Insatiable True Crime

Insatiable True Crime (or as the hip kids call it, Insatiable TC) aims to shed light on cases the media and the true crime community ignore. The current focus is profiles of indigenous women who have been murdered or have gone missing in Canada and the United States, but will expand into other areas, such as murdered trans women of color, for example. We started with indigenous women in the US and Canada because a report done by the Canadian government has said that the government's treatment of these cases is akin to genocide. To read the whole report: https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/ While we definitely have ethical questions and worries about writing about marginalized women who have been hurt, the ultimate goal is to give them the light and attention white folks get. The less attention and care these communities get the more at risk they are. These women deserve coverage too! We shed light by doing a custom portrait of each victim with a description of who they are, what happened to them, and what questions still linger.

[insatiabletc]

A Couple of Quick Notes

We normally only write about indigenous women and trans women of color, but in light of the current attention on police shootings, we wanted to cover Tony McDade’s murder. Tony has not received as much attention as his cis-gendered counterparts in the mainstream media, so, today we made an exception and are covering his case. 

We also would like to direct you to an article put out by The Root, by Anne Branigin. “Tony McDade Was an ‘Imperfect’ Victim of Police Brutality. It’s Exactly Why He Matters,” was extremely thoughtful and helped us articulate why it is important to step away from the harmful “perfect” versus “imperfect” victim concept our media and police love to reinforce.

We also encourage you to read the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey in full. We only cover parts of it that are relevant to Tony, but the     whole document is important and well worth the read. 

Tony’s obituary was put out  under his dead name and uses she/her pronouns. Because it feels unethical to change the language in an obituary, we are changing instances of she/her pronouns to “Tony.” The obituary often moves between “Tony” and his deadname, so that feels like a good place to land. Bracketed instances of Tony’s name are our additions, unbracketed instances are the original wording of the obituary. 

Tony McDade

Tony McDade was a 38-year-old trans man living in Tallahassee, Florida. On May 27th, 2020, Tony was shot and killed by police. 

From his obituary:

“[Tony] loved to travel and was a talented hairstylist and vocalist.”

“[Tony] was a loving, compassionate, extremely loyal person who had the most beautiful smile. [Tony] was known to light up a room and your soul. Tony was diligent, tenacious and a dedicated competitor. One could not have a better friend, associate, coworker, sibling or family member than Tony for [Tony] would give up everything…to ensure the people [Tony] loved were happy, satisfied and fulfilled….Tony also played and enjoyed basketball…. [Tony] was a force to be reckoned with when it came to [Tony’s] chosen sports for, [Tony] was an all-around athlete. [Tony] was phenomenal.”

Looking at the online guestbook attached to his obituary, we could see fond recollections of dance-offs and quick friendships. Many described his infectious smile. We also found this bittersweet quote from The Advocate: “Friends online described him as a person with “a big heart” and noted that he was nicknamed “Tony the Tiger.”

Timeline of Events Before Tony’s Death

5/26/2020 – Tony is attacked by 5 men. After the attack, he goes on Facebook Live and shows injuries from the attack. He “vows to get revenge on assailants and brandishes a gun.” 

5/27/2020 (10:45am) – A man, Malik Jackson, is stabbed on Saxon Street. He later dies. 

5/27/2020 (10:59am) – An unnamed officer shoots Tony. This officer claims that Tony “’had pointed a gun at him’ and that ‘the suspect was in possession of a handgun, and a bloody knife was found at the scene.’” (Paper) 

There have been very few official details released surrounding the events and we have pulled together a collection of descriptions provided by witnesses:

“I walked down this way, as     soon as I get around this curve, I just hear shots… I see [McDade] right     behind the tree, but I see for him (the officer) just jump out the car,     swing the door open and just start shooting… I never heard ‘Get down,     freeze, I’m an officer’—nothing. I just heard gun shots,” – Clifford Butler

“They said ‘Stop moving, n—-r,’     and then they shot him after he stopped moving.” – Rolling Stone doesn’t attribute this     quote to Clifford Butler, but parts of the quote they printed (which we     removed for redundancy) match exactly what was attributed to him in other     articles. 

“Clifford Butler, an eyewitness who lives at Leon     Arms, says he heard seven or eight shots.” – Reported by WFSU

“I just heard pow pow pow pow pow, so I’m like d—     they shooting early in the day time, its day time they shooting…So by the     time I came, my step-son, Zion told me, he say ‘they just killed somebody.'” – April [she did not want her last name     given]     (WFSU).

It is unclear, but from the phrasing in some articles it sounds like the shooting itself was filmed in Facebook Live videos. We have been unable to find these videos if they exist. 

The stance the Tallahassee PD has taken is that the “the officer acted in accordance with their training.”(WFSU) Beyond that, they have kept quiet and have not released the officer’s name. Currently, the unnamed officer is on administrative leave. The city was able to keep the officer’s name secret by invoking a recent addition to the Florida constitution, Marsy’s Law. 

On June 6th it was reported that the police would release bodycam footage of the incident by “next week.”  Then, the city of Tallahassee reversed its decision to hide the officer’s name and promised to release it, but, the Police Benevolent Association of Florida is fighting this reversal and neither the body cam footage nor the name have been released as of June 26th. Releasing the footage would shed some light on how the officer behaved during the shooting and releasing the name would give greater accountability and transparency. 

Marsy’s Law – Florida Constitutional Amendment 6

Marsy’s Law has been adopted in several states and is meant to both protect and enact rights for victims of crime. Rights like, “receiving notifications of all legal proceedings involving the accused, as well as the right to privacy, the right to be heard, and the right to be protected from harassment,” (The Ledger). Part of that right to privacy is that a victim’s name should be withheld from the public. This law was created by a murder victim’s family after experiencing a deeply disturbing encounter:

“Marsy's Law is named after Marsalee (Marsy) Ann Nicholas…who was stalked and killed by her ex-boyfriend in 1983. Only one week after her murder and on the way home from the funeral service, Marsy’s family stopped at a market... It was there, in the checkout line, that Marsy’s mother…was confronted by her daughter’s murderer. Having received no notification from the judicial system, the family had no idea he had been released on bail mere days after Marsy’s murder,” (Marsey’s Law webpage). 

So, why is a law meant to protect victims and their families being invoked in Florida to withhold the names of officers involved in shootings? The short answer is that the Florida-specific version of the law is vague in who is considered a “victim,” and currently there is no state level guidance for police departments to follow. This means it is up to the individual departments to decide who is protected under the law. Some, in an effort of compliance, now make it routine to withhold the name of each and every victim, regardless of the severity of a crime. Some have taken it a step further and consider officers to be victims if a gun is drawn upon them. Each agency has pretty wildly different views on whether this law should apply to officers (all quotes come from the linked article):

·       “When Marsy’s Law was overwhelmingly approved by voters, there were no clauses that limited the rights of victims by their careers…I support this law and agree that, just because a person chooses a career in law enforcement, their rights should not be limited.” – Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco

·       “The state’s voters apparently believed that increasing the rights of victims was a fair trade for some reduced transparency," – Denise Moloney Hernando County Sheriff's Office Spokeswoman (Please note, that if you look at what Florida voters saw in 2018, there is no mention that officers involved in shootings would be protected by this law, making this claim a tad misleading).

·       “Marsy’s Law incentivizes people to come forward and report crime so they don’t have to worry about consequences and reprisal. Cops don’t fall into that bucket. This is what we do. If you don’t want to be transparent, if you don’t want to be forthright, then don’t sign up for the job.”- Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri 

As you can see, there are opposing views and in the eyes of the state both are considered valid. First Amendment groups in Florida are pushing for a bill to be passed that clarifies who falls into the category of a Marsy’s Law Victim. One such bill, entered by Senator Book in 2019, never made it out of the Criminal Justice Committee. We searched entered bills for the 2020 session and there are none addressing this issue. 

It is important for the public to be aware of officers involved in killing someone, as it allows for transparency and accountability. Without knowing the name of the officer who killed Tony, we can’t know if this is the first or tenth shooting this officer was involved in; the public cannot see what consequences are meted out. Will the officer be transferred to another department? Will the officer be fired? Will the officer come back to the community after a short period of administrative leave, with no other consequences? Transparency and accountability are crucial for a public institution that runs a high risk of killing people. 

It also seems far-fetched that Florida citizens were aware of how confusing this law would be when implemented for POLICE OFFICERS, and quite honestly that is probably not the victim they pictured. We hope that a bill is introduced in 2021 that can clarify this issue so that Floridians can expect consistency in all parts of the state. 

If you live in Florida, look up which of your senators belong to the Criminal Justice Committee and demand a bill be drafted that clarifies who should be considered a victim under Marsy’s Law. 

Imperfect Victims

When you look up and research Tony’s case, you will learn that on his Facebook Live video, he showed a gun and a knife, and told the five men who attacked him that he was coming for his revenge. He said “You killed me…I’m gonna kill you…I’m living suicidal right now…” and said that he was going to pull a gun out around the officer “because you know these officers nowadays they see a gun they just [going to] shoot." (WFSU Media)

You will also learn that Tony served time in prison for aggravated robbery and in May 2020 had been arrested for a charge related to a BB gun. 

Because of these facts, some people shy away from talking about Tony’s case, and others are emboldened to say that Tony was asking for it and why should we cry over a hardened criminal. We should “cry over” Tony because he is a human that lost his life, and frankly, we don’t know what the circumstances were surrounding the shooting. We know that Tallahassee has seen an uptick of officer-related shootings. We know that footage has not been released, despite public demand for it. We also know that the police have non-lethal tools at their disposal. And, since the city has yet to release any details, we are left with witnesses at the scene, who paint a picture of officers shooting up to 8 times and using the N-word. Why wouldn’t the city want to release footage if it contradicts that narrative? 

Let’s also consider: who benefits from a cherry-picking of victims to support? Why are only certain people worthy of support and protest? It is a white supremacist system that demands you be “unarmed…meek, and therefore worth of protecting,”(The Root). We also don’t know that Tony stabbed Malik, we don’t know if he had a gun, we just don’t know anything. So why has the media focused his criminal past? Our theory is that when we focus on whether the individual murdered was worth protecting, we are not forced to examine larger systems at play that contributed to the murder. Because, there are in fact larger systems at play that our society has the power to change, that contributed to this shooting. 

What is seldom reported is that in 2009 Tony wrote a letter to Judge Mark Walker begging not to be sent to prison, and instead be sent to a mental health facility. Tony wrote “I promise I’ll do right… Please Judge Walker don’t send me back for something I didn’t do. I’ll lose it. Besides while in prison I smoked weed, popped ecstasy, and drank liquor. The officers brought it in and staff members so what good will that do. Prison seems to get you nowhere but high…I have an anger problem and always fought behind my anger. I NEED HELP PLEASE SIR. I have a mental problem,” (reported by the Tallahassee Democrat). Very soon after penning that letter Tony was sentenced to 10 years in a federal prison. 

Another fact that is usually not included in reports outlining the threats Tony made in the Facebook Live video, is that he also talked about physical and sexual abuse he suffered in his life.

It chills our blood reading Tony’s plea for mental health care and treatment, knowing that in 2018 the federal penitentiary system suffered deep cuts to mental health care budgets. It is very unlikely that Tony received the treatment he knew he needed. In fact, knowing what we know about being trans in the penal system, it is likely that being incarcerated further compounded his mental health concerns. 

Being Black & Trans in the Penal System

According to The Root, in 2012 it was found that “half of all black trans people have been imprisoned.” This is astoundingly high, and it is the direct cause of both transphobia and racism. Remember, trans and gender-non-conforming people face higher rates of discrimination in housing, employment, and in schools. Lack of access to basic needs like housing and money* can lead to engagement with criminalized work for survival. This can put trans and gender-non-conforming people at a higher risk of being caught up in the criminal justice system. 

And, even if someone does non-criminalized work or avoids being arrested for doing criminalized work, as children both LGBTQIA and Black Americans still run the risk of being over-policed in their schools by School Resource Officers (SROs) that have a racist history of escalating non-criminal behavior to arrest. Or, they could simply be subject to higher rates of contact with police due to the over-policing of black communities, increasing the chance that one of those interactions will lead to arrest. 

Once in the system, it is difficult not to return to it-- not because of inherent character defects, but because the system is designed that way. People are often released with no resources and are expected to find gainful employment (even though having a criminal record makes that more difficult) or other access to food/housing/anything that requires money. Because trans and gender-non-conforming people have a much higher instance of discrimination in both housing and employment, even without a criminal record, it makes it even harder to find legal forms of employment. (Everything said in the prior three paragraphs is true for IPOC communities as well). 

This is why it is inherently racist and trans-phobic to say the only victims worth caring about must have no criminal history, because our society puts BIPOC and trans Americans at a higher risk of being incarcerated. It is the unspoken rule that shifts public attention to white, wealthy, cis-gendered people because they are better able to fit into that “perfect” victim mold due to societal advantages. 

Once inside prison, trans people can face being housed “according to the sex assigned at birth, instead of by gender identity—one’s inner sense of being male, female or something else. This policy makes transgender people more vulnerable to harassment or attack by staff or fellow incarcerated people: A California study found that transgender people were 13 times more likely to be sexually assaulted than non-transgender people in prison.” (Lambda Legal).

The 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey reports that 1 in 5 trans inmates interviewed “reported being sexually assaulted by facility staff or other inmates. This rate was 5 to 6 times higher than the rates of sexual assault by facility staff or other inmates reported by the U.S. incarcerated prisons and jails.” 

The effects of sexual assault on the mind are well documented. It is deeply impactful and can change the way a brain functions. One effect it has is to cause overwhelming emotions, due to a reduced ability in emotion regulation, which is the result of the body and brain working overtime to ensure the traumatic event does not happen. This is why people in the midst of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) may react to stimuli with large or inappropriate reactions. 

It is very likely that Tony’s experience in federal prison was traumatizing, and we know from his own words that he experienced sexual and physical abuse. The anger that Tony cited in his letter to judge Walker could very well have been due to unaddressed trauma. Does this excuse harmful and violent actions perpetrated by Tony? No. But remember, Tony begged for help. If Tony had received help when he asked for it, or ideally earlier, would this timeline have looked different? Tony, being a trans Black man in America, faced astounding systemic challenges and disadvantages. We are all responsible for our choices, but what happens when choices are systemically stripped away from a person? We do not all have the same or equal choices available.

*Obviously, money isn’t inherently a basic need, but in American society it is often necessary to have access to money to be able to have things like housing, food, water, clothing, transportation, etc. The reality is that we live in a capitalist society that limits access to money for certain people, which in turns limits access to basic needs.  

 Restorative Justice 

How do we want our justice system to function? How do we want our society to function? Crime NEVER occurs in a vacuum. Never. There are always systemic factors at play, and it is the responsibility of a society to reduce risk as much as possible. We are essentially relying on an unjust criminal justice system to fix public health crises. Putting someone in prison without resources and services is not going to fix the root issue. It is not going to:

·      suddenly create economic opportunity in a poverty-stricken area

·      put food into hands

·      create tolerance and foster love in a community

·      offer comprehensive mental health aid to hurt and traumatized people

·      offer addiction services or provide housing for the homeless

·      remove a harmful police presence from BIPOC communities and schools

·      teach accurate history in schools

·      fix divestment in BIPOC communities 

·      create non-discriminatory laws regarding employment and housing

·      decriminalize non-violent professions, like sex work

It will only further traumatize and reduce options. Like it or not, we all have a role in how our society functions. 

