Lawsuit targets Backpage, Portland hotel after woman’s killing

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – The estate of a woman has filed a $3.6 million lawsuit against Backpage.com and the owners of the Portland hotel where she was killed by a man she’d met for sex.

The suit filed Friday says 25-year-old Ashley Benson had been trafficked by an abusive pimp.

It says she was killed in 2014 by Tae Bum Yoon, who found her through the classifieds website and lured her to a DoubleTree by Hilton hotel.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that Yoon was sentenced to 18 years in prison after being convicted of manslaughter.

The lawsuit claims Backpage.com and the hotel failed to establish and use practices to protect victims of sex trafficking.

Representatives for Hilton and Backpage didn’t immediately return requests for comment. The website has long been criticized but says it doesn’t have control over third-party content.

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Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com