Woman who helped those caught in sex-trafficking dies

Jennifer Kempton fought the demons of sexual abuse and drugs to found Columbus-based Survivors Ink, which helps sex-trafficking victims cover their tattoos and other “brands” identifying them as the property of pimps, drug dealers or gangs.

On Wednesday night, Kempton was taken to Mount Carmel West hospital after a 911 call directed Columbus police and medics to a house where she was found alone on a hallway floor, unconscious and unresponsive from an apparent drug overdose, according to her grandmother, Nancy Reichardt, with whom she lived on the East Side.

Kempton, 35, died Thursday morning, family members said. The Franklin County coroner’s office is expected to perform an autopsy today, spokeswoman Tia Moretti said.

Sexually abused at age 12, Kempton told The Dispatch in late 2014 that she was doing what she could to move past a series of abusive relationships and cocaine and drug use.

She had prostituted herself on Columbus streets to pay for drugs for her and a former boyfriend. She had been kidnapped and taken to an Akron-area hotel, where she was raped and forced to have sex with a stream of men for more than a week. Later returned crying to Columbus, she was forced by her former boyfriend to get a tattoo that said: “Property of Salem.”

In trying later to right herself, Kempton had that tattoo covered with a heart-shaped lock holding a key, representing God unlocking her chains. A flower covered a gang sign on her neck, and a name on her back was covered by the words, “I believe again.”

“You’re constantly reminded of the violence you suffered,” she said of the tattoos she had changed. “You see somebody else’s claim on your body, and it’s devastating.”

Kempton worked for about 10 months until early 2015 at Freedom a la Cart, a box lunch and catering kitchen that employs sex-trafficking survivors, said Paula Haines, executive director.

“She was just a very, very giving person,” Haines said. “She really helped these people and changed their lives (with Survivors Ink).”

Deborah Quinci, a Freedom a la Cart board member and former chef there, said Kempton “was a giver, a very tough woman who helped others as much as she could.”

But Kempton “had a lot of demons she was fighting herself,” said Quinci, of Quinci Emporium in the Short North.

In addition to her grandmother, Kempton is survived by her mother, Teresa Pollock; an adult son, Kailin M. Grogg of Indiana; a 13-year-old daughter; a 2-year-old daughter; and a now-6-year-old daughter she gave up for adoption when, she said, she hit rock bottom. Funeral arrangements are incomplete.

The family has started a crowdfunding campaign for funeral expenses at youcaring.com