Tony begged for help. What are you going to do about it? Pick something, anything, and stick with it. Not everyone can do everything, but we can all do something. Start by educating yourself and reading and volunteering. If you don’t know where to even start, here are some ideas: 

Are you a parent? If so, look     into whether your school has School Resource Officers. If they do,     advocate for them to be removed. If there are no SROs, what is your school     doing for marginalized students? If your school is “better” than others in     your community, ask why. Keep asking and keep pushing for answers and     change. Join other like-minded parents. 

Local politics – attend city     council meetings. Listen to the testimony provided by other community     members – chances are some will be representing an organization that you     can get involved with. If you cannot attend in person, see if your city     council meetings are digitized. 

Look up the Black Lives Matter     group in your area and see what they’re working on and what help they     need. 

Look     up LGBTQIA resource centers in your community and see what they’re working     on and what they need. 

None of these things on their own will solve these issues, but they will introduce you to further actions you can take and organizations to assist. Seriously – do something! 

 Want to Learn More about Missing and Murdered Trans Women of Color? Here are some great sources that we have come across:

·        The Trans Obituaries Project: Honoring the Trans Women of Color Lost in 2019 (USA - obituaries written by Raquel Willis, illustrations done by Jacob Stead): https://www.out.com/print/2019/11/20/trans-obituaries-project-honoring-trans-women-color-lost-2019#media-gallery-media-1

·        The Human Rights Campaign: https://www.hrc.org/blog/topic/transgender GLAAD put out a great article on how to write about trans folks who have been victims of crime: https://www.glaad.org/publications/transgendervictimsofcrim

·        Trans Women of Color Collective https://www.twocc.us/ This is a great resource and a reminder that trans women of color exist outside the violence they experience.

·        Equality Florida TransAction Florida https://www.eqfl.org/transactionfl#:~:text=Equality%20Florida's%20Transgender%20Inclusion%20Initiative,of%20our%20society's%20fundamental%20institutions.

·        TGI Justice Project http://www.tgijp.org/ from their website: “TGI Justice Project is a group of transgender, gender variant and intersex people—inside and outside of prisons, jails and detention centers—creating a united family in the struggle for survival and freedom.”

[insatiabletc]

This is Armani Dante Morgan, from Dallas Texas. 

Since 2017, at least five trans women of color have been murdered in Dallas, Texas. We will be doing profiles on the five we are aware of: Muhlaysia Booker, Shade Schuler, Chynal Lindsey, Brittany White, and Armani Dante Morgan.

 Who was Armani?

Since Muhlaysia Booker’s murder in 2019, Armani’s name has been brought up as an example of the growing number of trans women who have been murdered in Dallas, and many speculate whether she was murdered by Muhlaysia’s killer, Kendrell Levar Lyles. The same details are always provided:

●      Armani went missing in 2017

●      Armani’s body was found skeletonized in a field not very far from where she lived

●      The police think Armani could have been murdered by Lyles

What the media has yet to report is what her job was, her relationship with her family was, anything about the friends and community that miss her, and any of the little tidbits that make up a person. Who was she outside of this one act of violence? In an interview with The Daily Beast [1], Armani’s aunt said:

“All of the…[recent] transgender deaths and assaults have gotten the media attention that those cases deserve but unfortunately, Armani’s did not receive any media attention at all at the time Armani’s badly decomposed remains were unexpectedly discovered.”

This appears to be largely true. We could not find any news articles from 2017 reporting on Armani’s disappearance and murder, other than a page from the Charley Project[2]. Beyond this Daily Beast article, we could find no other information about Armani.

We tried looking for an obituary or a funeral announcement, news articles, press releases, anything, and came up empty. We did find an old social media profile for Armani, but the only two items posted were profile pictures from 2014. Through that media page we did find one person who knew her, but unfortunately the last post made on the friend’s account was made in July 2017, right after they heard the news about Armani’s death. Since then there has been no activity on that profile. So, as it stands, we know next to nothing about who Armani was.

But we do know that she was a person, and because of that she is deserving of our attention and concern about how her murder is resolved. We should scrutinize why the media now deems her murder worth reporting, while reporting nothing of substance about her.

 Armani’s Timeline

While not much is known about Armani-the-person, thanks to the Daily Beast, we do have an idea of the interactions she had before she disappeared and after she was found.

5/31/2017 – an “acquaintance” (a woman who is not Lyles) and her daughter shot into Armani’s apartment, which she shared with her mom. When Armani ran outside to see who was shooting, the “acquaintance” and the daughter attacked Armani and filmed the assault.  

6/3/2017 – the same “acquaintance” attacks Armani again. Armani’s aunt said the “acquaintance” accused Armani of stealing money.

6/3/2017 – later that night, Armani goes missing.

6/22/2017 – Armani’s family reports her missing

7/23/2017 – Armani’s skull (and later the rest of her skeletonized remains) is found in a field by her home.

7/?/2017 – Armani’s family hears about the remains found near their home and ask for DNA analysis to see if the body is Armani. The medical examiner does so and confirms Armani’s identity.

?/?/2017 – Medical examiners say they cannot determine the cause of death but think it is likely a drug overdose.

6/?/2019 – in light of the murder of Muhlaysia Booker (and the subsequent media attention of the murders of Shade Schuler, Chynal Lindsey, and Brittany White) the police decide to investigate her death further.

 Who is the Acquaintance?

Obviously the first thing that jumps out in that timeline is the unnamed acquaintance. We couldn’t dig up any information on who she is, but it is surprising that after 4 attacks by this person (the Daily Beast article, that we pull a great deal of our information from, only details 3 attacks, but states there are 4 in total) the police lean toward Armani’s death being a result of a drug overdose. The Daily Beast says the police interviewed the acquaintance, but there is nothing after that. Did she have an airtight alibi for AFTER she attacked Armani the same night she died? We know it’s not impossible that Armani was attacked by two completely separate individuals in one day (as you will see with Muhlaysia Booker’s case), one leading to death.  We also know that there is the possibility that Police do think she is a suspect but they do not have enough evidence to charge her. But why suggest a drug overdose as the cause of death?

Drug Overdoses and Skeletonized Remains

So, obviously we are not forensic pathologists, medical examiners, or anything remotely close. Take all of our scientific interpretations with a huge grain of salt.

We were curious about how long it takes for a body to skeletonize, and whether you can determine drug OD from skeletonized remains. First, your body can skeletonize surprisingly quickly it seems! A body can turn into a skeleton within three weeks. This, of course, is entirely dependent on external environmental factors, like weather, humidity, etc. Armani’s body becoming skeletonized between 6/3 and 7/22 does seem in the realm of possibility.

As for a drug overdose, we wish we knew more about Armani. Did Armani take drugs (no judgement if so)? Medical examiners, beyond physical data obtained from a body, can also use family and personal history to help determine cause of death. Did the medical examiner in this case lean towards a drug overdose before or after Armani’s family was notified? What we’re getting at is whether there were significant amounts of drugs in her system to indicate a likely drug overdose, or whether the medical examiner heard from Armani’s family that she did drugs and those compounds were found in her skeletal remains, or whether it was a mix of the two scenarios.

Another question begs to be asked: how reliable are post-mortem toxicology tests done on skeletonized remains? We had a hard time finding an answer to that specific question, but we did find out that blood tests are the only way to certify a drug overdose[3]. So again, we wonder what factors indicated to the medical examiner that Armani died of a drug overdose.

We can speculate, however, that it is likely that there were no obvious gunshot wounds on the available remains (also, was her entire skeleton present?), otherwise that would have been a clearer sign of foul play.

Kendrell Levar Lyles

Now that Muhlaysia Booker’s killer, Lyles, has been apprehended, people have begun to wonder if he is responsible for any other murders of trans women in the Dallas area. If you look up the case, you will see repeated over and over again that he is also being charged with the murders of two unnamed individuals and speculation that he could be responsible for the murders of Shade Schuler, Chynal Lindsey (after initial news articles suggesting a possible link to Lyles, a different person has become the prime suspect and is being charged with her murder), Brittany White, and Armani.

We  were able to find the names of his alleged other victims and they are Leticia Grant (as far as we currently know a cis-gendered woman of color), and Kenneth Cichocki (as far as we currently know a cis-gendered white man).[4]

The general timeline we have for Lyles’ activities is:

5/18/2019 – Muhlaysia Booker is seen getting into a car matching Lyles’s and is later found critically wounded by a gunshot. Police later figure out that he kept her phone with him in his car after the murder.

5/23/2019 – Lyles shot and killed Kenneth Cichocki. It was later discovered that Kenneth and Lyles were communicating via Facebook right up until he was shot. It is unclear whether this was done via the Facebook Messenger app on their phones, but if Kenneth was messaging Lyles from the parking lot he was murdered in, it would make sense that it was via cell phone.

5/22/2019 – tip comes into the police about Lyles from a witness

5/24/2019 – Lyles shot and killed Leticia Grant. After 2 unnamed witnesses came forward, police learned that Lyles and Leticia had been in contact via telephone before her murder.

6/5/2019 – Lyles is arrested

A couple of things stand out initially:

●      All three victims were shot

●      All three victims were killed in a timespan of 7 days

●      All three victims had some kind of phone (or in Kenneth’s case, Facebook) interaction with Lyles shortly before their murders

●      This is not shown in the timeline above, but we were able to find out Lyles’ address and from that determined that all three murders occurred within 15 to 30 minutes driving distance of Lyles’ home.

Can these factors help us (or really, investigators) judge the likelihood that Lyles murdered Armani? Let’s break it down into another bullet-point list by factor:

●      Literal Timeline: Armani was murdered in 2017, while his other three victims were all killed within 7 days. (One thing that is interesting to note, is that the 3 victims he is being charged for all occurred in mid to late May. Armani was murdered in early June.) For this to mean anything to us (and investigators) we would need to be able to tell if Lyles is a serial killer or a spree killer. The main difference between the two seems to boil down to motive and timespan. As of right now, we do not know enough about Lyles to determine whether his motives/life align with someone who would kill in 2017 and then kill again in 2019 (and truly, we have no way of knowing if there are other victims). One thing that would suggest that perhaps Lyles is not a serial killer, but rather an unfocused spree killer, is that he confessed to different witnesses about at least one of the murders, and in Kenneth’s case, had another person in the car when he “went out to use the bathroom” and shot Kenneth (the witness was able to hear the gunshots from Lyles’ car). Would someone so careless about his murders in 2019 have been able to keep quiet about a murder in 2017? But, if he was responsible for Armani’s death, maybe he did confess it to someone but that witness never came forward.

●      Murder Weapon: Lyles used a gun in the three murders he is being charged for. As we saw earlier, the medical examiner in Armani’s case thought the cause of death to be a drug overdose. This implies that there were no obvious signs of a gunshot. We know Leticia was shot in the head, but we do not know where Muhlaysia and Kenneth were shot (and both survived long enough to be transported to a hospital, which implies it may not have been as lethal a shot as one to the head). But, maybe Armani was shot in a way that the wound caused her death but went through the body without hitting any bones. Assuming the investigators on the scene who recovered Armani’s body were thorough, we can suspect that there was no physical evidence of a gunshot onsite (shell casings, broken up bits of a bullet, etc). This is not concrete evidence either way, but something to consider.

●      Phone: Did investigators recover Armani’s phone? Was there any evidence of contact between Lyles and Armani before her death? Did Armani reach out to the Facebook account that Kenneth was in contact with? This seems to be the most concrete way investigators have linked Lyles to his victims.

●      Distance from his home: Armani’s home is within 18-22 minutes driving time from Lyles’ home. HOWEVER. Using Google Maps, we determined that from the top to the bottom of Dallas takes about 30 minutes driving time, and from West to East is also about 30 minutes driving time. So, in reality, the physical distance from Lyles’ home may be meaningless. All this really tells us is that Lyles stayed in his same city when committing murder, not that Armani’s location had any special connection to Lyles.

The Media

We have to say, none of this is especially compelling evidence. Our suspicion is that the media leapt upon the idea that Lyles is a serial killer targeting trans women in the Dallas area. They speculated that he was connected to Chynal Lindsay’s death, when later someone completely unrelated was charged with her murder. Look at this headline:

It seems relatively innocuous for the media to speculate about a serial killer, especially if that information comes from the police – these types of crimes are wildly popular in our culture, and popularity sells papers/subscriptions/gets attention. Why wouldn’t the media leap on this? Why are we riled up about it? Consider: if the public views a serial killer responsible for the deaths of trans women in Dallas, will they think that means there isn’t an epidemic of violence occurring against tans and gender-non-conforming individuals in this area, but instead just one crazy guy. If the public believes these crimes are the work of one serial killer, why have any policies protecting this group of people? If people are led to believe that these murders are not a systemic issue (they are) then they may be less willing to listen when activists say we need legal protections for this group.

Remember, police have now charged someone completely different with Chynal’s murder. Further, we initially came across Armani’s story because the BBC[5] reported that “an unidentified trans woman in 2017…was found in the same lake as Chynal” in the course of their report on her murder. We wanted to know more about this “unidentified trans woman” and scoured news articles about bodies that were found in White Rock Lake in 2017. We found an article[6] that said in November 2017 an unidentified body was found in in the lake, but as far as we were able to determine, there was no follow up on who that body was, so we cannot say if the person was trans. Realistically, there are 2 scenarios:

The BBC conflated Armani and the     unidentified person in White Rock Lake. (We looked up the place Armani’s     remains were found relative to White Rock Lake, and there is a 26 minute     driving distance between the two, so it seems unlikely that someone     confused the field as part of the park surrounding the lake.)

The BBC did not     conflate Armani with someone else, and there really is another trans     victim in Dallas from 2017. In this case, who is this victim and why     aren’t we hearing about them?

This matters because scenarios one and two both lead to the same place: that trans women are being killed and left in a specific geographic location, giving implied evidence to the serial killer theory.

And beyond that, our justice system isn’t tracking data about trans women who have been murdered! As we’ve covered before, agencies like the Human Rights Campaign, that are doing the crucial data tracking on violent attacks and murders on trans and LGBTQ folks, are often forced to partially rely on media coverage to help them capture these victims in their data sets. When the media messes up, it could compromise data collection, which in turn can impact state level policy.

As time passes and we learn the reality of who is responsible for each of these murders, the damage will already be done. How often do you follow each new development of a murder case, even if its local? How often do you find out your initial assumptions (fed by the media) were wrong? We know we would be susceptible to seeing a headline of “serial killer in Dallas targeting trans women” and having that stick.

Media matters because we don’t all have the bandwidth to interrogate every bit of news we consume. We can’t all spend hours researching and digging up court documents and cross referencing. Trans women, and especially trans women of color, ARE being targeted, this is undeniable, the evidence is there. But not by the same people. They are being targeted by a variety of individuals who are raised in a society that says hurting trans people (or LGBTQ people in general, or people of color in general) is ok. It is insidious.

