Transgender hate crimes

2003

Transgender hate crimes is an international issue. There have been 35 victims of transgender hate crimes this year. Everyone of them was a special life. Eveyone of them will be missed. The following are there names:

Amanda Jofré Cerda
Location: Chile
Cause of Death: Murdered, allegedly by Winston Michelson del Canto
Date of Death: November 24, 2002
Source: IGLHRC and TravesChile
Amanda Jofré Cerda, then 23 years old, was found dead in Michelson del Canto's apartment. Michelson del Canto is a known as a drug dealer and manufacturer. It is also rumored that he likes to keep underage transgender sex-workers locked in his apartment for days. Nevertheless, Michelson del Canto was unanimously acquitted of any wrongdoing, and excorted home by police.

Ze Galhinha
Location: Brazil
Cause of Death: Shot to death, allegedly by a military police officer
Date of Death: December 2002
Source: IGLHRC (rights organization)
An investigator into this case -- Marcelo Cruz -- was also assassinated, and a member of a local rights organization has been threatened over this case.

Fernanda (Boris Javier) Covarrubias
Location: San Felipe, Chile
Cause of Death: Mutilated
Date of Death: December 4, 2002
Source: La Cuarta, January 27, 2003
Covarrubias was a sex worker in San Felipe. She was taken from the area by an individual in a red truck, who was likely a former john of hers. Her mutilated body was found in a river bed some time later. Local activists suspect a member of the military and/or a neo-Nazi group.

Chandini, aka Nazir
Location: Bangalore, India
Cause of Death: Burned to death.
Date of Death: December 1, 2002
Source: Sangama (rights organization)
Chandini was a 22 year old hijra, or transgendered woman. While police has declared this to be a suicide, strong evidence suggests otherwise.

Tamyra Michaels
Location: Highland Park, Michigan
Cause of Death: Shot to death
Date of Death: December 21, 2002
Source: WXYZ-TV Detroit, December 14, 2002
Tamyra Michaels was a transgendered woman who had been living full-time since age 17. She was shot by an assailant that she described as a white male with a foreign-sounding accent, on December 14th. She passed away while in the hospital.

Georgina Matehaere
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Cause of Death: Beaten with a baseball bat, allegedly by Joe Tua "Bucket" Coleman
Date of Death: December 22, 2002
Source: New Zealand Herald, December 23, 2002
Matehaere's face was hit five times with a baseball bat on December 16th by Coleman, a gang member. Matehaere managed to get herself to a local hospital after the beating, but was promptly discharged. She was returned to the hospital via ambulance. She died six days later of her injuries. Her last words before she lost consciousness were a plea for peace. Diane Henare-Wynyard, Coleman's significant other, helped Coleman evade police for some time, so that he wouldn't be imprisoned during Christmas.

Roberta Nizah Morris
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Cause of Death: Blow to the head
Date of Death: December 24, 2002
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, December 31, 2002
Morris was a popular transgender performer. Police initially attempted to assist her on December 22nd, but released her after she refused medical treatment. She was later found by a passing motorist, and died in the hospital on Christmas Eve. While a medical examiner has declared this a homicide, the police want to assume it to have been an accidental bludgeoning. Many in the community have wondered why the police have been so difficult to work with on this case.

Timothy "Cinnamon" Broadus
Location: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Cause of Death: Shot multiple times
Date of Death: January 8, 2003
Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel, January 8, 2003
Broadus, a 21 year old transgendered sex worker, was shot several times by the driver of a Honda Civic or Accord. She ran a few steps from the car, collapsed, and died on the street. Very little else has been reported in this case.

Nikki Nicholas
Location: Green Oak Township, Michigan
Cause of Death: Gunshot Wound
Date of Death: February 21, 2003
Source: Ann Arbor News, February 25, 2003
Nikki Nicholas was a 19-year-old African-American transwoman. She was making a living as a female impersonator at nightclubs around Detroit, and was well-known for her impersonations of singer Beyoncé. Her body was discovered during a routine property check of an abandoned farmhouse.

Danisha Victoria Principal Williams
Location: Bradenton, Florida
Cause of Death: Murdered
Date of Death: February 28, 2003
Source: Sarasota Herald Tribune, March 4, 2003
Williams was very open as a transgendered woman. She was discovered in her apartment after neighbors discovered a trail of blood in the hall which lead to Williams's bathroom. Her body had been left in her bathtub.

