassy, feisty. She loved makeup. She got her red lipstick and red toenail polish. She loved red, that was her color. She was a real girly girl," said Van Cleave.

The family is trying to save money for cremation for Yayra now, and hope to find permanent housing soon. They're raising funds through a GoFundMe campaign. More information on that fundraiser can be found by tapping or clicking here.

FOX 11 has reached out to Mayor Bass' office for comment but has not yet received a reply.