Also ask yourself why the police would want to suggest there is a serial killer responsible for cold cases of murdered trans women. Is it because they believe it likely? Or, is it because they want to close those cases? Does it look different in FBI data collection to say a serial killer is targeting trans people rather than many cases perpetrated by different people? Could that mask true gender-based hate crimes (and remember, Texas has no laws protecting people on the basis of gender identity)? We do not know the answers to these questions.  

We ask you, reader, to think about what information is missing when you read the news. Not all news is wrong, and we don’t want you to leave thinking the point of this article is “fake news!” We should always interrogate and critically think about what information is presented to us. When it comes to these specific issues, the media has historically done a disservice to the LGBTQ community.

This is not the last you will hear from us on Kendrell Lyles or Dallas.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, we are happy the police are reopening Armani’s case for investigation, as well as other cold cases like Shade Schuler’s murder. Even if it is in the pursuit of a serial killer, hopefully it will lead to real closure and real difference. All of these women deserve justice and we deeply hope that this justice will come. We also hope that there will come a day when trans women of color are not targeted for violence and can live in peace. Please consider donating to local or national organizations that help bring visibility to these issues!

We hope that you will begin to question and critically analyze the media you consume.

Want to Learn More about Missing and Murdered Trans Women of Color? Here are some great sources that we have come across:

·        The Trans Obituaries Project: Honoring the Trans Women of Color Lost in 2019 (USA - obituaries written by Raquel Willis, illustrations done by Jacob Stead): https://www.out.com/print/2019/11/20/trans-obituaries-project-honoring-trans-women-color-lost-2019#media-gallery-media-1

·        The Human Rights Campaign: https://www.hrc.org/blog/topic/transgender

·        GLAAD put out a great article on how to write about trans folks who have been victims of crime: https://www.glaad.org/publications/transgendervictimsofcrim

·        Trans Women of Color Collective https://www.twocc.us/ This is a great resource and a reminder that trans women of color exist outside the violence they experience.

 [1] https://www.thedailybeast.com/dallas-police-investigating-death-of-transgender-woman-armani-dante-morgan

[2] http://charleyproject.org/case/armani-dante-morgan

[3] https://www.captodayonline.com/drug-overdose-deaths-and-toxicology-tests-lets-talk/

[4] We found these names in both news articles and court documents. If they had not already been printed by the media we would not include them here.

[5] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48525458

[6] https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2017/11/21/body-found-floating-white-rock s-creek/

[insatiabletc]

Before we begin, we want to highlight an article by  Terrell Jermaine Starr at AlterNet. He took the time to sit down with Lamia’s family and provided a kind and compassionate profile of who Lamia was. We borrowed quite a bit from the article and we encourage you to read the full piece here.

 This is Lamia Beard, a 30 year old trans woman from Norfolk, Virginia. Lamia was one of five siblings. She was absolutely adored and supported by her family.

According to her obituary, she “loved to travel, loved different cultures and spoke French fluently. Other accolades about Lamia, is that she was an excellent singer, loved music and dancing, and could do make-up with perfection. Her favorite singer was Beyonce. Lamia was a kind person who would give the shirt off her back. She walked in the truth as a genuine person and was wise beyond her years. She was loved by many because of her humble and giving spirit.” [i]

According to her sister, Kiara Parker:

“People would pay Lamia to sing at funerals and weddings.” [ii]

“Lamia was very simple…She just wanted to get her life together.”

Terrell Jermain Starr, who sat down and interviewed Lamia’s sisters:

“Parker described Lamia as a very smart woman who…was an avid reader. She favored the encyclopedia.”

“What Lamia did have going for her…was a close-knit, loving family who embraced her.”

To further highlight the support of her family, Lamia’s obituary used she/her pronouns and used a picture of her with long hair and makeup, looking back at the camera with confidence.

It is obvious that Lamia was deeply loved.

Facts of the Case

On January 17th, 2015, a little before 4am, Lamia was shot at East 25th Street, in Norfolk, VA. In critical condition, Lamia was transported to a hospital and later died of her gunshot wound.

Very little is known publicly beyond those bare facts. In 2015 it was reported that there was a second shooting two blocks away from Lamia, and police were “unsure” if the shootings were related. We scoured the internet trying to see if they were related, but there was no available follow up to suggest one way or the other.

When we called the Norfolk Police Department, we were told her case is now being handled by cold case detectives.

How to Investigate a Cold Case

In our jaunt around the internet, we came across an article from 2015 that lambasted Norfolk police for not having found any clues in Lamia’s case (one notable quote: “A clue for the Norfolk police, get a clue.”[iii]) and it got us thinking – how should police departments solve cold cases, and what is available to them?

It appears there are a couple of different strategies that officers can pursue[iv]. The one that leapt out at us as the most promising was forensics. The other suggestions were no-brainers like make sure you address old investigative errors and keep at it.

Initially we were not hopeful about the existence of good forensics in this case, as Lamia was shot. However, we have not seen her autopsy report, so we cannot say for certain that there were no signs of struggle. There could be DNA or fingerprints that the public is not aware of. The fact that there are no public suspects doesn’t mean investigators are not running DNA through a database.

However, even if investigators are running DNA through a database and having it tested, there are definitely some obstacles in the way of getting good results:

·       Maybe Lamia’s killer doesn’t have DNA in a correctional database. If they have not been arrested, their DNA may not be on the radar.

·       We don’t know what the cold case department budget is, and it is difficult to get a clear answer as to how expensive it may be to run these tests. If the budget is limited, who gets prioritized?

It is true that in 2019 two cold case murders were solved by the Norfolk police using forensic testing, which on the face is heartening. It suggests an active cold case department. When looking at both of those cases in detail, though, it becomes a little less heartening as both seem to have unique circumstances that led to the killer:

Kathleen Doyle – murdered in 1980. In November, 2019, Norfolk investigators were able to find her killer. Unique Circumstances: Kathleen’s husband was in the Navy. Because of this, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS – yes, like the TV show) was involved from the beginning. Additionally, it was a multi-state effort, meaning there were more resources available.

Donna Walker – murdered 1981. In August 2019, Norfolk investigators were able to find her killer, and were given the Biometric Identification Award by the FBI. Unique Circumstances: Donna’s killer left a fingerprint behind. Investigators were able to run that fingerprint through a new FBI tool called the Next Generation Identification System (NGI) which matched the fingerprint to someone already incarcerated for a different homicide. While we don’t know for certain whether or not Lamia’s killer left behind a fingerprint, they would also need to have been incarcerated for this system to provide results. The NGI can only match fingerprints, palm prints, and irises.

Other than Kathleen Doyle and Donna Walker, it appears only one other cold case has been solved in Norfolk:

Lionel Wayne Baldwin – murdered 1975. In 2012, Norfolk investigators were able to charge his killer because two witnesses, who were present the night of the murder, came forward and named him. Unique Circumstances: witnesses stepped forward to provide crucial information. No DNA or forensic evidence used.

It really seems like forensics and witnesses are the only real way to solve cold cases if the initial investigation was thorough and complete. We wonder if the killer spoke to anyone about the crime. If so, we hope they come forward and speak to the police. We can understand why a witness may not want to step forward, if they themselves are frightened of the killer. Norfolk has a population of 244,076, which isn’t that large. Someone has to know something. If there aren’t forensics in Lamia’s case, we hope someone steps forward to give her family a bit of closure.

Data Issues

One question we had while researching Lamia’s case is whether the victim-offender relationship is different for trans and gender non-conforming individuals, and if that makes it harder to solve those homicides. If you will recall from our profile on India Clarke, data collection has been a consistent challenge. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has started the process of collecting data in 2013, but before that no data was being collected.

Honestly, we started down a confusing road looking at both the FBI[v] and HRC[vi] numbers, but we had too many questions about both data sets to feel comfortable comparing and contrasting the numbers. We’ll still show you both data sets so you can see what we’re talking about, but here are our questions about the data:

1.     We know the FBI tracks hate crimes and there is data on gender identity specific hate crimes out there, but if the homicide occurs in a state that does not have hate crime laws protecting gender identity, is the homicide counted as a hate crime by the FBI? Do they go off of federal definitions of crimes or defer to how the individual states track this data? We suspect it is based on states self-reporting as that is the biggest way the FBI receives this data.

2.     When is the relationship defined for the FBI and the HRC? Is it defined after charges are brought? Are both using consistent reporting measures?

3.     Is the FBI tracking gender identity in their data?

a.      is it broken down by the traditional sex lines? When you sort by “sex” is it just talking about biological sex, or does it also include gender identity?

b.     Who is hidden in the “male” category?

c.      Who is hidden in the “female” category?

4.     We know that criminalized sex work, workplace discrimination, and lack of hate crime laws contribute to these homicides, but is there more that could be discovered if this data was comparable?

5.     The HRC has just a category called “family friend”—is that family, friends, and family friends? The language explaining the graph in their report is confusing. This makes it harder to compare the family/friend categories in the FBI data.

6.     We are curious if sex work clients are rolled into the category of “acquaintances” or “stranger.” Since sex work is criminalized, it can be an increased risk factor for trans and gender non-conforming individuals and it would be helpful to know that victim-offender relationship, and if trans & gender non-conforming sex workers are at a higher risk than their cis[vii] counterparts.

 HRC Graph

FBI Data

Without the ability to parse out trans and gender non-conforming people from these categories, it is extremely difficult to see what the unique characteristics are on a macro scale. It is important that the FBI address these data issues, as the FBI data is used in both criminal justice systems as well as for criminologists in examining specific populations. The HRC data is a fantastic start, but the FBI needs to start looking at this data as well to ensure consistency. This is not to say the HRC data is not good! It has allowed us to see trends in a population that is deeply underserved and under-protected, and has given us invaluable insight into what we need to do protect trans and gender non-conforming people.

While we wait for the FBI and government agencies to start collecting the necessary data, how can agencies like the HRC get more data? We can turn our attention to media reporting.

Media Coverage

As we covered in our profile on India Clarke, media coverage is one way organizations like the HRC are able to find trans and gender non-conforming victims. However, if these victims are referred to with the wrong pronouns, it creates an opportunity for them to be missed. For example, if a trans woman is called a man in a headline, she runs the risk of not being counted among trans and gender non-conforming victims.

Beyond data tracking, how the media covers a victim can impact how a group is seen by the public. Look at how young black victims are reported on. Often, a mug shot is the photo used in the article or broadcast to imply that the victim was a criminal and they deserved a violent outcome. News stories will often invoke prior drug use and arrests to paint a picture of a hardened “thug” when in reality, those prior events had no bearing on the situation leading the victim’s murder.

Trans people have a similar narrative that the news media likes to spin. If they had sex work in their past, you had better believe that will be brought up in the coverage. Lamia Beard was no different. Some news outlets[viii] referred to her by her dead name and used he/him pronouns (making it more likely that advocates trying to track data may miss that Lamia was trans), and beyond that her criminal record and prior sex work was brought up without relevancy.

Setting aside data and public perception, how the media portrays these victims is important because the families of the victims are watching. These are real humans who are watching their loved one be picked apart.

“I was mortified…What Lamia did 5, 10, 15 years ago has nothing to do with this case. In fact, if it had anything to do with it, they should have put that in the article. It didn’t have anything to do with her being shot and murdered.”" – Lamia’s sister, Kiara Parker, on the news coverage immediately after her murder.[ix]

GLAAD[x] put out a guide for news media on how to report about trans victims of violent crimes. It suggests that if you do bring up past sex work, bring context to the table. Do not just toss out “she was a sex worker!” and leave it at that. Really, though, it should only be brought up when clearly connected to the crime. Unfortunately, the coverage of Lamia’s murder did not provide that context.

What we know about sex work is that it is often turned to when other options are not available. According to the HRC, “With limited access to workplaces, housing, and public accommodations that are guaranteed to be affirming and inclusive, transgender and gender non-conforming people are put at greater risk for poverty, homelessness and involvement with criminalized work.” [xi]

Kiara Parker paints a consistent picture of how Lamia began her involvement in sex work:

“Being transgender, it was very hard for Lamia and it affected her. She would get discouraged about applying for different jobs. It came to a point and time when Lamia just wanted people to accept her for who she was and to find a job so she could live on her own.”[xii]

“In the ensuing years, Lamia struggled to find work and depended on friends and family for support. No matter how hard she tried to support herself financially, people would not give her a shot. Parker would accompany Lamia around town as she applied for jobs, any kind of job, including fast food and clerical. In most cases, the look on hiring managers’ faces signaled that she wasn’t going to be considered. " – journalist Terrell Jermaine Starr interviewing Kiara Parker. [xiii]

“Lamia would stay with friends and family because she could never save enough money to rent her own place." – Terrell Jermaine Star

"Lamia was staying with Kendall the day before she was killed Saturday morning. Kendall said that Lamia wanted to travel the world eventually but that her goal for 2015 was to find a job and save enough money to move into her own place so that her nieces and nephews could visit and watch movies. " – Terrell Jermaine Starr

As you can see, a clearer image starts to form: Lamia wanted to be able to work as herself, but had a difficult time doing so due to the discrimination she faced. She wanted her own stable housing. With extremely limited opportunities, is it any wonder she may have turned to sex work? People get desperate.[xiv] And it had no bearing on her murder.

The media has a role in how society views trans and gender non-conforming people. The media reinforces the stereotypes and assumptions that lead hiring managers to reject candidates based on their gender identity.

Hate Crime Bill 179

So, what can we do from here? Well, one way the HRC[xv] suggests we can lower risk levels for trans and gender non-conforming people is to adopt gender identity-based hate crime laws, and increase non-discrimination protections.

There is a federal law against gender-identity hate crimes, but unless there is a reason for federal authorities to get involved in a murder, states retain jurisdiction. 

In Virginia specifically, there is a bill going through Congress that would create a gender-identity hate crime law. Bill 179 was introduced by Virginia senator Barbara Favola, who initially tried to pass a similar law in 2015 (it was rejected). As of February 27th, 2020[xvi] bill 179 has been voted to pass by the house. The next step is for the Governor to sign the bill into law. If Governor Ralph Northam does not sign it, it can be sent back to the house and senate for a vote that overrides Northam. If it is either signed or voted in by the house, it could become law as early as July 2020.

As exciting as this is for Virginia, the majority of US states still do not have gender identity hate crime laws. States that DO have hate crime laws that cover gender identity: Connecticut Delaware, DC, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont, and Washington. 

If you don’t see your state listed here, find out what is happening in your state! Are there bills in progress? If so, reach out to the organizations working on them to see what they need and how you can get involved. See where your local LGBTQIA+ resource center is – we feel confident they will be able to give you an idea of what is happening on the legislative level in your state.  

Conclusion

The loss of Lamia is heavy. We hope that the loss weighs upon a witness out there, and we hope they unburden themselves. We don’t know why Lamia was murdered, and that must be awful for her family. We aren’t fooling ourselves thinking that one of our readers has any knowledge of Lamia’s murder, but we hope her story sticks with you. We hope that you think about Lamia the next time you see news coverage of a murdered trans or gender non-conforming person and you think about how her family feels reading that article, or hearing that headline. We hope that if you are in a position to hire someone who looks like Lamia you can look past your biases and treat them fairly. We hope that if you are in a state without adequate hate crime laws, you will call your representatives and let them know something needs to be done.

