VENTURA, Calif. — Kelsey Dillon died the day earlier than her thirty first birthday.
Final week, the California Freeway Patrol recognized Dillon because the sufferer of a murder after discovering her physique on the morning of Sept. 24 close to a freeway offramp in Ventura.
As information unfold on-line about Dillon’s demise, a hyperlink resurfaced for a GoFundMe fundraiser apparently created by Dillon in June. Dillon, who was homeless, stated she aimed to boost $600 to get off the streets by renting a leisure automobile.
“Will not reside life as a sufferer,” she wrote on the web page. “However have realized it is okay to ask and eventually obtain assist paying for someplace secure to reside like an RV van.”
‘I want to be off the streets and wherever secure’
Dillon shared the fundraiser to her private Fb web page. The marketing campaign, nevertheless, failed to boost any cash previous to her demise.
The fundraising web page features a video Dillon recorded of herself. Within the video, which clocks in at 2 minutes and 46 seconds, Dillon explains how she wound up dwelling on the streets. The recording was posted to YouTube on June 30.
Dillon tells viewers she had lived in her automobile for 2 years however was compelled onto the streets round the start of 2021 after her automobile was totaled in a crash. She determined to ask for assist after a harrowing assault three days earlier – a rape, she stated – which left her in a ditch on the facet of the street.
“I feel that is my final straw,” Dillon stated, at instances trying immediately into the digicam lens. “I want to be off the streets and wherever secure.”
A pal who was an actual property agent had provided to assist her purchase a home, she stated, however the upfront value of $150,000 was unattainably costly. One other pal steered a leisure automobile rental could possibly be hers for $600 – though Dillion stated she did not also have a greenback on the time.
“Dwelling out of an RV van is my dream, truthfully, ‘trigger I might have someplace secure to be and a mattress to sleep in at night time,” she stated. “I might go and see every part.”
Dillon seems within the video seated in opposition to a white tile wall. The straps of a grey tank prime present over her skinny body. She speaks calmly, even when emotion at instances clouds her expression.
Because the CHP confirmed Dillon’s demise was a murder, updates have been sparse. The Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Workplace listed her reason for demise as pending as of Friday afternoon, and CHP officers declined to establish the obvious reason for demise.
“To guard the integrity of the investigation, I can not reply that query,” CHP Officer Steve Lutzke wrote in an e-mail.
Lutzke stated the CHP was the lead company on the murder investigation as a result of Dillon’s physique was discovered on state property alongside the Freeway 33 exit close to Olive Avenue. He additionally confirmed investigators have been conscious of the video and GoFundMe marketing campaign and have been working to confirm their authenticity.
A member of the family of Dillon’s didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Almost half of homeless girls in LA have been victimized by violence
The violence Dillon confronted whereas she was homeless is much from unusual. In line with a 2019 survey by the Downtown Girls’s Heart in Los Angeles, 44% of homeless girls in Los Angeles have been the sufferer of against the law, together with 27% who had been sexually assaulted, as Dillon stated she had been within the video.
Dillon additionally confronted authorized challenges whereas she was homeless and had a number of latest arrests, in keeping with on-line jail and courtroom data. Her reserving data listed her job as a therapeutic massage therapist. Within the video, Dillon stated that had been her occupation for the previous 10 years earlier than she skilled well being points requiring surgical procedure on her backbone.
The investigation into Dillon’s demise stays ongoing by the CHP’s Ventura workplace. Anybody with details about the case can name Officer Steve Lutzke throughout weekday enterprise hours at (805) 662-2658. Calls exterior regular enterprise hours may be made to (805) 477-4174.
Info may also be supplied anonymously by calling Ventura County Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477 or visiting venturacountycrimestoppers.org.
Observe Jeremy Childs on Twitter: @Jeremy_Childs.