The transgender Americans lost to violence so far this year
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Fatal violence against transgender, gender-nonconforming, and nonbinary Americans continues at an alarming rate. While the number of reported deaths has come down somewhat since 2021’s record of 57, it should be noted that this number is almost always an undercount. In any given year, the majority of those who’ve died by violence are trans women of color, Black women in particular.
Tori Cooper, director of community engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative at the Human Rights Campaign, previously told The Advocate that media outlets and authorities aren’t always the best at covering and handling cases involving LGBTQ+ people, specifically trans and nonbinary people.
“There have been times when we have been made aware of deaths of trans individuals and nonbinary individuals before they hit the media, because people who are in these communities are saying, my sister, my girlfriend, a friend of a friend was just killed in Miami,” Cooper said. One time, Cooper said the mother of a trans woman called to say her daughter was killed and the local media weren’t covering the story.
Another issue that Cooper pointed to is misgendering or deadnaming victims.
“What often happens is there will be folks who happen to be of trans experience who will say ‘Well, that wasn’t [their] name. But that wasn't a name that she was known by,’” Cooper said. “If I were killed in the streets, and they listed me as Thomas Cooper. But the world knows me as Tori Cooper. And you put out an APB for the killer of Thomas Cooper, my friends aren't going to know. And so, we're actually impeding progress.”
Related: Murders of LGBTQ+ People Often Go Unsolved. We're Telling Their Stories.
This year also saw the much-publicized death of Oklahoma transgender high-schooler Nex Benedict February 8, the day after an altercation with other students in a school restroom. Benedict had often been bullied. Their death has been ruled a suicide, but their loved ones and activists are skeptical of that verdict. However, the verdict stands for now, so Benedict is not included in this list.
In addition, Darri Moore, a Black trans woman from St. Louis, was found dead in a quarry 60 miles away May 1, but police have said they do not believe her death was due to foul play. Her family and friends have asked for further investigation, though.
Here’s a look at those confirmed lost to violence so far in 2024. May they rest in power.
If there is someone you believe should be remembered who is not on this list, you can reach out to news@equalpride.com with information.
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Kitty Monroe
COURTESY LUGO FAMILY VIA THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC
Kitty Monroe, a 43-year-old transgender Latina, was the U.S. trans community’s first known victim of fatal violence in 2024. She was killed January 1 in Phoenix, run over with a truck driven by a man who had been chasing her. She was being chased by a man and a woman in the parking lot of a liquor store, Casa de Licores, about 2 a.m. New Year’s Day. The man hit her in the back with a gun, and she fell to the ground. He then ran over her with his truck, and he and the woman left the scene. Another vehicle accidentally hit Monroe. To date, there’s no report of an arrest.
Monroe was known for her distinctive fashion sense and her “protective” and “loving” nature, her sister Brissa Lugo told The Arizona Republic. She was the “main character” wherever she went, Lugo said. Lugo added that she wouldn’t be surprised if Monroe was targeted because of her trans identity.
Sasha Williams
HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN/HRC.ORG
Sasha Williams, a trans woman of color, was stabbed to death on a city street in Las Vegas the morning of January 26. She was 36. Hassan Malik Howard, 20, who had been seen quarreling with Williams before the stabbing, was arrested shortly afterward at his family’s home. He is charged with murder. Authorities are trying to determine if he is competent to stand trial; two doctors have said he is not.
Her friend David Leach, who she met through the Vegas ballroom scene, and her aunt Tina Thornton both praised her generosity, saying she sent baskets of treats to them when they were ill and that she often paid studio fees for her musician friends. She was a hair, nail, and makeup artist who hoped to become a performer in Vegas, but recent financial setbacks had left her depressed, they told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Thornton had urged her to return to North Carolina, where she grew up.
África Parrilla García
África Parrilla García, a 25-year-old Black transgender woman, was killed in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in February. She was shot several times about 1 a.m. February 2 on a San Juan street, according to Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Día. She was impoverished and experiencing homelessness.
“A lot of trans women are on the streets and are made invisible because many people believe that their lives are worthless,” LeQueen, a trans artist and friend of García’s, told the paper. “They don’t give them the ‘spotlight’ that they deserve, and those men take advantage of that. They think, If I kill her here, no one is going to care.”
There has been no arrest to date.