 Notes

[i]  http://memorials.metropolitanservice.com/profile.aspx?id=c6d3caae-d31f-48b6-ae9f-fddcf44bc86a 

[ii] Note: all other quotes by family members were taken from this source.  https://www.alternet.org/2015/01/murdered-trans-womans-family-celebrates-her-life/ 

[iii] https://planettransgender.com/trans-woman-lamia-beard-murder-unsolved-while-witnesses-remain-silent/

[iv]  https://www.policeone.com/police-products/investigation/dna-forensics/articles/iacp-quick-take-5-ways-to-solve-a-cold-case-v0wRJkqVmO34x9qr/ 

[v] The FBI Data came from: https://crime-data-explorer.fr.cloud.gov/explorer/national/united-states/crime

[vi] https://assets2.hrc.org/files/assets/resources/Anti-TransViolenceReport2019.pdf

[vii] Cis is defined as “denoting or relating to a person whose sense of personal identity and gender corresponds with their birth sex.”

[viii] https://www.glaad.org/blog/media-continues-disrespectful-reporting-transgender-women-color-are-murdered

[ix] See i

[x] https://www.glaad.org/publications/transgendervictimsofcrime

[xi] See vi.

[xii] See i

[xiii] See i

[xiv] We do not think sex work is inherently bad, and we are of the opinion that sex works should be legalized. Not everyone who does sex work does so out of desperation, there are many people who enjoy sex work and deserve workplace protections.

[xv] See vi

[xvi] https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB179 this page is updated in real time so you can follow it’s progress!

[insatiabletc]

𝐀 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞

While this article is predominately about India Clarke, we thought it would be best to also capture her alleged killer’s other victim, Tyrone Davis. Tyrone was killed 5 days after India, and in similar circumstances.

We also want to make clear that while available evidence is compelling as to who committed these murders, it is important to remember that a trial has not happened yet and Keith Gaillard has not been found guilty.

𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞

This is India Clarke, a 25-year-old trans woman from Tampa, Florida. She was beloved by her friends and family and had a spirit that dazzled everyone around her.

“I just wish my baby was here with me…Every day, a part of me is gone. I am not the same. I know life still goes on, and I'm trying to make the best of it, but I miss my baby. I know my kids love me, but India showed the most love. Not only to me, to everybody ... she was always telling me, 'Momma, I love you.'"[i]--India’s mother

In the same article quoted above, journalist John D. Sutter, wrote: “Nearly one year after India's death, friends and family still ache from her absence, their eyes welling with memories of a person who was both life of the party and a confidante, both sassy queen and a doting aunt.”

“[Gaillard] really took someone special from us, you know? People can say, 'I love you,' but showing someone you love them is different. [India] always did that."" [ii]-- India's cousin, Lakischa Hicks.

“[She was] friendly and confident, someone who loved making others happy, rapping, taking selfies, cracking jokes and performing in drag shows. One of her favorite songs was And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going from the movie Dreamgirls. "[iii] -- Family and friends interviewed by the Tampa Bay Times.

India did not always have the closest relationship with her parents, especially after coming out as herself. However, it sounds, from both her friends and her family, that India and her mom found a way to be close again before her death. While India’s parents continued to describe her with the wrong pronouns, they went out of their way to find a church that would bury India in a dress and as a woman.

𝐓𝐲𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐬

Tyrone Davis was a 46-year-old from San Antonio, Florida. It sounds like he had a close relationship with his family and was active in his church community. His obituary made clear that Tyrone had a lifelong love affair with music and singing. Several news articles state that Tyrone’s family believed him to be gay. Beyond that, not much is known online about Tyrone. We do not know how he came into contact with Gaillard, but we suspect once that trial begins we will learn more about Tyrone.

𝐀 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 – 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐲𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐬

7/21/15 – India’s body was found by a maintenance worker. Her car was found with the following items:

- Used condom – DNA from the condom matched DNA found under India’s fingernails. Police have confirmed that the DNA in the condom and under her nails matches Gaillard. - Paperwork - A used cigar with Gaillard’s fingerprint 7/22/15

Gaillard told a “witness” that he thought he “killed somebody” and suggested the body was near “Fletcher Avenue” (a couple streets away from where India was found).

Detectives found on Gaillard’s Facebook page a picture of Gaillard with a gun that could match India’s gunshot wound. From reading court documents, it appears unclear if this will be included as evidence in the trial.

7/26/15

-Gaillard called Tyrone on his cellphone and the two met in Temple Crest Park, 5 miles away from where India was found.

-Tyrone Davis’s body was found later on the 26th. The cause of Death was a gunshot wound to the back of the head. Tyrone’s car was found 2.6 miles (an 8 minute drive) away from his body.

-Inside the car they found: Blood, Gaillard’s driver’s license, and discarded shorts that had both Gaillard and Tyrone’s blood.

-Gaillard sold the gun suspected to be India’s murder weapon to a friend for $50.00

7/2?/15 – a witness says that between 7/26 (when Tyrone’s body was discovered) and 7/29, Gaillard was driving around in Tyrone’s car. The witness says that they drove the car to get gas and it broke down. They then pushed it to a parking lot where police found it. This is corroborated by security footage at the gas station that shows Gaillard driving Tyrone’s car.

7/28/15 - Gaillard sold the gun suspected to be India’s murder weapon to a friend for $50.00. Police also discover that Tyrone was killed with at .22 caliber gun, consistent with the gun that killed India.

7/29/15 – Gaillard turned himself in with the help of his brother.

After Gaillard was arrested, the courts had to decide whether to try Tyrone and India’s murders as separate cases. In October 2019 it was finally decided the two cases would be separate. A trial was supposed to begin in November 2019 (for which murder we are unclear). However, in November a motion was filed for a new trial and it appears that, according to documents filed in February 2020, that some kind of hearing has been scheduled for April 28th, 2020. Hopefully this will be for one of the two trials.

𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬

-Authorities mentioned that Gaillard had a scratch consistent with India scratching him. Where did the blood on the shorts come from? The scratch or a different wound?

-Did the witness who went on the joy ride with Gaillard notice the blood? They discarded the car after driving it around after the murder.

-Not really a good question, but WHY did Gaillard leave his driver’s license? There has to be something going on cognitively or mental health-wise. That is a huge oversight on Gaillard’s part.

-Gaillard’s brother doesn’t think that he killed India. But why would Gaillard say he killed someone near Fletcher avenue if it wasn’t India? Tyrone’s body was (according to Google Maps) about 12 minutes driving distance from Fletcher Avenue.

𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐚

At the time of her death, India was the 10th trans person of color to be murdered in the United States.

The Associated Press, as well as several other new sites, referred to India Clarke as a “man in a dress.”

Articles from 2015 keep referring to language used in the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office media release, but unfortunately the Sheriff’s Office only retains media releases as far back as the previous calendar year (in this case 2019). We will have to rely on articles from 2015 to tell us what was in that document. And, while we may not have the original, statements made by Public Information Officers illuminate the Sheriff’s Office’s stance on India’s gender.

A Public Information Officer, Larry McKinnon, said to journalist Dominic Holden:

“We are not going to categorize him as a transgender. We can just tell you he had women’s clothing on at the time…What his lifestyle was prior to that we don’t know — whether he was a cross dresser, we don’t know…. He is a male…I can’t tell you he is a female.”[iv] Holden goes on to point out that 911 calls about India’s body referred to her as a woman, and India had clearly been living as herself for the past 5 years. In fact, it sounds like it wasn’t until the Medical Examiner’s report came back with all biological information, that the Sheriff’s Office referred to India as he/him and used her dead name.

You don’t need us to tell you how horrifying those statements are. Beyond the callous disregard for India’s identity, you may be wondering why this matters on a larger level.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has been tracking data on murdered trans people since 2013, and they say a challenge to collecting this data is how these crimes are reported on. The language we use around these murders muddy the water and obfuscate the number of trans people being murdered. Had no one made a fuss about how India’s murder was being reported, people trying to track this data may not have caught that she was trans, and her death wouldn’t have been counted. How can we as a society begin to address an issue when we don’t have a clear picture of what is occurring? How can we protect and lift up those who the media deem unfit to be reported on? We all deserve care, attention, and help. We all deserve justice.

Since 2013, 157 trans and gender-nonconforming individuals have been murdered. In 2019, 22 trans people were murdered. 91% were black women. 81% were under the age of 30.

The HRC has found in tracking data since 2013 that 90% of trans people murdered in the US were women. Additionally, 89% of those murdered since 2013 were people of color. Since 2013, 58% of all trans people murdered in the US were murdered in Southern states, with the Midwest showing 22%. Florida and Texas have proven to be the two deadliest states.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐑𝐂 𝐒𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 – 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐇𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐰𝐬[𝐯]

The HRC suggests that states adopt gender identity-based hate crime laws. There is a federal law against gender-identity hate crimes, but unless there is a reason for federal authorities to get involved in a murder, states retain jurisdiction.

States that DO have hate crime laws that cover gender identity: Connecticut, Delaware, DC, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont, and Washington.

If you don’t see your state listed here, find out what is happening in your state! Are there bills in progress? If so, reach out to the organizations working on them to see what they need and how you can get involved. See where your local LGBTQIAA+ resource center is – we feel confident they will be able to give you an idea of what is happening on the legislative level in your state.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐑𝐂 𝐒𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 – 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐧𝐭𝐢-𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐋𝐚𝐰𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐱 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤

India, by all accounts, wanted to be self-sufficient. She wanted to work and find stable housing and move out of her parent’s home. However, when India would obtain a job, she wasn’t allowed to wear women’s clothes. She was told to dress like a man. Naturally, she left those jobs. She still had to eat, though. She still needed to pay for and find housing, and sometimes slept in her car. She did what many people turn to: sex work.

𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲, 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞’𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐱 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐢𝐬 𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐙𝐄 𝐈𝐓. 𝐖𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐨 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐞𝐱 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 “𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐝” 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤.

While there is often too much focus on victims’ lives before their murder (often invoked to suggest they brought violence upon themselves), in India’s case it does make sense to bring up her sex work as that may be how she knew Gaillard. And it’s important to talk about sex work here because she turned to sex work in large part due to how she was discriminated against at work and at home. Some of India’s friends said she couldn’t live at home with her parents unless she also wore men’s clothes there. It seems the only thing India could really do while remaining true to herself was sex work.

According to the HRC: “With limited access to workplaces, housing, and public accommodations that are guaranteed to be affirming and inclusive, transgender and gender non-conforming people are put at greater risk for poverty, homelessness and involvement with criminalized work. Together, these factors put transgender and gender non-conforming people at an increased risk of violence and danger.”

“More than half of the victims of anti-transgender violence since 2013 were killed somewhere without adequate non-discrimination protections for gender identity. 30% of the victims died in areas with no explicit non-discrimination protections for gender identity at any jurisdictional level, while 25% of the victims died in areas that had explicit protections for gender identity that were not comprehensive.”

Anti-discrimination laws and decriminalizing sex work go hand in hand. If trans and non-gender conforming people are allowed to be themselves at work and are protected from being fired for being themselves, they have a greater likelihood of being able to work and afford housing. Housing can add a layer of protection and reduce decisions borne from desperation. It seems obvious that a house/apartment/rented room offers greater protection than a car. This way, sex workers who would like to leave that work can without fear of losing income.

Sex work is not inherently dangerous work. What makes sex work dangerous is how it is criminalized. In a better world, sex workers would have access to OSHA protections, have unions, be able to report assaults without being penalized by the criminal justice system, and advocate for living wages. They would be able to ensure sanitation and health standards of clients and have true protection when a client tries to harm them. They would have designated workspaces where they can do their work in safety. Right now, outside of Nevada, none of that is possible due to sex work criminalization, and it forces one of the world’s oldest professions into the shadows. And to be clear, not everyone who does sex work does so because they have no other options. There are tons of people out there that choose to do sex work and enjoy it. They still deserve protection. If we want to stop these murders (we do) then we need to start listening to the data and start protecting sex workers.

If you are struggling with the concept of decriminalizing sex work, go back to the beginning of this article and read again about who India was. Read all those kind words people had to say about her. She was a complex person in a complex society, trying to survive. Our society’s laws surrounding hate crimes, discrimination, sex work, and an overall discomfort with anything queer, led to a situation where India was put at a greater risk of harm. We know what we need to do to start protecting people who need it, and we need to start doing it.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐟’𝐬 𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲

We couldn’t determine whether Larry McKinnon is still employed as a public relations officer at the Sheriff’s Office. However, while poking around their website, we did discover that they now have a “LGBTQ Liaison” division. Their mission is: “To continuously strive to promote awareness of LGBTQ issues while working to evoke change in the perceptions and treatment of LGBTQ persons and to defend the community while preserving the rights and dignity of all.”[vi]

There are currently two liaison officers whose main duties are to:

-Serve as a personal point of contact between the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and the LGBTQ Community.

-Coordinate with and provide a forum for local law enforcement agencies, schools, business owners, community groups and individuals of the LGBTQ community regarding relevant law enforcement issues.

-Attend LGBTQ functions and community events as a representative of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.

-Serve as a resource to families with questions or guidance towards LGBTQ support services for the LGBTQ community and Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office employees.

We emailed their department to see when their division was created, but at this time they have not responded. We are curious whether 2015 and attention on India Clarke’s case put pressure on Sheriff’s Office to get better with LGBTQIAA+ matters.

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

We want to stress that the only person responsible for India and Tyrone’s murders is the killer. It would be foolish to think these murders happened in a sterile vacuum, though. Our society does play a role in who is safe and who has access to basic needs. If we protect the most vulnerable in our society, they will stop being such easy targets for predators. When we think about criminal justice and the role it plays in our society, we should also think about harm reduction and prevention. America has a long, deep, painful history of slavery, genocide, and intolerance which has created a situation where a great deal of people are unnecessarily put in harm’s way. Until we address that history we cannot move forward to address and root out systemic racism and queer-phobia in our government institutions.

𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐫?

