In a video uploaded on Saturday, titled simply “Amanda (May, 2021)” her father, Larry, and Lima Jevremovic, who had helped the troubled woman get treatment, confirmed the death in the 25-minute long episode.
It was the latest video in a series of uploads that examined Amanda’s journey from substance addiction to getting sober and receiving treatment.
Jevremovic, CEO of digital health platform AURA, said the troubled young woman, who had been savagely beaten and raped while she worked on Skid Row in Los Angeles, California, died while she received rehab treatment in Las Vegas, Nevada.
She added: “On Sunday, May 9, the treatment center staff walked into Amanda’s room, thinking she just peacefully sleeping and realized that she had passed away. It’s been a really, really big shock for us.”
She later continued: “I was actually supposed to fly in for her transfer to outpatient care and she never got transferred, so she remained at residential care, so she had 24/7 supervision.
“Any foul play, any self-harm, anything of that nature was already ruled out so she died of physical natural causes.”
Jevremovic later explained on a GoFundMe page, which had previously been organized to raise funds so Amanda could continue to get treatment, that while they were waiting for the full autopsy, it was believed her death was caused by the violence she experienced during her time as a sex worker.
In a post uploaded on Saturday, she said: “It is believed that, in combination with the physical damage caused by her long-term drug use, she passed away from the traumatic brain injuries (TBI’s) she sustained as a result of multiple violent rapes and beatings she endured as a young homeless woman living on the streets of Los Angeles.”
Jevremovic said the fundraiser would be shut down in the next couple of days.
Amanda, whose surname was not revealed in the video, first shared her story in December 2019 when she spoke about her crack cocaine addiction and her experience of being a sex worker in Skid Row in Los Angeles, California.
In a second interview, uploaded in March 2020, Amanda had a black eye, had several teeth missing and appeared far more agitated than in the previous appearance.
A final interview with Amanda, shot in Las Vegas, Nevada, was uploaded in April and titled, “Amanda Rehab Update” where she said she had been clean from drugs for several months and that she felt “happy.”
Soft White Underbelly’s videos of interviews with people who, in many cases, have harrowing life stories have been viewed more than 307 million times since it was created by photographer Mark Laita in April, 2016.
Amanda’s videos alone have been watched more than 4 million times.