Unknown Transgendered woman
Location: Cali, Columbia
Cause of Death: Stabbed several times
Date of Death: March 6, 2003
Source: Vanessa Foster
This transgendered person was roughly 25 years of age. She was dumped from a car alongside a highway. Reports indicate that she died of six stab wounds in different parts of her body.

Ronald Andrew Brown
Location: Frenchville, North Rockhampton, Australia
Cause of Death: Stabbed to death, allegedly by Jason Edward Piper
Date of Death: March 7, 2003
Source: The Courier Mail, March 8, 2003
Brown, who was 16 years old, was widely known as a crossdresser. Browns body was found in the home of Jason Edward Piper, an up-and-coming jockey. Brown died of multiple stab wounds, presumably from a kitchen knife in Piper's home.

Merlinka (Vjeran Miladinovic)
Location: Belgrade, Serbia
Cause of Death: Beaten to death
Date of Death: March 22, 2003
Source: Politika, May 20, 2003
Merlinka, also known as Vjeran Miladinovic, was known as the first out transwoman in Serbia. She wrote a book, Terezas' Son, and had been in two Serbian films. She was murdered in Belgrade on March 22nd, and her body was found a month later. Two men, one of whom is a minor, have been arrested in this case.

Jorge Rafael Cruz
Location: Guatamala City, Guatamala
Cause of Death: Murdered
Date of Death: March 25, 2003
Source: Guatemala Hoy, March 26, 2003
Several individuals dumped Cruz's body in Guatamala City. Local authorities do not expect that they will be able to find Cruz's murderers, as transgendered people in the area are known to have "many enemies." Cruz was 19 years old.

Kim Mimi Young
Location: Washington, D.C.
Cause of Death: Stabbed to death, allegedly by Corena Niko Watkins
Date of Death: April 9, 2003
Source: Jessica Xavier
Mimi was a transgendered sex-worker in Washington, D.C., and had also been a key prosecution witness in a murder trial in 2000. She was initially found on the 9th, gasping for air, by a D.C. resident. She had been stabbed, and succumbed to those injuries later that morning. 34-year-old Watkins has been charged with this murder.

Jessica Mercado
Location: New Haven, Connecticut
Cause of Death: Stabbed multiple times, then burnt
Date of Death: May 9, 2003
Source: New Haven Register, May 11, 2003
Jessica Mercado was a 24-year-old transwoman. Mercado's body was found draped across her mattress in the charred remains of her apartment. She has been stabbed multiple times before the apartment was set on fire. Mercado was laid to rest in her native Puerto Rico.

Hendricks Thomas aka Tanesha Starr
Location: Birmingham, Alabama
Cause of Death: Stabbed multiple times
Date of Death: May 22, 2003
Source: Birmingham News, May 25, 2003
Hendricks Thomas was a drag performer who also went by Tanesha Starr. Thomas was found stabbed and died in route to the hospital. In spite of a $2000 reward put out by the local LGBT community, this case remains unsolved.

Shelby Tracy Tom
Location: North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Cause of Death: Murdered, allegedly by Jatin Patel
Date of Death: May 31, 2003
Source: Xtra! West, June 12, 2003
Tom was a 40-year-old Asian transsexual. Her body was discovered in a shopping cart behind a North Vancouver laundromat. Jatin Patel, a 29-year-old, was charged with 2nd degree murder.

Michael Charles Hurd
Location: Houston, Texas
Cause of Death: Shot to death
Date of Death: June 18, 2003
Source: Houston Chronicle, June 18, 2003
Little information has been provided on this case, other than that Hurd was found shot to death in a car, and was found wearing a wig, makeup, and feminine attire.

Dayana Valverde
Location: Guatamala City, Guatamala
Cause of Death: Shot
Date of Death: July 1, 2003
Source: La Hora, July 1, 2003
Valverde was shot multiple times in the streets of Guatamala City. Paramedics called to the scene did attempt to stabilize her wounds, but she passed away in intensive care at a local hospital.

Rogelio Jiménez Cortez
Location: Guatamala City, Guatamala
Cause of Death: Shot
Date of Death: July 4, 2003
Source: La Hora, July 4, 2003
In the second killing of a transgendered woman in a week, Cortez was gunned down at a bus and taxi stop in Guatamala City.

