In June 2025, an 11-year-old girl was brutally beaten to death behind a gate in a Myrtle Beach community, sparking a human trafficking investigation that resulted in the arrest of six people.
The case made headlines as more information emerged about how the girl and her siblings came to be cared for by her killer, working unpaid cleaning jobs at health centers in the area.
While this tragic case shocked the community, it also followed a pattern familiar to those who regularly investigate human trafficking cases.
The untimely death of A’Kyri Bell, one of hundreds of juvenile human trafficking victims identified across the state by South Carolina law enforcement, led to an investigation in Horry County.
The case is one of more than 300 filed in South Carolina in 2025, according to a recent annual report released by the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office.
Horry County continues to have one of the highest numbers of human trafficking cases in the state.
How victims become victims of human trafficking
Human trafficking is not always like in the movies. In fact, it is extremely rare for a victim to be abducted by a complete stranger and taken far from home.
“A lot of times it’s people they know,” explained Capt. Shirley Smith of the Horry County Sheriff’s Office. Typically, human trafficking victims are family members, close family friends, or other trusted individuals.
In A’Kyri’s case, she and her siblings were brought to Myrtle Beach from Texas by a family member – her father. It’s unclear how Akaili’s father knew the people who sent her there, but investigators said they did not have a close relationship with the children.
In other cases, victims meet traffickers online and are “groomed” or tricked by them, Smith said.
Many times, victims of human trafficking are minors who are dependent on their traffickers in some way. But even for victims who appear to have an easier time escaping their trafficking situations, traumatic bonds akin to Stockholm syndrome can keep them stuck, Smith explained.
This seems to be happening in Aguirre’s case. Investigators previously said Aguirre and her siblings were not only minors sent to a new state by their family, but they also began calling their primary child, Kamisha McGaskey, “mom” despite her lack of relationship with them and repeated abuse.
McGaskey, 31, was eventually arrested and charged in Aguirre’s killing.
Where does human trafficking occur in South Carolina? What are the signs?
Coastal areas with transient tourist economies, such as Horry County, appear to be more prone to human trafficking. During peak tourist season, the Myrtle Beach area attracts nearly 20 million visitors, with people traveling in and out of state every day.
However, data from the 2025 annual report shows Horry County is relatively in line with other similarly sized counties.
Greenville, Richland and Lexington counties are three counties in South Carolina’s Interior region that have received more human trafficking reports than Horry County. In 2025, Greenville County leads the list with 35 recommendations.
Greenville County had nine human trafficking charges filed in 2025, while Horry and Charleston counties had 10 each. This does not include any pending charges in other investigations.
All 10 Horry County charges appear to be related to A’Kyri’s case, as McGaskey and her associate, Margaret Robertson, were each charged with five counts of human trafficking. The pair engaged five children, who appeared to be Akelly and her siblings, to perform unpaid labor.
That means the numbers are higher in other large counties in the state than in Horry County, despite being much farther from the coast and tourist centers like Myrtle Beach.
“I don’t think we have more human trafficking than anywhere else in the state,” Smith said.
Smith added that an important part of the human trafficking investigation process is receiving reports from those who observe suspicious behavior. She encourages anyone who witnesses potential human trafficking to report it, which can be done through the Coastal Area Human Trafficking Task Force’s recently released mobile app.
Signs of human trafficking may include signs of abuse, poor sanitation, malnutrition, fatigue, clothing inappropriate for the climate or age, lack of control over finances or identification, and large debts.
The most common places for labor trafficking are small businesses or retail establishments, not the hotels where sex trafficking occurs.
Human trafficking report reveals Horry County and state trends
The annual report shows that in 2025, SLED investigated 315 human trafficking leads and identified a total of 323 victims across the state, 89 of whom were adults and 234 were minors. Seventeen of those leads were investigated in Horry County.
Smith, who serves as regional chair of the Human Trafficking Task Force, has said year after year that victims of human trafficking are primarily teenage females. Beyond that, she explained, demographics vary widely and human trafficking can affect anyone regardless of race, income or other factors.
Data collected by the Department of Social Services on minor victims of human trafficking shows that in 2025, there were 141 documented minors in the state being trafficked for sex, 15 for labor and three for both sexes. Among the victims, 138 were women and 21 men. Most of these victims are between 15 and 18 years old.
No information has been released about the 17 reported cases investigated in Horry County, or whether they were actually human trafficking cases. A’Kyri’s case appears to be the only case in 2025 in which human trafficking charges have been filed in Horry County. The cases against all six defendants involved in the investigation are still pending.
What Happened to the Horry County Labor Trafficking Fatal Case of 2025
Like many victims of human trafficking, Akili and her siblings were brought to Horry County by a family member. Their father left them in the care of a caregiver they called “Mom,” but with whom they had little to no relationship.
The paramedic, McGaskey, was charged in Aguirre’s death. Aguirre died from head injuries, according to the coroner’s office.
It was the investigation into Aikiri’s mysterious death that led investigators to uncover the human trafficking situation.
Horry County Schools previously confirmed to The Sun-News that A’Kyri had attended the school system while in the district. Investigators also found that she and at least four other minors were forced to provide unpaid cleaning services at Conway Regional Medical Center. According to previous reports by the Sun News, there is no suspicion of sex trafficking in this case.
The children lived in a five-bedroom house in the Simi Plantation community in the Myrtle Beach area.
McGaskey also assaulted a 15-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy with various objects as well as her hands and feet, according to arrest warrants, which were discovered during the investigation of A’Kyri’s death. McGaskey also allegedly injured multiple children in the presence of her 12-year-old daughter, who was also in the house at the time, The Sun-News previously reported.
She remains being held without bail at the J. Reuben Long Detention Center and charged with murder, human trafficking and other charges.
McGaskey is not the only person arrested in the case. Lakesha Burnett, Alantis Thomas, Alexandria Thomas and Darnell Dearmas were all charged with multiple unlawful acts against children. Robertson also faces human trafficking charges.
Dilmasi, 20, and Alantis Thomas, 22, were each charged with unlawful conduct with a child for standing by while McGaskey allegedly abused the child, as was Burnett, who allowed her 14-year-old daughter to witness the incidents, court documents show.
Robertson, 56, is accused of knowingly condoning McGaskey’s abuse. Alexandria Thomas, 20, is accused of putting a child in her custody at risk.
Burnett Alexander Thomas and Alantis Thomas have been placed on home detention, while Dilmasi and Robertson remain in custody, according to online arrest records.