How I Count The Trans Murders

The number of murdered trans folks in 2020 has been holding steady so far at one since New Year's Day.  But I expect that number to quickly rise once winter gives way to spring and summer and the temps rise.

People have asked me what are the parameters I use to count trans deaths, so here they are. 

*I use the standards of the Remembering our Dead Web Project as created by Gwen Smith.   If you report a person as having been killed to me, I will need a link to at least one or two local news media stories confirming that the person was killed.   Will need a link to their Facebook page if known as well so that I can have a nice pic of the person to use while telling their story instead of a mug shot.

 
*I count from 12:00 AM January 1 to 11:59 PM on December 31 in the same calendar year.  I don't count from TDOR to TDOR.  We need to know how many people have been killed in a calendar year so we can have those hard numbers.

*I don't include suicides.   A person who commits suicide has made a choice about taking their life.   Someone who is murdered doesn't have the element of choice.  The perpetrator of the anti-trans violence made that choice to end their life for them. 

Trans suicide, while important to talk about, is a wholly separate issue from trans people who have been violently taken from us.   Suicides should not be lumped in with TDOR murder stats.

*If someone has been killed while in prison or ICE custody, unless someone in that prison or ICE has been charged with murder, I can't for journalistic reasons count it in the yearly stats. 

Same rationale for someone killed by a police officer.   Unless that officer is charged with murder, can't count it as a trans murder no matter how much we suspect that's exactly what happened.

*I'm focusing on counting the trans deaths in the United States.   There are other orgs tracking the deaths in Europe, Latin America, Asia and other parts of the world like Transgender Europe (TGEU)  and OutRight Action International. 

Facts are what matter.   I am striving for accuracy when I compile these counts on these TransGriot pages.   As a member of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) and the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) I'm also doing my utmost to follow the journalistic standards of these organizations I am a proud member of.   

It's even more important now I'm finding myself doing more local and national print and television interviews to talk about the anti-trans violence that's killing us.  I also don't want our right wing opposition or TERFs trying to claim we're padding the counts.

If someone is arrested after the commisison of one of these murders aginst our siblings, the average time from an arrest to trial is about two years.   With the avalanche of cases happening and my limited bandwith to keep track of it all, I am asking for help from you TransGriot readers to let me know when these trans killers in your areas of the country come to trial. 

I want to know if the killers have been found guilty, and if so, how much time did they get when they were sentenced.

So with so many cases happening, I will need a reminder from you, TransGriot readers if you see news of a a trans murderer going to trial .

So these are the guidelines I use to track trans murders.  I hope and pray I won't be as busy as I have been the last few years documenting these cases, but we still have a lot of 2020 left, a raving transphobe in the White House, conservative media going buck wild in sprading transphobic BS, and Republican lawmakers in the US trying to pass unjust anti-trans bills.

So while I'm hoping for the best, I'm mentally prepared to expect another bad year on the trans murder front.. 
 

Number 23- Rest In Power Nikki Kuhnhausen

It turns out that the trans teen who went missing back in June is sadly now one of 23 trans people who we have lost in the US due to anti-trans violence.

17 year old Nikki Kuhnhausen went missing back on June 6 after setting up a meeting with 25 year old David Bogdanov.    She had conversing with him on Snapchat, and after setting up a June 5  meeting with him disappeared. 

Bogdanov was named as a person of interest in her disappearance, and admitted during an October interview with detectives that he and Nikki met, and during their conversation he discovered she was trans.   He said that was offensive to his culture and he asked her to get out of his van. 

Bogdanov claimed that Nikki walked away from his van and he never saw her again.

Nikki's remains were found on Larch Mountain in the remote northeastern part of Clark County, Washington on December 7. 

Bogdanov was arrested today by Vancouver police and charged with Kuhnhausen's murder, and his cell phone records according to detectives,  put him in the same remote area of northeastern Clark County on June 6 where Nikki's remains were found.

Bogdanov has been charged with second degree murder, and is being held without bail.   He will face his first appearance in Clark County Courthouse.

That makes Nikki the 23rd trans person we have lost to anti-trans violence, and the second trans teenager we've lost in 2019.  She is also the second White trans person who has been killed this year. .

Rest in power Nikki.  Your life was taken way too soon, and here's hoping that justice will be served in your case.

Number 15 -Rest in Power Jordan Cofer

We have been hearing about the twin terrorist attacks in El Paso, TX  and Dayton, OH all week.  Unfortunately one of the things trans America just learned as a community is that a trans man was killed in the Dayton terror attack.

Turns out that the 22 year old sibling of Dayton shooter Connor Betts was one of the nine victims in the August 4 attack by Betts at a popular club in the city's entertainment district    The sibling was also the first to die in that terrorist attack that also wounded 27 people before Betts was killed by Dayton police. 

That sibling, Jordan Cofer was being misgendered by family,  Dayton police and the media to the point that Jordan's friends spoke out about it.

According to writer Katelyn Burns,  Cofer was out to a group of friends,  preferred he/him pronouns and self identified as trans masculine..