Ericka (Erick David) Yáñez
Location: San Pedro Sula, Honduras
Cause of Death: Shot and killed, allegedly by a police officer
Date of Death: July 15, 2003
Source: Amnesty International
19-year-old Honduran transgendered woman Ericka Yáñez was allegedly attacked by two police officers, one of whom reportedly killed Yánez with his service revolver. Both officers have been arrested and charged, one -- police agent Carlos Iván Contreras -- for the murder, and the other as an accomplice. Contreras has escaped custody, and death threats have been received by a witness to the crime, another local transgendered woman known as "China".

Cinnamon (Kendrick) Perry
Location: Houston, Texas
Cause of Death: Shot to death
Date of Death: July 20, 2003
Source: Houston Chronicle, July 20, 2003
Perry, a 32 year old African-American, was shot by a passing car while walking down a street in the Montrose area in Houston shortly after dawn. She was taken to a local hospital, but died that afternoon.

Nireah Johnson
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Cause of Death: Shot to death, allegedly by Paul Anthony Moore
Date of Death: July 22, 2003
Source: Indianapolis Star, July 26, 2003
Nireah Johnson, a 17-year-old African-American transwoman, was known for being sweet and funny. Her and a friend, 18-year-old Brandie Coleman, were shot in the head while sitting in a SUV. The murderer, allegedly Paul Anthony Moore, then set the truck on fire. Their bodies were burnt beyond recognition. A second person, Curtis L. Ward, has been arrested as a possible accomplice to Moore in this killing.

Brandie Coleman
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Cause of Death: Shot to death, allegedly by Paul Anthony Moore
Date of Death: July 22, 2003
Source: Indianapolis Star, July 26, 2003
18-year-old Brandie Coleman, while not a transgendered woman herself, was a close friend to Nireah Johnson (above), and was also shot in the head while sitting in Coleman's mother's SUV with Ms. Johnson. She had recently become a mother just two months prior to the murder.

Selena Álvarez-Hernández
Location: Council Bluffs, Iowa
Cause of Death: Stabbed several times
Date of Death: July 31, 2003
Source: Daily Nonpareil, August 2, 2003
Álvarez-Hernández was a resident of Nebraska, and worked at an Omaha meatpacking plant, and was last seen alive leaving an Omaha bar. Álvarez-Hernández was found stabbed several times and unconscious on the lawn of a house in Council Bluffs, and was pronounced dead a short time later at a nearby Hospital.

Amirilis
Location: Guatamala City, Guatamala
Cause of Death: Shot to death
Date of Death: August 3, 2003
Source: La Hora, August 3, 2003
Like Jorge Rafael Cruz, 28-year-old Amirilis was murdered by several individuals. Her killers made several passes around her in a car, first making complimentary comments before penting her with water balloons, then tossing an apple at her on a return trip. When Amirilis made angry comments back at them for pelting her, they shot and killed her.

Marcelo Cesar Goulart
Location: Criciúma, Brazil
Cause of Death: Stabbed several times
Date of Death: August 8, 2003
Source: da Folha, August 8, 2003
Goulart, a trasvesti in Brazil, was found dead by police. She was naked and had suffered several stab wounds above the heart. Not much information beyond this has been provided.

Bella Evangelista
Location: Washington, D.C.
Cause of Death: Shot, allegedly by Antoine Jacobs
Date of Death: August 16, 2003
Source: Washington Post, August 18, 2003
Bella Evangelista was a popular entertainer in D.C., and periodically performed at Club Chaos. She was shot multiple times at close range. Antoine D. Jacobs has admitted to the murder, but claims it was in self-defense. Police do not believe his story, and are treating this murder as a hate crime.

Emonie Kiera Spaulding
Location: Washington, D.C.
Cause of Death: Shot, allegedly by Antwan D. Lewis
Date of Death: August 20, 2003
Source: WMAR, August 21, 2003
25-year-old Emonie Kiera Spaulding was from Massachusetts and North Carolina, and had been living in D.C. for about two years. According to her Uncle, Spaulding loved music as a child and sang in a church choir. Her partially nude body was discovered by police in a field. She had been shot but also had severe head wounds. There was a second near-fatal shooting of a transgendered woman the same evening, which police do not feel was related.