Here are some great sources that we have come across:

The Trans Obituaries Project: Honoring the Trans Women of Color Lost in 2019 (USA - obituaries written by Raquel Willis, illustrations done by Jacob Stead): https://www.out.com/…/trans-obituaries-project-honoring-tra…

The Human Rights Campaign: https://www.hrc.org/blog/topic/transgender

GLAAD put out a great article on how to write about trans folks who have been victims of crime: https://www.glaad.org/publications/transgendervictimsofcrime

𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬

[i] https://www.cnn.com/…/sutter-india-clarke-transg…/index.html [ii] https://www.cnn.com/…/sutter-india-clarke-transg…/index.html [iii] https://www.tampabay.com/…/friends-family-remember…/2238371/ [iv] https://www.buzzfeednews.com/…/transgender-woman-of-color-v… [v] https://assets2.hrc.org/…/…/Anti-TransViolenceReport2019.pdf [vi] https://teamhcso.com/…/afec88ec-7914-4fb5-8892…/LGBTQ-Liason

[insatiabletc]

Ventura County Jane Doe

02/12/2020 Update: 

The DNA Doe Project is getting closer to Identifying who the Ventura County Jane Doe is! Read their update here: https://www.facebook.com/DNADoeProject/posts/2521508688107901?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARB9Tw8eqm8dLenGCd9E14eZNdABw5ehCO0zv8hAQ_oQW73h3Y_IMbUAui8_Z5qJo7UEHGcFRrxRcXiNBhJXdToLgg8Orest9rF3erffvRaNrACMy1ZLp38OkKeo2hL83VXrzqtTkMOk6yGZtb_wN1onSz5g1dChbtA7pWnLzBFc3NS8MufsjlN52X4WZ53X1Ze4j5CZURhc8v0SjIn6hYKQotGPn404LAz9CT5hU0gKVzVwjxie6YEBN-TME7F3fn6WPYMw2GJ2PChW40WZ6vHvb3YZkKO4mefIP4AJKfvB1f9UvOKan86-8_ha1JmA97CS30eViGHoIvzAODf6Ug5ujdYY&__tn__=K-R

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you google image search the Ventura County Jane Doe, you will see autopsy photos. If this is too disturbing for you, we have pulled together a couple of different artist renditions so you can still see what she looked like.

On July 18, 1980 Jane was found in the Westlake High School parking lot, stabbed to death. While we know who her killer is we don't know who she was.*

We have also included another artist's portrait of her as we want her to be recognizable to anyone who may have known her.

Here's the run-down on a physical description:

- She was vaccinated and had scars from it

- She was 4 -5 months pregnant when she passed away

- She is indigenous or Latina

- She had given birth before and had evidence of an episiotomy incision

- She had black hair with bleached tips

- She had a large amount of dental maintenance done

- Her height is between 5'1" and 5'3"

- She weighed about 110 lbs

- The generally accepted age range is 15 - 30 years old

Investigators put out more than 500 information requests to different counties, but were unable to turn up a matching missing persons report.  

Some investigative discoveries and inferences:

- Due to the lack of blood where she was discovered, police believe she was murdered somewhere else and brought to the parking lot.

- It is accepted that she passed away within 12 hours of being discovered, which narrows down where she may have been from and killed.

- Investigators believe she could be from Tulare, Kern, Ventura, or Los Angeles counties.

- Her fingerprints were intact, but she did not have a criminal record.

- DNA was extracted from her unborn son, but his DNA did not match anyone in the criminal justice system.

- Her dental work was determined to be of American origin, so investigators believe her to have lived in the United States.

Now, we have some questions (that we aren't exactly sure how to Google, so bear with us as we work on this profile):

- Were any of the 500+ inquiries to tribal police? Looking at a map (included here) there are quite a few tribal communities in southern California. We are wondering how communication worked between county police and tribal officers in the 1980's.

It just seems crazy that a woman who was pregnant and potentially had a child/partner/family waiting for her at home hasn't been identified yet. This makes us think that perhaps she was part of a community that was either remote, insular, or didn't speak English as a majority language.

- Considering her dental work being American, we do wonder if investigators were able to determine the age of the hardware. For example, were there changes in dental work and practices between 1950 (the earliest she could have been born according to the age range) and 1980. Even if it's something as small as a screw! That could narrow down when exactly she got her dental work done.

Then, was there a huge difference between dental practices and hardware between Mexican border towns and American dentists? Tijuana is only 3 hours from Ventura county, for example. Did dentists and orthodontists have any kind of conventions or technique exchanges in the 1980s between the United States and Mexico? Investigators have ruled out the possibility of being a migrant worker based on the dental work.

- The  episiotomy incision. From the ACLU Website**:

"Q: Can the police get my medical information without a warrant?

A: Yes. The HIPAA rules provide a wide variety of circumstances under which medical information can be disclosed for law enforcement-related purposes without explicitly requiring a warrant.[iii] These circumstances include (1) law enforcement requests for information to identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, witness, or missing person (2) instances where there has been a crime committed on the premises of the covered entity, and (3) in a medical emergency in connection with a crime.[iv]"

Ok, so did police request medical records on women who have had this incision done between 1964 (the year she would have been 14 had she been born in 1950, not ruling out a teen pregnancy) 1975? We aren't sure if they would be able to do a blanket ask for this information, rather than pulling individual medical records.

- Did she live on tribal land? We started looking at reservations in the counties indicated by investigators and found that there is a Yokut reservation named Tule River in Tulare county. It has a population of 556, and more importantly it has a community health center,  Tule River Indian Health Center, that was opened in 1973 and offers dental services. We called to find out when they first introduced their dental services, but unsurprisingly we weren't able to get an answer.

- DNA! The DNA Doe Project*** has taken available DNA from Jane and have confirmed that they are currently working on a genetic family tree for her. They have already found a 3rd cousin and are still working on finding more relatives.

- This article  https://www.kget.com/news/kern-county-and-ventura-county-jane-doe-may-be-closer-than-ever-to-being-identified/  indicates that police now believe that Jane was abducted from Visalia close to  the College of the Sequoias after hitchhiking, similar to one of the killer's living victims. Where this information came from is not specified, but we wonder if it was from Chouest? If anyone has any additional information on this, please feel free to message us! We would love to include an update if there are sources.  It is still unknown if she was a student or a resident. We wonder if any students from that time (or living victims) ever saw Jane?

There are SO MANY QUESTIONS, but we are immensely hopeful that the DNA Doe Project will return her name to her and allow her to return home to rest.

* A man named Wilson Chouest. We're not going to waste anyone's time talking about him and his other crimes -- he's already stated he didn't know who Jane was when he killed her and thus is worthless  in determining who she was. We'll talk more about him if he decides to provide helpful information.

** https://www.aclu.org/other/faq-government-access-medical-records#_edn3

*** http://dnadoeproject.org/  

[insatiabletc]

This is Papi Edwards, a 20 year old person from Indianapolis, Indiana. Since their murder, it has been unclear whether Papi identified as a man or woman at the time of their death and there has been confusion on what their pronouns are. To cover all bases, Papi will be referred to in this piece with they/them pronouns. Additionally, you may be wondering why we chose this specific image of Papi to draw. While there is another image of Papi on the internet showing them with long hair and makeup it is a mugshot. Because the police in this case have been so dismissive of Papi and their gender, we wanted to select an image that Papi had control over. This is the only image we could find that Papi took themselves.  

It has been hard to find information about who Papi really was – their likes, dislikes, personality, dreams, and hopes. Outside of this one chaotic and tragic event, Papi seems currently unknown to the internet. We can say for certain, though, that Papi had friends, a family, and people who miss them. They were a human being.

Whether or not Papi identified as a man or a woman, their gender queerness did play a role in the events surrounding their murder. While the timeline of events is confusing, the transphobia of the Louisville Kentucky police force bleats out amid the noise. Even if Henry Gleaves didn’t expressly say “your gender identity is why I am going to kill you,” it likely did impact the police investigation. Please remember as you read the following details that Papi was a complex individual, just like you.

According to an article in Yes! Magazine, “The Human Rights Campaign has estimated that trans women are 4.3 times more likely to become homicide victims than all women, and the vast majority of the victims are Black”* Since 2016, the number of trans women of color who have been murdered has increased.

The Facts of the Case

On January 9th, 2015, Papi Edwards and several friends stopped in at a hotel in Louisville Kentucky, to earn some money before completing their journey back to Indianapolis, Indiana. Papi posted an ad on a website advertising sex services and Henry Gleaves responded, and the two arranged to meet up at the hotel. In the ad, Edwards suggested they were a woman.

Gleaves told his family that he was headed to the hotel to apply for a job. Once at the hotel, Gleaves and Edwards, accompanied by Edwards’ friends, went into a hotel room and Gleaves gave Edwards $50 for a blowjob. Shortly after, Edwards’ friends left the room. Once the blowjob commenced, Gleaves “found out” that Edwards was trans. Gleaves became upset and Edwards’ friends came back into the hotel room.

The defense says that Edwards and their friends attacked and mocked Gleaves, hit him with a sock full of heavy cans, and robbed him of his car keys and his cash.

The prosecution says there is no evidence of a robbery or assault.

Gleaves left the hotel room and went to his car to grab a gun. He then returned to the front desk to continue filling out his job application. It is unclear where Edwards or their friends were at this point. After a bit of time, Gleaves saw Edwards and friends go through the lobby and into the parking lot.

The defense says Gleaves wanted to take down their license plate number to give to authorities.

The prosecution and witnesses say that Gleaves was waiting in the lobby to ambush them.

Gleaves yelled at the group, and seeing Gleaves, Edwards tossed car keys (it is not specified if these are Gleaves’ keys) to a friend and turned back with a sock full of cans to face Gleaves and began to enter the lobby. Gleaves shot Edwards multiple times and fled the scene.

Four days after the shooting, Gleaves was found hiding in his girlfriend’s closet. After his initial arrest, Gleaves called his girlfriend and asked her to destroy evidence on his phone. How do the police know this? Because it was a call from jail the conversation was recorded.

In 2016, Gleaves was found guilty of manslaughter, as the jury felt his shooting of Edwards was done in some sort of self-defense.

Self Defense

We always feel a little icky questioning self-defense, as we are aware of how complicated self-defense can be. However, there are so many lingering questions about this case, and we wish we could have seen the trial transcript for ourselves. Unfortunately, documents are not available to the public as far as we can tell.

So, here are our big questions:

·       The defense painted Edwards’ sock of cans as a menacing tool for robbery. Another interpretation is that Edwards used this as self-defense when meeting with unknown clients. Based on how dangerous sex work can be, we find that to be plausible. Why is Gleaves’ gun only interpreted as a method of self-defense and not a menacing tool for murder?

·       If Gleaves followed the group out to the parking lot to “get their license plate number” to report them to authorities…why didn’t he call 911 immediately? Sources do not say how long he spent filling out that application and getting his gun from his car, but it seems like enough time would have passed for him to call the authorities. We understand that calling the police is not always a safe option for people of color, but he was planning on calling them anyway! Was he thinking that he would report the crime anonymously later? We think that actually could make sense, as maybe Gleaves was worried about being prosecuted for engaging in prostitution.

·       Why didn’t he report the robbery to the front desk? Were there people at the front desk? Did he have to request the job application from a human? Maybe he really did want a job at the hotel and thought the whole event would taint his chances at being hired. Though, Gleaves did tell authorities that he just filled out the application to keep up appearances for his family.

It appears that there are a couple of points in the timeline where Gleaves was ramping up the conflict. If he wanted to get the group’s license plate number to later report the robbery, why did he yell? He could have quietly watched what car they got into and jotted down the number. It seems like Gleaves was instigating a response from Edwards.

 The Investigation & Dwight Mitchell

Dwight Mitchell was (and is) the spokesperson for the Louisville Kentucky police force. Here are some quotes from Mitchell on Papi Edwards:

“As far as I am concerned, that was a man that was shot. It was always a man…It’s obviously a man, right? He doesn’t have a female name. I am not going to get into a debate about if he was transgender or not.”

Mitchell also referred to being trans as a “condition.” **

Why does Mitchell’s opinion on Edwards’ gender matter?

If you are someone who feels well represented and respected by your local authorities, imagine if that local authority’s spokesperson denied and mocked your existence. Imagine asking for help from an organization that says your identity is a “condition.” Imagine how alienating that would be. This is a message, intentional or not, to trans people that they are not seen. That their reality is denied and denigrated. This matters because Papi was a sex worker, and sex workers are already operating with the assumption that the police are not there to help them. When members of society feel that they cannot trust its institutions, they become more vulnerable to those that society does accept. Our words and how we use them matter, especially when speaking as the voice for many.

When Edwards’ murder was first being investigated, a witness told authorities point-blank that Edwards was murdered because they were trans. The witness said Edwards was shot directly after saying “I’m a tranny.”*** Despite this information, Louisville police not only refused to say it was a hate crime (we’ll explore that in a second) but also refused to say Edwards was trans and that gender was a factor in their murder. Even though they had a witness telling them that was the motive. In fact, video was leaked to the media of a witness explaining this clearly to an officer and the officer verbally affirming that he understood the witness to be saying that Edwards’ gender was key in the murder. This video was taken before Mitchell uttered the above quotes.

Why wouldn’t the police bureau admit gender was a factor in the crime? In a Buzzfeed article about the case, it was mentioned that Kentucky lacks a hate crime law that covers gender. Maybe officers were trying to paint a specific picture of the crime for better prosecution? What doesn’t make sense though, is that a hate crime does not need to occur for a murder to be prosecuted. So why shy away from and deny the gender aspect of the murder?

We are dismayed that Mitchell is still acting as a spokesperson for the Louisville police department and we were unable to ascertain whether his views of gender have changed. For the good of the Louisville community, we hope so.

*taken from this article: https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2019/11/12/black-trans-women-pay/

**Quotes taken from this article:  https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/dominicholden/evidence-contradicts-police-account-of-possible-anti-transge#.wcNq26PaR 

***Why didn’t we include this information in the timeline? Well, this witness later changed their story about the events once the case got to trial. It is included here, however, as the authorities did not know the timeline at the start of the investigation.

 Want to Learn More about Missing and Murdered Trans Women of Color? Here are some great sources that we have come across:

·        The Trans Obituaries Project: Honoring the Trans Women of Color Lost in 2019 (USA - obituaries written by Raquel Willis, illustrations done by Jacob Stead): https://www.out.com/print/2019/11/20/trans-obituaries-project-honoring-trans-women-color-lost-2019#media-gallery-media-1

·        The Human Rights Campaign: https://www.hrc.org/blog/topic/transgender

[insatiabletc]

This is Alillia “Lala” Minthorn, a 25 year old member of the Yakama Nation in Washington. Here is how her friends and family remember her:

“Alillia “Lala” Minthorn was a daughter, a friend and a sister: big-hearted, a caretaker to everyone and altogether curious.” – as described to Emily Goodell with the Associated Press*

 “She was there in the rough times and in the dark times when nobody else wanted to be…And she never left until you were OK.” – Her sister, Tanya Miller*

Overall, outside of her sister, Alillia’s family has been quiet about the case.

One disturbing fact is that Tanya and Alillia knew quite a few women that have gone missing over recent years. They had a relationship with Linda Dave, Destiny Lloyd, and Rosenda Strong. They also knew Felina Metsker and Roselita Longee. Longee went missing in 2019 and has not been found. Felina Metsker was murdered in 2016. These women are not disappearing in a vacuum – a whole community of women are being harmed and taken.  Whole networks of families are impacted. Children, mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, uncles, cousins, sisters, nieces, nephews, brothers, and friends. What is happening is an insidious toxin that is working its way through generation after generation of a people that have already experienced tremendous trauma and harm. We must start asking questions and demanding answers from our law enforcement agencies and lawmakers. By looking away we are robbing communities of the justice they so deeply deserve. Even if a perpetrator is not a white man, the racist and genocidal systems our country has implemented since the birth of our nation hold culpability. We must start caring.

