Editors note: This story was updated to include comment from the victim’s family.
A woman found shot and killed in a North Toledo alley had a history of prostitution, but police can’t say yet whether that contributed to her death.
Few details have been released about how or why Mary Cervantez, 37, was fatally shot about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday in an alley off Lagrange street. No arrests have been made in connection with her death.
Toledo police spokesman Lt. Kevan Toney said it’s too early in their investigation to connect Ms. Cervantez’s criminal history to her death.
“We certainly don’t want to defame the victim, but we are aware of the victim having a history of being on the street, and we’re certainly looking into any associates she may have that could possibly be related to her murder,” Lt. Toney said. “We don’t have any indication that there’s a predator out there.”
The department is asking for anyone who knows Ms. Cervantez or knows who she was associated with in the days and hours prior to her death to call police or the Crime Stopper’s program at 419-255-1111.
“We really need a tip,” Lt. Toney said. “You can be anonymous.”
Ms. Cervantez was found in an alley parallel to Lagrange that connects Hausman and Austin streets, from north to south. Drug use and prostitution are common in the area, several neighbors told The Blade, though they declined to give their names to a reporter. It also has suffered a string of recent break-ins, and one resident reported hearing a gunshot Tuesday night.
Neighbors of Ms. Cervantez’s last listed address near East Broadway and Delence Street said she’d long since moved.
Court records show she had been picked up in the area of Greenwood and Euclid streets on prostitution and solicitation charges at least three times in the last year. Records identified her as “a known prostitute” and said she was seen by officers “flagging down vehicles” and several times offered sexual services to undercover officers.
She’d been accused of prostitution or a derivative of it — solicitation, beckoning or attempting to stop cars, loitering for the purpose of prostitution — 11 times since 2008. In most cases she was found guilty. In others, the case was taken off the docket because she repeatedly failed to appear for court.
Celia Williamson, a University of Toledo professor and the executive director of UT’s Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute, said Ms. Cervantez had received services from the Salvation Army’s Second Chance program 15 years ago. The program is now called RISE.
Angie Martinez, reached by phone Friday, said her cousin lived a hard life from the beginning and wasn’t close with family. She also was a mother of three — ranging in age from 19 to 7 years old — though she did not have custody of her chlidren.
“She struggled with drugs and prostitution her whole life, but she told me she wanted to stop,” Ms. Martinez said. “I told her DART [the Drug Abuse Response Team] could help her find housing but then I didn’t hear from her.”
Ms. Cervantez was killed the same night of a prostitution sting in Perrysburg, in which Toledo police and other agencies participated. Eleven Toledo area women were cited or arrested on suspicion of prostitution in the area of 10667 Fremont Pike, and two men from Genoa and Fremont were charged with solicitation.
A Findlay resident also was arrested for possession of cocaine, ecstasy and Percocet.
Perrysburg Police Chief Patrick Jones said such stings serve to curb some of the drug use that often comes with prostitution, and to help women who may not be there by choice.
“Two things we’re always worried about with prostitution: are the women being forced into it or is this a decision they’re making on their own, and underage prostitution,” Chief Jones said. “If it is a forced situation, we want to go after the people who are promoting the prostitution.”
Ms. Williamson criticized that such stings often punish only the seller and perpetuate the problem.
She estimates there are eight buyers for every person attempting to sell sex, but those “johns” are often not the ones being picked up by police. Instead, women are disproportionately and repeatedly arrested and released, costing taxpayers money in jail and court costs and further stigmatizing women without fixing the problem.
“Focusing on the seller does very little to reduce the problem, since there is no difference in the letter of the law between sellers and buyers,” Ms. Williamson said.
Both buying and selling sex in Ohio is a third-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to 60 days in jail and/or a $500 fine.
Ms. Williamson also argued that there is “very little difference” between women involved in street prostitution and woman who are trafficked into the sex trade. Both are likely to have experienced abusive childhoods or have a mental health issues, live in poverty, be drug addicted and lack their basic needs, she said.
“Women in street prostitution never act on their own free will. They are ‘prostituted’ by drugs, poverty, and earlier trauma,” Ms. Williamson said. “They need services, not incarceration.”
Ms. Cervantez’s death marks the 28th homicide in Toledo so far this year.
First Published November 1, 2019, 11:00 a.m.