Righteous Torrence "TK" Hill
FACEBOOK @EVOLLUSION
Black transgender man Righteous Torrence “TK” Hill, a popular hair salon owner, was shot to death in February outside his home in East Point, near Atlanta. Hill, nicknamed Chevy, was shot February 28 and died the next day. Police confirmed to The Advocate that the suspect is a cousin, Jaylen Hill, who had received much assistance from Chevy. He remains a fugitive.
Chevy Hill, 35, was the founder and owner of Evollusion, a hairstyling and beauty salon in Atlanta. “Hill’s salon offered a much-needed safe space for the Black, LGBTQIA+ residents of Atlanta and its surrounding areas,” Gaye Magazine reports. His partner of six years, Terri Wilson, told TV station WXIA, “He just wanted it to be a safe haven for the community.”
Reyna Hernandez
Renton Police Department
Trans woman Reyna Hernandez, 54, of Renton, Wash., was found dead in early March in Mexicali, Mexico. She went missing February 26 after she ran an errand to her former residence, now occupied by three men, including a 61-year-old who is the prime suspect in the case, which police are investigating as a homicide. The man, who is currently under arrest in Mexico on unrelated charges, is reportedly Hernandez’s partner of 30 years. His name has not been released.
Police in Renton were alerted March 8 to a Mexican newspaper article referencing the body of a woman dumped in a cemetery in Mexicali, which is on the U.S. border. The body was wrapped in a blanket, bound hand and foot, and showed signs of extreme torture, according to Seattle TV station KCPQ. The cause of death was a head wound, an autopsy determined.
Police had suspected Hernandez was a victim of foul play immediately after they were notified of her disappearance by friends on February 28. Her popular hair salon had not been opened in two days and she had not responded to texts and calls from friends and family, both of which were out of character for Hernandez.
Diamond Brigman
VIA INSTAGRAM @EDENROSETORRES
Black trans woman Diamond Brigman, 36, was fatally shot on a street in Houston early in the morning of March 16. She was found about 1 a.m., suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. A witness stayed with her until paramedics arrived, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.
“The Houston Police Department (HPD) has launched an investigation thanks to crucial information from a courageous witness who stayed with Diamond until emergency services arrived,” said a statement from the department.
Witnesses told investigators Brigman was standing by the side of the road when a white 2017 Chevrolet Malibu LT circled the area several times before it pulled up alongside her. A male passenger exited the car and fired multiple shots at Brigman before fleeing the scene in the vehicle, which was driven by another person.
A memorial service was held for Brigman a few days later. Friend and local trans activist Joell Espeut told TV station KHOU that Brigman was outgoing and vivacious. “She was larger than life; she had a lot of energy and always smiling and personable,” Espeut said.
Police arrested Walter Daniel Saravia Palacios, 35, in late May. He is charged with murder.
“I’m thankful for the people who followed him. I’m thankful for the people who took pictures of him and the people who had information about him,” Brigman’s friend Verniss McFarland told KHOU after the arrest.
Alex "Boo" Taylor Franco
EVERLOVED @ALEX-FRANCO
Alex "Boo" Taylor Franco, a 21-year-old trans man, was abducted from the home of his girlfriend and killed March 17.
Franco willingly entered a 2000 white Jeep Liberty around 4:15 p.m. that day but was killed by a single gunshot fired by a 15-year-old suspect following a brief exchange of words, according to statements posted to social media by the Taylorsville, Utah, Police Department. His body was found March 19 in a remote desert region outside Lehi. Three suspects, the 15-year-old and two 17-year-olds, were arrested shortly afterward. Their names were not released because they are minors.
Alyssa Henry, Franco’s girlfriend, told local CBS affiliate KUTV that the three were “friends of friends” who were going to give the pair a ride to a local park. However, police say Franco was meeting with the youths to purchase a gun. The suspects claimed they intended to rob Franco, but an argument ensured, resulting in the shooting.
Friends and family remembered Franco fondly.
“He’s had his tough spots and stuff, but he’s a good kid,” Franco’s aunt, Sherry Bennett told local ABC affiliate KTVX. “He walks in the room and everyone brightens up immediately, so it’s really hard to even think that somebody could be so mad to do this to him.”
Yella Clark
Yella Clark, 45, an incarcerated Black transgender person, was killed in a fight with other inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La., in April.