Facts of the Case

On May 3rd, 2019 Alillia left a homeless camp and got into a car driven by Jordan Stevens and two unnamed “witnesses.” On May 9th a missing persons report was filed. On May 29th, with the assistance of one of two “witnesses,” police were led to Alillia’s body, where it had been left in a remote part of the Yakama Reservation. On July 10th, Stevens was remanded into custody. The cause of death was a gunshot to the head.

Currently, a trial is scheduled for February 2020. Because both Alillia and Stevens are enrolled members of the Yakama Nation, the case is being handled by the FBI and the trial will be held in federal court.

Jordan Stevens

Jordan Stevens has a long history of violence.

In 2011 Stevens was incarcerated for a serious assault against a romantic partner. He was sentenced to 41 months in jail and was released December 12th, 2016. In 2017 a warrant was issued for his arrest as he had not followed through with any of his probation conditions. The latest court document we could view for this case said his whereabouts were unknown.

He is also believed to be responsible for an assault in April, 2019, in a homeless camp in Toppenish.

 April 30th Assault

Several news sources have indicated that Stevens was involved in an assault on April 30th, 2019 at the same homeless camp that Alillia was picked up from. The court documents actually say “on or around” April 30th and “near” the homeless camp. We found three assaults that could be the one referred to.

This is the “Compound” as seen on Google Maps:

There was an assault on April 21st:

An assault April 26th:

And an assault on April 30th:

There was also an assault that occurred on May 3rd at 11pm, but since that’s the day Alillia went missing, it seems unlikely that this was the April 30th assault.

We are unable to dig up any other information about these three cases or how they relate to Stevens. We do know from the Criminal Complaint filed on June 28th 2019, that Alillia was “questioned at the scene.” She also told family “If I don’t come back, look for me” when she got into Stevens’ car.* To us, this sounds like Alillia knew that Stevens thought she had “ratted” him out to federal authorities. Later, the “witness” referred to as “Witness 1” confirmed that this was Stevens’ motive in the homicide.

What’s interesting about the court document referring to this case is that it is not expressly said that the two events are related. The April 30th date is presented, and it is implied that this is what Alillia was murdered over. We wonder though if this is truly the reason why Stevens felt he had been sold out. Maybe it was related to his probation issues. Maybe Alillia told the federal agents investigating the assault where he could be found? We won’t know really, until February 2020, so stay tuned for updates when the trial begins.

Next of Kin

One thing that stood out as incredibly strange to us about this case is how authorities treated Alillia’s sister, Tanya. When Alillia was reported missing, Tanya was determined to spread the word and find her sister. She had an active Facebook group dedicated to doing so, and made posts hoping to find her sister from May through August 2019. While authorities had identified Alillia’s body and had a suspect by May 29th, no one told Tanya until August. It is not publicly known who Alillia’s dedicated Next of Kin (NOK) was, but we know they chose to stay quiet and not alert the rest of the family. Tanya and her aunt, Tina, felt a rightful sense of betrayal, not just from the NOK, but also from authorities who they had contacted daily to get updates to Alillia’s case. We imagine it would be embarrassing and angering to be so vocal in the search for a loved one, and now know that others knew what happened and kept quiet.

Some have called for policy changes to ensure this doesn’t occur again, and we have some speculations on what might have happened in this case in particular. Before we start, it is important to remember that we do not actually know what happened so take our theories with a grain of salt.

First, authorities knew by May 29th that Stevens had murdered Alillia. They knew this because “Witness 1” came forward and led them to the body, as the “witness” felt Stevens may murder them for having information related to the homicide.

Stevens was arrested July 10th, 2019.

Newspaper articles began coming out in mid-August stating that Alillia had been found and identified, and Stevens was in custody. Tanya made a post on the page acknowledging that the search was over for her sister.

We wonder if authorities instructed Alillia’s NOK to keep quiet about the body discovery for two reasons:

1.     “Witness 1” was afraid they would be murdered for cooperating with federal agents, and since this person had been a party to a murder with Stevens that had been carried out for that very reason, this was a reasonable fear.

2.     Authorities may not have known where Stevens was (as indicated by it taking them almost two months to arrest him).

Had Tanya put on her page that Alillia had been found, Stevens may have seen that and known that one of the two “witnesses” had aided federal authorities (especially since the body was in such a remote location that authorities could only have found it with assistance. They searched for it before without the aid of the “witness” and were unable to find her). He could have left town or hurt the “witnesses.” The same would have been true for news media reporting the same information.

Perhaps this is why authorities did not reveal information to Tanya and her aunt when they sent in their daily requests for information.

There is a kink in this interpretation of events, however. On the Facebook post Tanya made about her sister being found and dead, there was this comment:

Whoever made that comment knew Alillia had been discovered and that the NOK was keeping quiet. And this person doesn’t indicate any reason why Tanya would be left in the dark.

One thing is for certain, though: if there was no good reason for keeping Tanya and her aunt in the dark, this was an exceptionally cruel undertaking by the authorities they were in contact with.

 The Compound

Tanya has stated to the press that Alillia was homeless. We cannot find anything else that states this explicitly, but it sounds like she may have been living at the “Compound.” In 2017 350 – 500 families were evicted from Tribal owned housing, forcing some to become homeless. This led to the creation of the semi-permanent “Compound” and another lot with tiny homes.

The top three reasons families were evicted were:

1.     Drug test failure

2.     Late rent payments

3.     Overcrowding in units

Before leaping on the drug test failures, it is widely known that drug use is prevalent in rural communities across the United States and is not unique to these Toppenish families. The other two reasons speak to poverty and a housing crisis currently affecting reservations.

Tribal owned housing is desperately needed on the Yakama Reservation, and in Native American communities in general. On the Yakama Reservation alone, the poverty rate is 37.3%, compared to the US average of 26.8%.

Factors that contribute to poverty on reservations:

·       Remote locations – many reservations were placed by the federal government in isolated plots of land away from urbanized environments (aka, further away from jobs).

Looking at this map, it appears that the Yakama Reservation is close to both Portland and Seattle, but in actuality it is 4.5 and 2.5 hours away by car, respectively.

·       Lack of public transportation to get to jobs

·       Tribal lands are owned by the federal government. Yakama specifically is 80% owned by the federal government, and 20% privately. This impedes the ability of tribal members to own businesses and enrich their communities. Additionally, the federal government makes it bureaucratically difficult to make economic developments on tribal land.

·       Lack of access to education – reservation schools are funded by the federal government, so they do not benefit from state taxes designated for education. The Trump administration has been consistent in their desire to cut federal funding for education.

·       Federal programs fund housing for sovereign tribes, programs the Trump administration has cut funding for.

The federal government’s historic and current meddling and abuse of tribal land has culminated in an environment where it is hard to reduce poverty in these communities. We as a society love to say it’s the responsibility of tribes to “pull themselves up by the bootstraps” and invest in their own communities, while at the same time electing leaders that make that almost impossible.

We know that homeless persons are uniquely vulnerable to violence and disenfranchisement. We know that homeless women are especially vulnerable. It is terrifying to be homeless.

We wonder if Stevens also lived at the “Compound.” Did he terrorize people there? It certainly sounds like it. When we ignore Native American communities and reservations, we create an environment where men and women can hurt others almost without consequence. We don’t know that Alillia’s housing status played into her murder, but it likely made her more vulnerable.

What Can We Do?

Learn more about the tribal communities in your state. Get to know the policies and programs that hurt or assist those communities and stop seeing your relationship with tribal communities as “us versus them.” Donate to programs that need it! Reach out to organizations that serve tribal communities in your state to see what assistance they need. Read, learn, and educate yourself. Put pressure on your law enforcement agencies to follow up on these homicides and ask your local media to report on them. Be a voice for change! Learn some facts and dismantle ignorant arguments and statements made by your friends, family, and community. We cannot keep watching this violence unfold and turn a blind eye. After decades of genocidal policies, we need to do much, much better.

 To learn more about the Yakama Nation: http://www.yakamanation-nsn.gov/

To Learn More About Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women:

·       National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada) https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/

·       Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women USA https://mmiwusa.org/

·       CBC’s database on MMIWG (Canada) https://www.cbc.ca/missingandmurdered/

·       Justice for Native Women (USA and Canada) http://www.justicefornativewomen.com/

·       The REDress Project (Canada) http://www.redressproject.org/?page_id=43

·       Melanie Bartel, an indigenous artist in Canada. Check out her work! https://www.melaniebartelart.com/justine-cochrane.html

·       Missing and Murdered (Canadian Podcast)  https://www.cbc.ca/mediacentre/program/missing-and-murdered

Desi Rodriguez-Lonebear (American activist based out of Montana, United States) https://twitter.com/native4data

 *Article here: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/if-i-dont-make-it-back-come-look-for-me-yakama-woman-told-her-sister-before-she-was-killed/

[insatiabletc]

This is Kaysera Stops Pretty Places, an 18 year old member of the Crow Nation in Montana. Kaysera was close to her high school graduation and had a life full of family, friends, and love. Here are some things her family and friends had to say about her:

“She’s very loved. She mattered. Her life was worth everything. She was so young and beautiful. She had so much ahead of her. So much potential." – Her grandmother, Yolanda Fraser *

“Kaysera was very athletic. She participated in many sports including cross country, track, basketball, wrestling, and football. In high school she participated in swing choir, speech and drama club, and performed in several school theatre productions. She dreamed of being an actress and performer. aysera was very giving and she took to rescuing stray animals. She had many friends and with her kind heart she was beloved by many who knew her. She was a hard worker wherever she was employed and intended to work as soon as she was able to be an independent adult. She adored and cared for her little sister...and always included her sister in her future aspirations and plans. Kaysera is known for her warm, kindhearted personality and loved to laugh, dance, sing, and entertain her friends. Kaysera participated in Sundance from the age of 14." – from the obituary compiled by her family

As we will see later, her family has been very outspoken about how her case has been handled and listening to their raw voices, it is impossible to miss the devastation that Kaysera’s absence has wrought.

The Facts:

On August 24th, 2019, Kaysera didn’t come home. At that time, she lived with her grandmother Yolanda Fraser in Hardin, Montana. The next day, August 25th, Kaysera had plans to meet up with her mom so the two could travel to North Dakota to visit relatives, but she never arrived. Even more worryingly, the normally social-media active Kaysera hadn’t posted anything or gotten in touch with anyone since the 24th.

Growing increasingly more concerned, her family reported her missing on August 27th. Then, on August 29th, her body was discovered by a jogger in the backyard of a home belonging to a man named Steven Schaff. Tragically, her family wasn’t notified that her body had been found and identified until September 11th. Between August 27th and September 11th her family had hope she could still be alive.

From that point on the family says contact between them, investigators, and the county coroner, was limited. Initially it sounded like the coroner and investigators felt the death was not suspicious and had her body cremated. After a memorial march in September, County Attorney Jay Harris formed The Big Horn County Missing/Murdered Persons Task Force, which now regards Kaysera’s death as suspicious, and will take over her investigation.

Kaysera’s family has consistently maintained that she was a victim of homicide and their case is compelling.

“The reason we think it’s a homicide; the site is visible on an active neighborhood…There is high pedestrian and vehicle traffic going through that area. If the body was badly decomposed, it would be noticeable. Her body would have had to have been moved there the night before. Where her body was found the grass was still green there, there was no blood or anything left on that spot.”  - Yolanda Fraser **

We agree. Especially since the question of whether Steve Schaff was gone the entire time she was missing, or just the day she was found, is unanswered. Also, if her body was so visible that a jogger in the morning was able to spot the body, her placement must have been relatively obvious. It is possible that there were no joggers the previous day, but still strange.

Also, previously healthy eighteen-year-olds don’t just suddenly die of natural causes in someone’s backyard wood pile.

And finally, the Billings Gazette tweeted that her body was found wrapped in plastic, but we have not seen that corroborated anywhere, and the family is unsure if this is true.

We have supplied a 2015 Google Maps image of where she was found in the above photos so you can see for yourself how open the area was.

Steven Schaff

Not much is known about Steven Schaff, the owner of the home where Kaysera was found. He was out of town when her body was discovered and was told about the situation by his son. He claimed in September that authorities haven’t given him much information about the investigation.

Terry Bullis

Remember this guy? The Big Horn County Coroner who didn’t feel it was his problem to tell Henny Scott’s family her cause of death? And let them find it out via newspapers? And had ethics violations in 2003? (Our profile here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/31177855)

Well, Terry Bullis cremated Kaysera’s body. A body that is the subject of an open investigation. You know what cannot be exhumed and re-examined? Ashes. If it is found that Terry Bullis made a mistake, overlooked a piece of evidence, ran a test incorrectly, ANYTHING, it cannot be redone. How on earth is this an acceptable action in an open investigation? Going off of the family’s GoFundMe (listed later in this article if you want to donate), they did not want this cremation. Further, Bullis’ personal business, Bullis Mortuary, is the funeral home that hosted her funeral.

Further, we find it interesting that Terry Bullis is on the Montana Coroner’s Association Board of Directors as Secretary-Treasurer. Interesting, because Terry was found to be guilty in 2003 of withholding a body from a family until they paid for services they never requested. It has also been mentioned in the articles that covered this ethical lapse of Terry’s that it was standard practice for Terry to funnel money from his work as a coroner into his personal mortuary business. Odd that this is who the board would trust with their finances.

As a reminder, Bullis’ position as county coroner is an elected seat and will be up for re-election in 2022.

Best Practices

We got our Bachelor of Arts in Criminology, and one of the first things we learned is that what should be often isn’t. What we mean is that something may be obvious in an ethical or common-sense way, but may not be a true rule, law, or guideline that officials must follow. While everyone should be angry that Bullis cremated Kaysera, was he legally allowed to do so? We reached out to the Montana Board of Medical Examiners to find out what the guidelines are surrounding cremating the subject of an open investigation. If we hear back, we’ll update this profile with new information.

We can all agree, though, that cremation of a body in an open investigation feels far removed from best practices. Especially against the wishes of the victim’s family.

Dipping our toes into autopsy procedures, we realize there is a great deal we do not know. For example, what happens to the organs after “slices” are taken for tests? Do tests destroy the samples?

A couple more questions and considerations:

·       A coroner is ultimately responsible for determining the cause of death

·       Did Terry Bullis retain and preserve physical specimens from Kayera’s body, so that if a test needs to be re-done that is possible?

·       If he did not properly retain physical specimens from Kayera’s autopsy, and if Kayera’s death is ultimately found to be a homicide (again, we think this is likely) we wonder what ramifications the cremation may have upon a trial. Can a defense team successfully argue that the cremation calls into question all of Terry’s tests if they cannot be redone or reexamined?

·       How long is a body usually held before it is released to a family in an open investigation? What does it mean that Terry cremated Kaysera without her family’s consent?

·       Why hasn’t he released a cause of death yet? Why did it take the County Attorney Jay Harris getting involved to make her death suspicious? Even if Kaysera had overdosed on drugs (there has been no speculation surrounding this, we just suggest it as an option of why she would suddenly have passed away if she was not murdered) wouldn’t that have come up early in the autopsy test results? Or have caused organ failure/damage that is obvious?

The more questions that come to mind, the more aggravating it is that we now can only go off of Terry Bullis’ notes, reports, and words as he has utterly destroyed Kaysera’s body.