Cassandra "Tula" Do
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Cause of Death: Strangled
Date of Death: August 26, 2003
Source: Toronto Police Department, August 26, 2003
Cassandra Do, or "Sandra" as her friends knew her, was working as a sex-worker under the pseudonym "Tula" in Toronto, saving up for genital surgery and nursing school. She had many friends. She was found in her 11th-floor apartment. An autopsy concluded that she was strangled to death.

Enrico Taglialatela
Location: Napoli, Italy
Cause of Death: Burned
Date of Death: August 30, 2003
Source: L'Unità, August 30, 2003
Taglialatela, a 39-year-old transsexual woman, was attacked by four individuals on August 19th who initially tried to proposition her, then assaulted her when she refused. They also poured benzine on her and set her on fire. Others helped her to a local hospital, though she was later transferred to a larger facility. She suffered serious burns on 70% of her body. She died from these burns on the night of August 30th. Her killers have been jailed.

Ricardo "Sindy" Cuarda
Location: San Pablo, California
Cause of Death: Shot multiple times
Date of Death: September 30, 2003
Source: Contra Costa Times, October 3, 2003
24-year-old Cuarda lived in Richmond, California after emigrating from Acapulco, Mexico about two years ago. She had been working as a hair stylist. Police Officers found Cuarda, wearing a blouse and pants, bleeding heavily from several gunshot wounds in the driveway of a business in San Pablo. She died a short time later at a medical center. While police would not confirm details of this murder, a friend of Cuarda's stated that she was shot in the chest and genitals.

Erika Johana
Location: Trastevere, Italy
Cause of Death: Bludgeoned
Date of Death: October 10, 2003 (approximate)
Source: Chiudi, October 15, 2003
Johana was a young Columbian transgendered woman living in Italy. Her body was found by a friend in the bathroom, in only a bra and slip, leaning over the tub. Her skull was shattered by a blunt object. She had been dead for several days before she was discovered.

Adrian Torres de Assuncaov
Location: Brescia, Italy
Cause of Death: Bludgeoned and dumped along site the road.
Date of Death: October 7, 2003
Source: Il Giorno, October 15, 2003
Torres de Assuncao was a 24-year-old Brazilian native living in Italy. She was discovered along the roadside, and taken to a local hospital. She passed away at the hospital, after surgeons attempted to save her life.

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ALL USA 2003 USA
1 0 - - Amanda Jofré
2 0 - - Ze Galhinha
3 0 - - Chandini, aka Nazir
4 0 - - Fernanda (Boris Javier) Covarrubi
5 1 - - Tamyra Michaels
6 1 - - Georgina Matehaere
7 2 - - Roberta Nizah Morris
8 3 1 1 Timothy "Cinnamon" Broadus
9 4 2 2 Nikki Nicholas
10 5 3 3 Danisha Victoria Principal Williams
11 5 4 3 Unknown Transgendered woman
12 5 5 3 Ronald Andrew Brown
13 5 6 3 Merlinka (Vjeran Miladinovic)
14 5 7 3 Jorge Rafael Cruz
15 6 8 4 Mimi Young
16 7 9 5 Jessica Mercado
17 8 10 6 Hendricks Thomas aka Tanesha Starr
18 8 11 6 Shelby Tracy Tom
19 9 12 7 Michael Charles Hurd
20 9 13 7 Dayana Valverde
21 9 14 7 Rogelio Jimenez Cortez
22 9 15 7 Ericka (Erick David) Yánez
23 10 16 8 Kendrick "Cinnamon" Perry
24 11 17 9 Nireah (Gregory) Johnson
25 12 18 10 Brandie Coleman
26 13 19 11 Selena Álvarez-Hernández
27 13 20 11 "Amirilis"
28 13 21 11 Marcelo Cesar Goulart
29 14 22 12 Bella Evangelista
30 15 23 13 Emonie Spaulding
31 15 24 13 Cassandra "Tula" Do
32 15 25 13 Enrico Taglialatela
33 16 26 14 Ricardo "Sindy" Cuarda
34 16 27 14 Adrian Torres de Assuncao
35 16 28 14 Erika Johana

ALSO:
1 of above is from Australia
2 of above are from Brazil
2 of above are from Canada
2 of above are from Chile
1 of above is from Columbia
4 of above are from Guatamala
3 of above are from Italy
1 of above is from Honduras
1 of above is from New Zealand
1 of above is from Serbia