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Then, this past weekend, the National Post’s Douglas Quan reported that according to Baillie’s friend — and confirmed by law enforcement — Baillie worked as an escort prior to her death. The friend suggested that Baillie was concerned about saving money for Taliyah’s future education, and was looking for ways to supplement her $19,000 income. That, of course, explains how Downey — a man identified as a “pimp” in parole documents — was apparently granted entrance to her apartment, though it still doesn’t explain why it cost Baillie her life, or the life of her innocent five-year-old daughter. All it really does is make a senseless killing seem a little less mysterious, but no more conscionable.

There are some who will no doubt believe that Baillie herself shoulders part of the responsibility for her daughter’s death. After all, had she chosen to try to earn money in another, above-board way, it’s quite possible she and her daughter would still be alive today. And while most parents can’t help but put their children in harm’s way every once and a while — they do it every time they strap their kid into a car, after all — exposing them to known violent criminals is a generally avoidable risk most loving and attentive mothers and fathers simply won’t take.

The exception occurs, however, when loving mothers and fathers don’t have a choice, or don’t perceive themselves as having choice, as seems likely the case of Sara Baillie. Indeed, few women consider selling their bodies unless they reach a certain point of desperation, and it’s not hard to see how taking care of a child, alone, on $19,000, could drive one to that point. It is of course possible that Baillie turned to sex work as a way to make an easy buck, but we should have a hard time believing that Baillie — who, according to most accounts, was a dedicated, devoted mother — would knowingly put herself in such obvious physical danger unless she felt as though she had no other real option.