Institutional Failure

As we know, the first 24 to 48 hours are crucial in finding a missing person. Thinking back to Henny Scott’s case, it is probable that had investigators assisted her family in searching for her, she could have survived. Here again, when Kaysera’s family reported her missing, investigators were reluctant to take it seriously as she had runaway in the past.

While that may make sense initially (are they understaffed? Under-budgeted? Poorly trained?), it makes less sense when you consider:

·       Kaysera was found dead

·       Kaysera’s family had so little faith in the handling of the investigation that they have started a GoFundMe page to raise reward money and have been drumming up lists of witnesses for investigators to interview. The family should not have to take on the burden of the investigation. Their GoFundMe page is here:  https://www.gofundme.com/f/justice-for-kaysera 

·       Children and adults who have a history of running away are still at risk when they suddenly go missing (also, did Kaysera’s disappearance this time differ from her previous attempts to runaway?)

·       Montana is under national scrutiny currently for the way their governmental institutions have ignored native American women that have gone missing or have been murdered. Kaysera, it has been widely reported, is the 27th indigenous woman to go missing/have been murdered in Big Horn County alone.

Again, like in Henny Scott’s case, even if local authorities searched for Kaysera and were unable to find her, they still would have been able to say that they tried their best. Instead, they’ve left themselves open to rightful scrutiny and questions. Why even have the option to report a missing person if the only people the police will search for fit the model of a “perfect” victim? Wouldn’t authorities want to change their national perception? They must know that in today’s increased awareness of an ongoing epidemic of violence against indigenous people, they will be under more scrutiny. This may be a naïve understanding of the issue, and likely is, but there is such a clear point in this process where police continually fail to protect those they serve. Yes, there are jurisdictional issues at play between counties, cities, FBI, and the BIA. But it seems that some of these tragic cases could have a different outcome if the police took these missing persons reports seriously.

Lingering Questions

·       Was Kaysera’s family charged for the funerary services at Terry Bullis’ funeral home?

·       What was Steven Schaff’s timeline? How old is his son? Does anyone else live in their home? Since this is an open investigation that actually might go somewhere, we won’t pry. But these questions do come to mind.

·       Would Terry Bullis have gone to the crime scene to collect evidence? Or is it already bagged by officers? According to some sources it is a coroner’s responsibility to collect forensic evidence at the scene of a crime. If Terry Bullis felt this wasn’t a homicide (which his behavior indicates) would he have done his due diligence?

Final Thoughts

As this case is now being investigated by a newly formed task force, we are hopeful that Kaysera’s family will find closure, answers, and justice. As this case develops, we will post updates.

To learn more about the Crow Nation in Montana, please visit their webpage: http://www.crow-nsn.gov/

To Learn More About Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women:

·        National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada) https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/

·        Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women USA https://mmiwusa.org/

·        CBC’s database on MMIWG (Canada) https://www.cbc.ca/missingandmurdered/

·        Justice for Native Women (USA and Canada) http://www.justicefornativewomen.com/

·        The REDress Project (Canada) http://www.redressproject.org/?page_id=43

·        Melanie Bartel, an indigenous artist in Canada. Check out her work! https://www.melaniebartelart.com/justine-cochrane.html

·        Missing and Murdered (Canadian Podcast)  https://www.cbc.ca/mediacentre/program/missing-and-murdered

·        Desi Rodriguez-Lonebear (American activist based out of Montana, United States) https://twitter.com/native4data

*quote taken from this article:  https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/mmiw/her-life-was-worth-everything-march-planned-for-woman-found/article_b8fc9b37-5ee9-5ba8-b98f-0ad6a58176ee.html 

**quote taken from this article: https://www.bighorncountynews.com/content/%E2%80%98she-should-be-school%E2%80%99

[insatiabletc]

Justine Cochrane - Small update

Last week we received a message over Reddit in response to a a post we made about Justine (basically the post we have here:  https://www.patreon.com/posts/28407430 ) claiming to have knowledge of the case. We were able to read the message as an email (Reddit sends you a copy of your messages), but the message and user account have since been deleted, so we couldn't reply back.

We feel weird about posting the message or quoting it, as the original being deleted implies the writer regretted their decision, or rethought reaching out to us and we want to respect that. However, the information provided, if true, really puts Chipaway's involvement in doubt.   We will reach out to reporters from the area to see if there have been any updates or additional information we can find.

As an aside, we re-read our post and cringed a little. We could have done a better job being mindful of Chipaway's family when writing, and hope that our words haven't hurt them or their community. If they have, we are deeply sorry.  It's always good to be mindful of all parties when writing about such painful topics.

[insatiabletc]

This is Henny Scott, a 14 year old member of the Cheyenne people. She lived on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Lame Deer, Montana. Henny was very well loved, and it appears adored by all in her community. Here are some things that the people who knew her have said:

"She was into everything…There was nothing she couldn’t do. She could do it all. She started taking up beading, which I was proud of, she started learning Cheyenne. And her teacher commented on how well she was doing and how well she was saying the word, and that made me proud.”* - Her Mother, Paula Castro-Stops

"She was a sweet loving girl. Her smile, you could just go into a room and she’d light it up, and her hugs were the best, her laugh.”* – A friend and classmate, Tonielle Shoulder Blade.

From an interview with the Billings Gazette:

“Scott was a girl who made an effort to acknowledge people when she saw them, often times crossing the room for a hug, her mother said. She was always "jamming" to music, Stops said, bringing a brief laugh from the two of them as they stood outside Muddy Hall Saturday morning before the convoy of vehicles arrived.

‘She'd always be changing my '80s (radio) station,’ Castro said, mimicking her daughter saying ‘Jeez Mom, you're just old,’ before putting on one of her favorite R&B or hip hop stations. 

She was athletic and played basketball at Lame Deer, her mother said. Scott had ambitions to become a doctor, Stops said. An EMT with Northern Cheyenne Ambulance, Castro said she would sometimes talk to her daughter about treating injuries or let her flip through her medical books."** – Journalist Ryan Welch quoting Henny’s mother, Castro-Stops.

"Henny was something else, she was always outgoing she would always try to make people happy even when she wasn't happy herself,"*** -- Henny’s sister, Barbara Other Medicine, as told to Spencer Martin. 

"My Henny if anybody was to ever meet her they would just love her she could just walk in a room and just light it up get it going and everybody laughin’."*** – Paula Castro-Stops, as told to Spencer Martin.

"Whenever Henny was around you couldn't be sad or angry all you could do is be happy when she was around because she'd make you happy and just laugh all the time,"*** --Henny’s sister, Kaylannah Strange Owl.

When you read the details below, keep in mind that this was a human whose loss was shocking and devastating to her people. Hold her relatives and community in your heart.

The Bare-Bones Situation

On December 7th, 2018, Henny was hanging out at a friend’s house in a nearby area, Muddy Creek. That evening, she called her mom to see if she could go with some friends to a nearby city, Billings, to attend a basketball game. Her mom, Paula Castro-Stops, said no and to head home, to which Henny agreed. Paula waited. And waited. She grew more and more worried as time passed and Henny didn’t arrive home. She reached out to Henny’s friends and she drove around looking for her, but she had exhausted her own resources. Paula tried filing a missing person’s report with the BIA but was told that Henny was likely out partying with her friends and suggested Paula ask them where she was. Understandably, she was upset that they wouldn’t take her daughter’s disappearance seriously. Beyond the fact that Henny was 14 years old, a child now missing, the weather in Montana that night was snowy and likely below freezing. Perilous conditions regardless if she was taken by someone or lost out in the dark.

The BIA took two weeks to issue a missing person’s report, and it is unclear if police ever searched for Henny. Paula, terrified and frustrated, went to a nearby Crow Reservation to file a missing persons report there as well. That agency placed Henny’s file on the desk of a police officer who was out on leave, and thus no action was taken. Paula’s friends offered to start a search party, but she worried that doing so would step on the BIA’s toes or interfere with a formal investigation.

After two weeks of no action from the BIA, Paula accepted the offer of a community search party. On December 21st, 2018, searchers found Henny’s body within 200 yards of her own home.

Cause of Death

·       Witnesses say Henny left her friend’s home on foot in light and weather-inadequate clothing.

·       Coroner Terry Bullis found her cause of death to be hypothermia with alcohol as a significant contributing factor.

·       Several sources say Henny’s family does not agree with the COD. It has been mentioned that Paula said her daughter’s nose was broken and she had bumps and scratches on her. We were unable to find Paula’s Facebook post that has been cited, so we are unsure if she still believes this.

·       The autopsy showed that there were no “significant traumas” on Henny’s body. We learned that this is a term used to determine injuries to the body, using something called the Injury Severity Score. Anything that scores above 15 counts as significant trauma. It is a pretty confusing scoring chart for a layperson to decipher, so we couldn’t tell whether a broken nose would constitute a 15 or higher. If not, that means the family’s assertion of a broken nose, bumps, and scratches could still be accurate, just not as significant trauma.  

·       One woman, in a shared Facebook post, referred to a “girl” being responsible for Henny’s death. We couldn’t find anything else to substantiate this.

·       Because Bullis ruled the COD as hypothermia, the FBI will no longer investigate her death, leaving the community of Lame Deer and her family with a great deal of questions and no closure.

Had the BIA Acted Sooner

We wondered, how far away was the house Henny left from? Looking at Google Maps, it appears that the general area she left from, Muddy Creek, and the center of Lame Deer was a distance of 5.4 miles. There were no public transit options and Google suggests the only walking route was along Hwy 212, an estimated walk of 1 & ½ to 2 hours. Not a terribly long distance.

The questions we wish we could answer are:

·       Why didn’t someone give her a ride? Was a car not available?

·       What is the BIA’s manpower like? Had they acted, what are their resources? Perhaps, if BIA officials (or Search and Rescue) had ruled out the stretch along Hwy 212, the Castro-Stops would have turned to their back yard sooner.

·       Was Henny found on a path? It sounds like she was familiar with the area she was found in. Was this a route she often took from this friend’s house?

 Hypothermia & Alcohol

One question we had was how long it would take someone to perish in Henny’s situation. We started by trying to find out what the weather would have been like that evening. The closest historical data we could find for 12/7/2018 was from the Billings Logan International Airport Station, pulled from Weather Underground. Billings is about 100 miles away from Lame Deer. Certainly not ideal, as weather patterns can change over a few miles, but it’s what we have. According to their data, around 7:30pm, the air temperature was 28 degrees Fahrenheit. Looking at average temperatures for Lame Deer, pulled from Weather Spark, December clocks around 13 degrees Fahrenheit.

Then, the other factor to consider with hypothermia, is wind speed. In Billings, the wind speed ranged from 14 to 18 miles per hour. Weather Spark says the average December wind speed is 13 miles per hour. According to information we found on the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health & Safety, the combination of factors for Billings shows a wind chill factor of -12, and for Lame Deer it would have been likely close to -18. This puts both Billings and Lame Deer in the same category of “moderate risk” for developing hypothermia after prolonged periods.

Adding alcohol into the mix would have raised the risk of hypothermia. Alcohol has been observed to stop the body’s shivering response, as well as pull much needed blood away from the core to the surface.

That all said, it seems that the length of time from drinking to perhaps passing out in the snow, to death is highly dependent on each person and all the miniscule factors in the moment. Without viewing the coroner’s report, we can only speculate that she could have perished anywhere from one to three days (some sources suggest that one can be “rewarmed” back to life as many as 6 hours after cardiac arrest).

So, while we may not know exactly what happened to Henny that night, we can say with all certainty that the BIA’s two-week lag in looking for her was absolutely too long. Had Henny’s family been given the proper support to find her, she may have been able to survive. The BIA should have been able to say, “we did all that we could.” Instead, their inaction at best compounded and amplified a family’s trauma, and at worst could be culpable for a child’s death. A child who they accused of partying when in reality she was trying to obey her mother and make her way home.

 Who Can We Yell At?

Here’s a detail we are mad about and unsure where it fits into the story neatly, so we’ll plop it here: poor Henny’s family learned the cause of death NOT from an FBI or BIA agent or Coroner Terry Bullis…but from a newspaper article in the Billings Gazette. This is inexcusable. They’ve given a milquetoast apology (“aw gee, it was a jurisdiction issue, we’re sowwy”), but it’s not enough.

If you want to make a big fuss about this horrifying lack of care for the Castro-Stops family, you can contact the Lame Deer BIA agency here:

·       Website: https://www.bia.gov/regional-offices/rocky-mountain/northern-cheyenne-agency

·       Phone Number: [phone]

And the FBI field office here (looks like the closest one is in Salt Lake City):

·       Website: https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/saltlakecity

·       Phone Number: [phone]

Terry Bullis: Information taken from http://mtcoroner.org/coroner-directory.html

Big Horn County Terry Bullis P.O. Box 318 Hardin, MT 59034 Ph 406-665-1207 Fx 406-665-1208 [email protected]

How to find your state representatives to tell them how upset you are about how these cases are being handled: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

 Terry Bullis:

While searching for contact information for Bullis, we came across this article from 2003: https://billingsgazette.com/news/local/mortician-disciplined-over-ethics/article_3cdcc6bb-2fd6-5746-8059-e7b45a19d87d.html. Essentially, Bullis was put on probation and assessed a fine as he embalmed a body (before speaking with the family) and refused to release the body to the family without payment for the embalming services.

“Bullis must also take eight hours of ethics classes. He did not have to admit any wrongdoing for embalming the body of 21-year-old Toy Parker of Ashland without her family's consent. Bullis acquired the woman's body through his duties as county coroner. He would not release her body until her family paid his $410 embalming bill.”

Turns out, embalming isn’t a required practice and nowhere in the state law does it say that bodies must be embalmed.

“Bullis was charged with failing to release human remains on demand, charging fees for services that were not requested and using his role as county coroner to funnel business into his own funeral home.” 

So, not only is this the coroner who didn’t think it was his duty to inform the family first of the cause of death, he also has a shady ethical history in Montana.

Apparently, in 2003 he had such a long history of doing this, other professionals in the area at knew to have “cash on hand” because Bullis would demand payment for services no one requested and are not mandated by the state.

Turns out Bullis is sitting in an elected position. We’ve sent an email to the Elections Administrator in Big Horn County to find out the following:

1.     How often elections are held – Answer: every 4 years. The last election was held in 2018, which means the next election will be in 2022.

2.     Term of office – Answer: 4 years

3.     Impeachments – Answer: There are no impeachments for this position. However, I would urge folks who live in this county to consider finding out other methods of reprimand if they feel upset enough about how Bullis has handled his position.

 Want to Learn More About MMIWG?