Clark died April 2, shortly after prison officials broke up the fight between Clark and the other inmates, according to The Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate (no relation to this publication), a newspaper in Louisiana. The Louisiana Department of Corrections declined to give the paper any details about the fight, beyond saying an investigation is ongoing and there may be criminal charges against some prisoners.
Clark was initially sentenced to 75 years at hard labor as the result of an armed robbery at a convenience store in Haughton, La., in 2011. Later, they were convicted of second-degree murder in the death of fellow inmate Dolan Franklin in 2018. Clark was then sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labor with no possibility of parole, probation, or suspension of the sentence.
However, Clark recently appealed, saying they acted in self-defense, as Franklin had raped them the previous night and threatened to rape them again. Clark had been sexually assaulted in prison previously, they testified. But in March of this year, the Louisiana Court of Appeal affirmed Clark’s conviction and sentence. The evidence presented in the appeal was not sufficient to overturn the conviction, the court ruled.
Trans prisoners are five times more likely than cisgender inmates to be sexually assaulted by prison staffers and more than nine times more likely to be sexually assaulted by fellow inmates, according to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey.
“Yella was finally living their truth — something that everyone deserves to do, no matter their circ*mstances,” Tori Cooper, director of community engagement for the Human Rights Campaign’s Transgender Justice Initiative, said in a press release. “Yet the circ*mstances of their death, and the harassment and violence faced while incarcerated, show that the system failed them as it does far too often for trans and gender-expansive people.”
River Nevaeh Goddard
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Nonbinary 17-year-old River Nevaeh Goddard was found dead April 5 in Stow, Mass., two years after they were first reported missing. Their 20-year-boyfriend admitted to attacking them with a sword, authorities said.
Goddard went by both their chosen name River and birth name Nevaeh, used they and she pronouns, and was pansexual, according to GLAAD. They were first listed as a missing child by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in April 2022.
Police round Goddard’s body while responding to a request for a welfare check at their boyfriend's residence. Shane Curry, 20, blocked entrance to the home for over two hours before authorities gained access, upon which they found Goddard dead.
Curry confessed to stabbing them with a sword several times and was taken into custody. He accused Goddard of cheating on him and using drugs. Curry was charged with assault and battery on a household or family member and assault and battery causing serious bodily injury. He pleaded not guilty in Concord District Court, on account of his schizophrenia diagnosis, which court records indicate he first received in 2020. Additional charges are possible.
Michael Simmons, Goddard's grandfather, told TV station WJAR that Goddard had a difficult upbringing, spending part of their childhood in the care of the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families. Simmons also said that he had spoken with Curry before, revealing, “He promised to take care of her.”
“Never in a million years did I ever think this [would happen]. There couldn’t have been a nicer, more soulful, and more spiritual person,” Simmons said of Goddard.
Tee Arnold
IMAGE VIA INSTAGRAM @SHANAEMARIE__
Tee Arnold, a 36-year-old Black transgender man, died April 7 of a gunshot wound he suffered early in the morning of April 3 at a shopping and entertainment complex in Hallandale Beach, Fla. Police were called to the Village at Gulfstream Park about 1:30 a.m. April 3 and found Arnold had been shot. He was taken to HCA Florida Aventura Hospital, where he died four days later.
Arnold had posted on social media that his life was in danger. Hallandale Beach police are looking for a woman suspect who was known to Arnold. “We don’t believe this was a hate crime,” Capt. Aaron Smith told TV station WPLG. “When we have incidents like this, we do our very best and we do everything to keep our community safe.” A reward is being offered, but so far no arrest has been made.
Arnold was also known as Lagend Billions. His family and friends paid tribute in social media posts, noting his supportive nature. “I thank you for always answering the phone when I was lost, for never being afraid to tell me when I’m wrong, telling me to pray when I was weak, always offering words of encouragement,” friend Cece Gates wrote on Facebook.
Starr Brown
HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN
Starr Brown, a Black transgender woman, was shot and killed in Memphis in the early morning hours of April 19 after she finished her work shift at Checkers, a drive-through fast-food establishment. She was seen on video driving away in her Pontiac G3 with coworker Alexavier Williamson, 20, just after 2:30 a.m. Brown’s body was discovered in her car several hours later in a wooded area. She suffered a single gunshot wound to her left side.
Williamson voluntarily walked into a police station April 28 and confessed to the crime. Police provided no information about a possible motive or why he decided to confess. He is charged with second-degree murder.