That means that Cofer is not only the 15th trans person we've lost this year, but is also the first trans masculine and non-Black trans person killed in the United States in 2019.

Cofer's murder also continued the pattern of trans people under age 30 being killed.

It is a pattern that needs to stop. 

Rest in power, Jordan.   Your friends who loved you will ensure that you're never forgotten, and you will always live in their hearts and memories.
   .

US Border Patrol Agent Serial Killer Victims Includes A Latina Trans Woman

You are probably been aware of the story coming out of the Lone Star State over the weekend concerning a Laredo area supervisory Border Patrol agent who is accused of being a serial killer that targeted sex workers.

35 year old Juan David Ortiz, a ten year veteran of the Border Patrol, has been arrested and charged with the first degree murder of four women. Ortiz  has also been charged with unlawful restraint with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in Erika Pena according to Webb County DA Isidro R. 'Chilo Alaniz.

Ortiz has also confessed to the murders of the four women , and is in jail on a $2.5 million bond.

Pena was talking to him inside his white four door Dodge truck when the conversation turned to discussing Ramirez, who had disappeared a week earlier and was her friend. 

Ortiz's mood changed, and he subsequently pulled a gun on Pena, pointed it at her and tried to grab her shirt to prevent her escape from the vehicle.  Pena took off her shirt and ran to a nearby gas station where she encountered a DPS state trooper.  Pena gave a detailed description of Ortiz including his tattoos to law enforcement officials, which triggered the manhunt for him that led to his arrest.   

Ortiz was found at another gas station in Laredo, and fled on foot to a nearby Ramada Inn where he was found hiding in the bed of a pickup truck in the parking lot of the motel. 

DA Alaniz has called Ortiz a serial killer.   Webb County officials aren't dismissing the possibility there may be more victims.   Ortiz committed a string of murders of women between September 3 and September 15 of women who were presumed to be sex workers. 

The body of 29 year old Melissa Ramirez was found lying on Jefferies Road near TX state highway 255 with multiple gunshot wounds to the head on September 4 in northwest Webb County. 

She was the first of Ortiz's victims, and he admitted to killing the mother of two on September 3

The second victim, 42 year old Claudine Anne Luera, was found shot multiple times in the head and left mortally wounded along TX state highway 255 two miles from where Ramirez's body was discovered.   She was taken to a local hospital where she later succumbed to her injuries.

The last two victims were killed after Pena escaped from Ortiz's truck but before he was finally apprehended bylaw enforcement.   One is a still as yet unidentified Jane Doe whose body was found at the Webb Road underpass of I-35 near mile marker 21.   Her name will be released once next of kin are notified.

The other is 28 year old Nikki Janelle Enriquez.  She is the trans woman who was initially deadnamed and misgendered by law enforcement officials and local media until it was corrected.

She was killed around September 14-15 according to authorities and her body was also found along I-35 at mile marker 15.

Enriquez sadly becomes the 21st trans person to be murdered in the US, the third Latina and the second one in Texas in 2018

Vigil For Carla Tomorrow

Well TransGriot readers, didn't expect to be back in Dallas this soon. 

I'm back in town to speak at a vigil for Carla Pavon, our sister we just lost way too soon on Wednesday.   

It's being held in the Interfaith peace Chapel on the Cathedral of Hope campus at 5910 Cedar Springs Rd on Sunday starting at 2:30 PM.

Hope we get a nice turnout for it, and see you there . . 

Fayetteville, AR Police Investigating Death Of Trans Woman

Last night I received a tip from an area TransGriot reader concerning the death of a 28 year old trans woman in the Fayetteville, AR area named Amrita Tehuti Mekti 

The reader sent me the message because they were concerned that so far no media outlet in the Fayetteville area (home city of the University of Arkansas) is covering the story. The Fayetteville PD have so far been tight lipped about what they know in this developing case.
This media story popped up only after I posted the initial tweet last night concerning this case. Back to discussing our fallen sister. Amrita was well known and loved in the Fayetteville area trans and GNC community, and loved supernatural and sci-fi stories.  
According to the Facebook post of the inTRANSitive group,
Amrita was a loving presence at every inTRANSitive event, fed the community at their weekly dinners at St. Martin’s Episcopal Center, attended almost every demonstration or protest in the  Fayetteville area, and has a special space in the hearts of many people across and beyond the Fayetteville area 

She was found dead in her apartment at The Gables complex at 1526 Oakland Ave. there following a welfare check on Monday after being missing a week . The details of her death are currently unknown and under investigation. An investigation that if foul play is involved, the community wants to see justice expeditiously happen for Amrita and all who loved her.

There were no signs of suicide, and her body is being sent to a crime lab in Little Rock for an autopsy. If it is confirmed that she was indeed murdered, she would unfortunately become the ninth person lost this year in the US due to anti-trans violence She would also saly become the sixth Black trans person and seventh trans POC murdered in the US this year.

Rest in power and peace Amrita, we lost you way too soon.

#BlackTransLIvesMatter #SayHerName TransGriot Update: The autopsy ruled out foul play in Amrita's death...