Arkansas woman turns pain into purpose after losing granddaughter to human trafficking
MORRILTON, Ark. – When Sandra Oliver thinks about the song “You Are My Sunshine,” it brings a smile to her face.
That’s the song she would sing to her granddaughter, Tania, since the day she was born until the day she died on Easter 2023.
“That was our last song and someone took her away,” Sandra said.
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Tania was just 19 years old and living in California at the time. She was an aspiring nurse and full of life.
“She was precious,” Sandra said about her granddaughter. “She was so beautiful. She was just full of energy.”
That all changed one April day.
“On Easter morning 2023, that’s when we got the phone call that Tania had died,” Sandra recalled. “We just thought a car wreck.”
What they would later learn would shatter them even more.
“The next day we found out she was human trafficked,” the grandmother said.
About a month before the accident, Sandra said a girl befriended Tania. Sandra believed the girl was working with a pimp who was targeting her granddaughter.
“I still don’t have the words,” Sandra said. “Speechless. Speechless.”
Tania, her new friend and four others took what Tania thought was a trip to the beach.
“They took her to LA and they trafficked her and she didn’t make enough money,” Sandra said. “And actually, Tania was fighting, and they put her in a trunk and the other little boy that they manipulated tried to save my Tania.”
The car crashed. Tania and a 21-year-old man who Sandra believes was also a human trafficking victim both died in the crash.
Everyone else survived.
“I was talking to my son [Tania’s father.] He was having a hard time and I said Tania sacrificed her life and then he immediately says, ‘So lives can be saved,'” Sandra said.
The grieving grandmother is now working to turn her pain into purpose. Sandra has been speaking to crowds across the state in hopes of spreading awareness about human trafficking.
“That’s how we got here, from our pain to our purpose educating others about human trafficking because they really don’t know,” Sandra explained.
According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline the most common type of trafficking in the United States is sex trafficking.
It has been reported in all 50 states. In 2021, more than 10,359 trafficking situations were reported to the hotline. In those situations, 16,554 likely victims of trafficking were identified. Experts fear the number could be higher since most cases go unreported.
“Human trafficking is so huge,” Sandra explained. “It’s next to drug dealers. The only thing different with human trafficking is you use the body over and over and over in one night. You sell the drugs one time.”
In April, Sandra shared her family’s story with students at the University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton. Students in the audience were visibly moved by Tania’s story.
While Sandra was on stage, her son whispered in her ear that someone was finally being arrested for Tania’s death.
“I’m thankful for that, but when I saw my son cry, it made me sad,” Sandra said as she fought back tears.
It was her son’s first time in attendance during one of her speeches about his daughter.
“I just felt strong just knowing that he was here because this was his daughter,” Sandra said.
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While Sandra and her family’s lives will never be the same, she does get comfort by spreading awareness about human trafficking.
“Tania’s still living. She’s still here always and forever,” the grandmother said.
The National Human Trafficking Hotline is open 24/7. If you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking, you can call 888-373-7888 or text * to 233733.
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