Friends and loved ones described Brown as a “beautiful soul” who “always had uplifting words.”
Andrea Doria Dos Passos
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Andrea Doria Dos Passos, 37, a transgender woman who was experiencing homelessness, was found beaten to death April 23 outside the Miami City Ballet building in Miami Beach, Fla. The attack on Dos Passos was caught on surveillance video and led to the arrest of Gregory Fitzgerald Gibert, 53, who was originally charged with second-degree murder, but the charge was raised to first-degree murder Miami-Dade Judge Mindy Glazer shortly afterward. He is being held without bond.
“I’ve had a chance to review the arrest affidavit — to me it looks like it should be a first-degree murder, not a second-degree, based on the facts alleged in this arrest affidavit where he allegedly struck the victim with a metal pipe about the head and face, and then it looks like he defiled the body by doing other things to the victim after she was deceased,” Glazer said, according to Miami’s NBC station. She appointed a public defender for the suspect.
Dos Passos’s stepfather, Victor Van Gilst, mourned her in an interview with Miami’s CBS affiliate. “She had no chance to defend herself whatsoever,” he said. “I don’t know if this was a hate crime since she was transgender or if she had some sort of interaction with this person because he might have been homeless as well. The detective could not say if she was attacked because she was transgender. She has been struggling with mental health issues for a long time, going back to when she was in her early 20s. We did everything we could to help her. My wife is devastated. For her, this is like a nightmare that turned in to reality. Andrea moved around a lot and even lived in California for a while. She was sadly homeless. I feel the system let her down. She was a good person.”
Kita Bee
HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN
Kita Bee, a 46-year-old Black transgender woman, was killed in a hit-and-run accident May 3 in Kansas City, Mo. Bee was hit by two cars that night. One of the drivers has been identified, and charges are pending, police told The Kansas City Star. “Some friends and family members have expressed concern online that Bee’s death was caused by foul play, or that someone pushed her into the road,” the Star reports.
Bee had endured periods of housing instability but still served as a mentor to other trans women in her community, according to local trans advocacy group KC Transformations.
Bee had been seriously injured in another hit-and-run this year, Kris Wade, executive director of the Justice Project, which assists women who’ve experienced homelessness and violence, told the Star. She had recently found stable housing, Wade added.
“She had a very sweet soul,” Wade noted. “I’ve got millions of memories of her… She was in her full authentic persona all the time, and that takes guts when you’re a trans person. Especially a trans woman of color.”
Jazlynn Johnson, an 18-year-old transgender woman, was shot to death May 6 in Las Vegas, and a 17-year-old has been charged with murder.
Johnson was found inside a car early that morning and was pronounced dead at the scene, TV station KLAS reports. Police had responded to a call from a man who said his son told him he’d shot a friend. The son, Cesar Sandoval, was arrested and charged with murder with the use of a deadly weapon and destroying or concealing evidence. He is being held at Clark County Juvenile Hall.
Sandoval had come home about 3 a.m. in a hysterical state and said he had accidentally shot his friend, the station reports. He asked his parents not to call the police, but they said they had to. He insisted that the shooting was accidental and told police he did not know where the gun was.
There is little information available about Johnson, but LGBTQ+ rights groups are speaking out and calling for further investigation to see if hate-crime charges can be brought.
Tayy Dior Thomas
Human Rights Campaign
Tayy Dior Thomas, a 17-year-old transgender girl, was shot to death May 7 in Mobile, Ala., and the suspect is a man who her family says she had been dating.
Police found her body about 3:30 a.m. in the front yard of a home after responding to a report of shots fired in the area, according to TV station WALA. A vehicle had crashed into the house as well.
Police arrested Carl Washington Jr., 20. He is charged with murder. He has pleaded not guilty but has been denied bond.
Most news reports, including the WALA one, misgendered and deadnamed Thomas, but her family confirmed her trans identity to the Human Rights Campaign. The family told HRC that Thomas and Washington had been dating for about a year, and they believe Washington was afraid their relationship would become known to others.
Thomas was kind and giving, Rolanda Carl, Thomas’s grandmother, told AL.com. “That’s the thing that I get the most from her personality. She was a giving person,” Carl said. “That trusting and loving nature got her killed.”
