‘They don’t see us as human’: Las Vegas woman killed while doing sex work remembered

At the end of the vigil for Larissa Garcia, Nina Nova said she was glad The Cupcake Girls — a Las Vegas nonprofit that provides support and resources to sex workers and sex trafficking victims — bought reusable candles.

After all, they have been used in at least two vigils for sex workers in the past two months. If things continue without further protection for sex workers, the group says, it expects to use them many more times.

On Friday evening, The Cupcake Girls and Red Umbrella Collective — a grassroots network for sex workers where Nova works — hosted a group of fewer than 10 people at a vigil for Garcia. She died in June after an incident while she was working as a sex worker. According to a Metropolitan Police Department arrest report, her client, Jason Kendall, told police he choked her for 10 minutes, had sex with her and then left. The two groups also used the event as a call to action for what they say is a high rate of violence against sex workers and a lack of protection in a city they say is built on the backs of sex workers.

Justice is halted

In an Aug. 21 hearing, Kendall was found not competent for trial, according to court documents.

Multiple people spoke at the vigil about what they contend was the unfairness of the finding of incompetency — citing the allegation that Kendall had initially called police saying Garcia’s death was an overdose, according to his arrest report. They alleged Kendall must have been competent enough to understand his actions then.

A hospital toxicology screening did not show any drugs or alcohol in Garcia’s system, according to the arrest report. Amy Merrell, executive director of Cupcake Girls, also noted that Garcia lived a sober lifestyle.

Given the legal developments, Nova said she feels “justice is halted.”

Not the only one

At the vigil, friends and activists spoke about Garcia’s sweet personality and love for her two children.

Her picture sat atop an altar with several other faces of sex workers who have died. Nova remembered her friend Esmeralda Gonzales, whose body was found in the desert encased in concrete in 2019.

After pleading guilty to second-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping in connection with Gonzalez’s killing, Christopher Prestipino was sentenced in 2023 to between 10 and 25 years in prison. His roommate, Casandra Garrett, was sentenced, also in 2023, to between eight and 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to a charge of voluntary manslaughter with a deadly weapon, while another woman, Lisa Mort, pleaded guilty to accessory to murder and was sentenced in 2020 to between two and five years in prison.

Crystal Cooper, a nursing student, spoke about her experience being kidnapped and sex trafficked, and how no one would listen, she said. She learned at the vigil of a friend who had died a year ago only because she saw her photo on the altar.

“She was my friend,” Cooper said, breaking into tears. “And I didn’t know she was dead.”

Merrell attributed this to a lack of discussion around the issue.

“If we’re not talking about it, it’s not gonna stop,” she said.

Decriminalization

“Sex work isn’t dangerous. It’s the way we treat sex workers,” Merrell said.

She blamed bills such as FOSTA (Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act) and SESTA (Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act), which were passed by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives in 2018 and signed into law by then-President Donald Trump.

The bills were designed to fight sex trafficking, but Merrell said they have only increased penalties for sex work and led to more violence. She added that fees and fines were forcing sex workers who wanted to get out of the job to stay in it to afford the bills.

The two groups have worked for years to move towards decriminalizing sex work, which they say would add more protections for people, like health care and the ability to report abuse.

“We aren’t getting tired,” Nova said. “None of us are going to let this go.”

The women blamed a “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” mentality for the tragedies they spoke about at the vigil, including Garcia’s death.

“They don’t see us as human,” Nova said.

Contact Katie Futterman at kfutterman@reviewjournal.com