Family and friends said they hope for changes in Alabama’s hate-crimes law, which does not cover crimes motivated by the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
Michelle Henry
INSTAGRAM @TRANSGENDERDISTRICT
Michelle Henry, a 25-year-old Black transgender woman, died May 15 in San Francisco after being strangled and stabbed.
Police responded that afternoon to a report of a fight between two people in a home. They found Henry lying on the ground. She had been stabbed multiple times. Paramedics attempted to revive her, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police arrested Raymani Yuhashi, 33. She is charged with “the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought,” as a San Francisco Police Department report puts it.
Henry had been involved in the SF LGBT Center’s youth program. “Michelle was a ray of light for our team and so many others she connected with over the last two years at the center,” Executive Director Rebecca Rolfe told the publication. “Her warmth and presence were felt in every room she walked in. She was kind, deeply caring, courageous, and fearless. Michelle’s death is a profound loss for our community. There are no words to fully convey what we are collectively feeling right now — our grief is immense. We want to thank those who cherished Michelle, and our hearts are with all who had the opportunity to truly know, love, and care for her.”
Liara Kaylee Tsai
Liara Kaylee Tsai, a 35-year-old transgender woman who was a well-regarded Trevor Project volunteer, was killed in Minnesota June 22, and her former romantic partner is charged with second-degree murder.
Tsai, who lived in Minneapolis, was found in the back seat of a car driven by that partner, Margot Lewis, when the car crashed into a guardrail in Minnesota’s Olmsted County, about 100 miles southeast of Minneapolis, according to several local media outlets. Tsai was wrapped in bedding and a mattress, and she had a puncture wound to her neck, while Lewis was sitting in a lawn chair in an interstate median when police arrived. Investigators later searched Tsai's home, and they found her bed and bedclothes soaked with blood.
Lewis is charged with two counts of second-degree murder and one of interference with a dead body.
Tsai was a DJ, producer, combat veteran, and spoken-word artist who had recently moved to Minneapolis from Iowa. She was also a volunteer crisis counselor with the Trevor Project, a mental health and suicide prevention organization focusing on LGBTQ+ youth.
“Liara was a valued member of our 988 Crisis Intervention team and part of our Trevor community,” the Trevor Project posted on its LinkedIn page. “She is remembered by our team for her empowering gentleness and remarkable ability to center the feelings and experiences of LGBTQ+ young people. Liara saved lives through her crisis intervention work, and we are heartbroken that the world has lost an incredibly bright light far too soon.”
Pauly Likens
Family Photo via NBC News
Pauly A. Likens, a 14-year-old trans girl, was murdered and dismembered in Pennsylvania. She was last seen alive in person June 22, and her remains were found June 25, scattered in a lake in Clark, Pa., in the northwestern part of the state. DaShawn Watkins, 29, is charged with murder in the first degree, aggravated assault – attempts to cause serious bodily injury or causes injury with extreme indifference, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with/fabricating physical evidence.
“This is one of the worst homicide cases I’ve seen in my 46 years as a lawyer,” Mercer County District Attorney Peter C. Acker said. “We’ve had dismemberment cases before, but this is especially bad. I hope I never see another one of these.”
Taylor Galaska, a City Council member in the town of Sharon, described Likens’s murder as “deeply troubling and incredibly heartbreaking.” She added, “I think I can speak for everyone when I say that our community is outraged by the murder. I have full faith in local and state investigators and the legal system that a thorough investigation and prosecution of this senseless, heinous act will occur.”
Pamela Ladner, president of LGBTQIA+ Alliance Shenango Valley, told CNN Pauly was “a selfless, loving child who loved nature, getting her nails done, and shopping.” She also said that Pauly “aspired to be a park ranger like her Aunt Liz.”
Shannon Boswell
Shannon Boswell, a Black trans woman just days from her 31st birthday, was shot and killed July 2 in Stone Mountain, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta. Initial reports misgendered her and characterized her death as the result of a hit-and-run accident. But the DeKalb County medical examiner later discovered she had been shot, according to several local news outlets.
Boswell “was shot and then left in the street like a deer,” her mother, Tammy Boswell, told Atlanta TV station WSB. “Shannon was really a very sweet person ... and ain’t nobody have a right to take [her] from me.”
Tammy Boswell said several of Shannon’s friends and her boyfriend said she had been shot, so she kept calling the police with that information, but they denied there had been a shooting until the medical examiner’s report came out.
No arrest has been made.