Our page is just a drop in the bucket of information out there on this topic! Here are some great sources that we have come across:

• National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada) https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/ • Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women USA https://mmiwusa.org/ • CBC’s database on MMIWG (Canada) https://www.cbc.ca/missingandmurdered/ • Justice for Native Women (USA and Canada) http://www.justicefornativewomen.com/ • The REDress Project (Canada) http://www.redressproject.org/?page_id=43 - Sovereign Bodies Institute (USA and Canada) https://www.sovereign-bodies.org/request

 *From https://www.mtpr.org/post/northern-cheyenne-hold-funeral-henny-scott

** From https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/crime-and-courts/family-community-filled-with-questions-after-teen-s-death-on/article_768c2bb9-189e-51f7-bdb3-4c274bc86ea7.html

***From https://www.kulr8.com/news/henny-scott-found-deceased-near-lame-deer-family-mourns-and/article_b93191da-0be9-11e9-9714-5fad62a66e76.html

[insatiabletc]

UPDATE: We were directed to this article which had more information on the case: https://www.nwpb.org/…/no-family-deserves-to-have-to-go-th…/

In keeping with the spirit of respect laid out in the above article, we will also refer to her as D. Lloyd instead of by her full name. We were not aware that this is done in traditional Yakama mourning practices but now that we know we won't ignore or disregard it.

Here are some more facts to this case, rendering some previously considered questions moot:

-D. Lloyd was spending time with family on Christmas. In the evening she left to spend time with friends. She was picked up (by who we do not know) and dropped off in Harrah, Washington where she passed away. 

- She was reported missing by her family.

ORIGINAL:

This is D. Lloyd, a 23 year old member of the Yakama tribe in Washington State. She worked as a child care worker at Legends Casino Hotel, in Toppenish.

So far, personal information on her is scant -- we are not sure if she had children, close relatives, or of her disposition. However, we will go out on a limb and say that she probably liked children as that was her profession.   (In the new source we were provided, it really sounds like D. was well loved by her family and is obviously very missed.)

We know that she disappeared on 12/25/2017 from Wapato, Washington. We do not know who created the missing person's report, where she was headed, who she was with, or when she was expected back.   (Resolved in Update)

Her body was found on Marion Drain Road near an intersection with Harrah Road in Washington four days later on 12/29/17 and the county coroner was initially unable to determine whether she had incurred her basal skull fracture from a fall or from an attack.

In December 2018 the coroner reached out to the FBI and her cause of death has now been classified as a homicide. In January 2019 a flurry of articles came out with this new information, but as of July 2019 there have been no updates to the case.

We have reached out to both the FBI and a journalist covering the case locally and will update this profile as more information comes to light.

In the meantime, here are our questions:

+ Who reported her missing?   (Resolved in Update)

+ Where was she supposed to be that day? It was Christmas, but her family may not have been religious or maybe she went to work to earn some extra holiday pay? As you can see from the Google Maps images Harrah is between Wapato (where she lived) and Toppenish (where she worked).   (Resolved in Update)

+ Who owns the farm that is near the intersection where she was found? (Google satellite image)

+ Did she go missing earlier than Christmas?   (Resolved in Update)

+ Did she have her own transportation or was she reliant on friends, public transit, or hitchhiking? If she had her own transportation, was her car found anywhere suspicious? Was she known to offer rides to hitchhikers?   (Kind of resolved in update, she got a ride from a friend the day she went missing).

+ Why did the case get reclassified as a homicide in December 2018, a year after her death? What new information came to light?

+ Is her murder related to others? News articles released in January 2019 indicate her case is being looked at in conjunction with the murders of Linda Dave, Minnie Andy, and Jedidah Moreno. We took a quick look at Andy's case and there was a person charged with her murder (but the charges have now been dropped) and she died also by blunt force trauma.

+ Do investigators think she knew her killer or do they think it was stranger-on-stranger?

+ Did she have a romantic partner? What was their relationship like?

We are so hopeful that Destiny and her family will get the recognition and answers they deserve.

Want to Learn More About MMIWG?

Our page is just a drop in the bucket of information out there on this topic! Here are some great sources that we have come across:

National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada) https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women USA https://mmiwusa.org/

CBC’s database on MMIWG (Canada) https://www.cbc.ca/missingandmurdered/

Justice for Native Women (USA and Canada) http://www.justicefornativewomen.com/

The REDress Project (Canada) http://www.redressproject.org/?page_id=43

[insatiabletc]

Rosenda Strong is a 31 year old member of the  Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla and before her death lived with her sister on the reservation near Toppenish. On October 2nd, 2018, Rosenda had plans with a friend to go to the Legends Casino. She never returned and was missing until July 4th, 2019, when her remains were found in an abandoned freezer ( https://nypost.com/2019/07/15/remains-of-missing-native-american-woman-discovered-in-freezer/ ).

After researching a bit more, we'd like to give the FBI and tribal police more time to investigate the case before adding more to the story. However, if investigators are not able to find a person of interest, here are some questions we'll be looking into answering:

- Who the freezer belonged to -- do freezers have serial numbers?

- Who were the 2 homeless men who found her remains?

- How many residences are in the immediate area? Who lives there?

- Are the police looking at a serial killer? 6 Women have gone missing in the last 3 years from this area.

- Is Legends Casino at all related to her disappearance and subsequent murder?

What we learned in looking at Rosenda's case is that she is one of many who have gone missing from this area and we will be doing more profiles on who these women and teens are and see what's going on in Washington. Stay tuned for more information.

Want to Learn More About MMIWG?

Our page is just a drop in the bucket of information out there on this topic! Here are some great sources that we have come across:

National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada) https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women USA https://mmiwusa.org/

CBC’s database on MMIWG (Canada) https://www.cbc.ca/missingandmurdered/

Justice for Native Women (USA and Canada) http://www.justicefornativewomen.com/

The REDress Project (Canada) http://www.redressproject.org/?page_id=43

[insatiabletc]

Justine Cochrane was a 15 year old indigenous woman living on the SunChild 202, a reservation in Alberta, Canada. At the time of her death, Justine was living in foster care, though she kept in touch with her cultural roots through a relationship with her aunts and grandma. Reportedly, she enjoyed powwows and doing traditional crafts. Before she passed, she was able to rekindle a relationship with her father.

On March 3rd, 2011 Justine went to a house party with friends. After doing what all teens do at house parties, Justine was found the next day on the side of a gravel road. She had been sexually assaulted, beaten, and left for dead. The extent of her injuries led an investigator to say it looked like she had been in a car crash. Next to her body was a pile of clothes.

The clothes belonged to a 35 year old man, Isaac Chipaway, who was also at the party. While it is easy to surmise that Chipaway was the culprit in her death, there are some odd details:  

· In the inquest held to determine whether her foster parents were at fault for Justine’s death, it was said that Chipaway was chatting away to others about his sexual actions earlier in the night. However, neither Justine (who was also chatting about similar topics to her friends) nor Chipaway said there was any sexual activity between the two.

· Chipaway committed suicide “shortly after the incident” and left a suicide note…that did not mention the murder as a reason for killing himself. Also, there is no information on how he killed himself or when – was it shortly after her murder? Days later? They also don’t say how he killed himself. As invasive a question as it is, I do wonder what reasons were given.

· Both Justine’s and Chipaway’s DNA was found on the pile of clothes (that looked like the outfit worn by Chipaway at the party), however, the inquest (nor any of the articles I’ve seen) say that Chipaway’s DNA was on or inside Justine. Which, with sexual assault involved, makes me wonder why he would have left clothes with DNA but somehow got rid of his DNA on Justine?

· The inquest report also suggests that while Chipaway may not have been the one to sexually assault her, investigators feel he was at least involved…which brings up the question: do investigators think others were involved in her death? If so, why have there been no updates to the case?

According to Justine’s grandma, she hasn’t been contacted by authorities since 2014. The fatality inquiry mentioned here was held in 2015. I cannot find any recent news articles or updates to the case, leaving it still open and unsolved four years later.

One last note: I abhor the way the inquest report talks about Justine – quite a bit of slut-shaming and victim-blaming. They draw parallels between her sexual activity and drinking to her murder. While drinking may have made her more vulnerable, where on earth is the compassion in this report? To read the report in it’s entirety: https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/437ef792-47a3-4d3d-97c9-16515ebc4a42/resource/71c20913-c6a1-4086-b8d8-18ffcf749330/download/2015-fatality-report-justine-cochrane.pdf

Want to Learn More About MMIWG?

Our page is just a drop in the bucket of information out there on this topic! Here are some great sources that we have come across:

National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada) https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women USA https://mmiwusa.org/

CBC’s database on MMIWG (Canada) https://www.cbc.ca/missingandmurdered/

Justice for Native Women (USA and Canada) http://www.justicefornativewomen.com/

The REDress Project (Canada) http://www.redressproject.org/?page_id=43

[insatiabletc]

This is Roberta Nikal, a 19 year old indigenous woman from Surrey, BC.

Before going missing in August of 1988, she was close to her family and was known as an avid joker and lover of Archie Comics (a passion we both share). The weekend she went missing, Roberta was camping with several pals out at Cultus Lake, about an hour away from her home by car. While in theory it should have been a fun trip, Roberta was feeling sick and decided to head back early. She packed up her bag and told her friends she'd find her own way to the bus stop. She was last seen by a witness who spotted her talking to a man in a red sports car with a prominent jaw. She has still not been found.

When her family tried to report her missing, they were told they had to wait 48 hours since she was technically an adult. Pretty much all sources I found on this case indicate that there is currently no mandatory waiting time, but I do wonder what the reporting guidelines were like back in the 1980's. I called the RCMP to see if they could tell me if that would have been true back in the 1980's but they said it was a provincial matter and gave me the contact info for BC's police. Who then emailed me back saying that I had to contact a lawyer to find out more.

Roberta's family was reasonably upset when they were told they had to wait 48 hours and they went out on their own search and printed up flyers. They never received a helpful tip on where she was. When serial killer Robert Pickton was incarcerated and investigators were sifting through DNA evidence on his farm, Roberta's sisters provided DNA to see if she was there. Unfortunately (in terms of closure), her DNA was not found.

In a VICE article (https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/ppxe49/missing-woman-roberta-ferguson) one of Roberta's sisters said she believes the killer is a suspected serial killer who killed himself in 2005, but has no proof. I did a search to see if I could determine who she was talking about, but there were no true matches. The closest I was able to find was a serial killer named Bobby Jack Folwer who was known to pick up hitchhikers in the BC area and is on the RCMP's radar for other murders of indigenous women along the Highway of Tears. A geographic profiler, Kim Rossmo, thinks he isn't responsible for Highway of Tears murders between 1989 and 2006, but Roberta went missing in 1988. This begs the question of whether he would have been in the area around the time of her disappearance, and what kind of car he drove in the 1980s. Though, it is important to note that Fowler died in 2006 from lung cancer, not a suicide in 2005. However, Roberta's sister could have gotten the year wrong and who knows how she actually phrased her statement to the VICE author. When I reached out to the author to see if she was given a name or had any insight she said she didn't get a name and didn't have her files anymore. Another fact that may make Fowler a less likely suspect is that he was known to drive a series of "beat up old cars" which doesn't exactly sound like a red sports car.

Beyond Fowler, it is possible that the suspected killer mentioned by Roberta's sister was a local terror and not one known to the press at large. Canada has no sex offender registry, so it's difficult to determine if there was a serial sex offender locally that escalated into murder.

Unlike some of the other cases we've looked at, there are some potential leads in Roberta's disappearance and I hope her family gets the answers they deserve.  

Want to Learn More About MMIWG?

Our page is just a drop in the bucket of information out there on this topic! Here are some great sources that we have come across:

National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada) https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women USA https://mmiwusa.org/

CBC’s database on MMIWG (Canada) https://www.cbc.ca/missingandmurdered/

Justice for Native Women (USA and Canada) http://www.justicefornativewomen.com/

The REDress Project (Canada) http://www.redressproject.org/?page_id=43

[insatiabletc]

This is Cecilia Anne Nikal (her name is sometimes spelled Cicilia, depending on the source).

She is a 15 year old indigenous woman who went missing in October of 1989. I am not going to lie, the lack of information on this case is heartbreaking. Here is what we know: She is the cousin of Delphine Nikal (covered in another post) and Roberta Cecilia Nikal who was murdered. In October 1989 Cecilia went to visit her mom in Vancouver, BC, but then left and was never seen again. Some sources say she "chose to live on the streets" after leaving her mother's home, some say that she moved to Vancouver Island, and some say she disappeared off of Highway 16 (the dreaded Highway of Tears where Delphine also disappeared from).

I think using the word "chose" about living on the streets paints her with an odd hue of blame and bad choices. She was 15 years old! What made living on the streets a better choice, if it was a choice, than living with her mom? Also, her family reported her missing, so obviously she was expected somewhere. The question is, who reported her missing? Was it her mom or was she living with other family members?  

If she was living with other family members, why would the police believe she chose to be homeless if she had a home to go to?

Other remaining questions:

- Why do some police think she disappeared from Vancouver, while others say Highway 16?

- Were there witnesses that saw her hitchhiking back along Hwy 16 and that's why they think she could have disappeared there?

- Who was the family member who said she went to Vancouver Island? WAS THAT EVER FOLLOWED UP?

- Were there any suspects?

- Did she live in Smithers with her other family or did she live in Vancouver, or somewhere in between?

- What does her family think happened to her?

- Who is her mom?

- Were police alarmed that 3 girls from the same family all disappeared or were murdered in a short frame of time?

- Were there news reports about her? (I couldn't find any that weren't behind a paywall)

Too many unanswered questions.

Want to Learn More About MMIWG?

Our page is just a drop in the bucket of information out there on this topic! Here are some great sources that we have come across:

National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada) https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women USA https://mmiwusa.org/

CBC’s database on MMIWG (Canada) https://www.cbc.ca/missingandmurdered/

Justice for Native Women (USA and Canada) http://www.justicefornativewomen.com/

The REDress Project (Canada) http://www.redressproject.org/?page_id=43

[insatiabletc]

This is 16 year old Ramona Lisa Wilson, an indigenous woman who liked to write poetry and dreamed of becoming a psychologist.  Here is a portion of her poetry, as quoted in a news article:

“As I look out to the bright blue sky this chilly autumn day,

There’s no way I can thank the Creator, no way to repay,

for the lovely sights to heart’s content that He has let me see,

for joys and laughter that I’ve lived and the love that He gave me....”

She had a deep and loving connection with her friends and family that has spanned across time and beyond her death.

On 6/11/1994, Ramona hitchhiked to a friends house from Smithers, BC. When Ramona didn't show up for school or her afterschool job, her parents phoned the police. She was known as the responsible one of her friends and wasn't known to disappear or runaway. However, police still tried to tell her family that she likely did run away so she could "blow off some steam."

In January 1995 the police received a tip that her body could be found near the Smithers Airport. However, it appears from the news articles I was able to find, that they searched only a portion of the area surrounding the airport and did not find her. However, in April 1995 her body was found in an un-searched location near the airport, which made the tipper correct. And also suspicious. Sadly, the police were not able to track down the tipster. To compound the pain, Ramona's family wasn't offered support services by either the police or local government.

Despite the dismissive start to the investigation, the Wilson family now reports that they have a close and positive relationship with the lead investigator placed in 2011, which is a relief. It sounds as though he has been respectful to the family and they feel he genuinely cares about their daughter's case. To date, there have been no arrests and her case is still unsolved, and is currently part of a larger investigation into murders of indigenous women along Highway 16 (the infamous Highway of Tears).

To be honest, as much information as there is on The Highway of Tears and this case in particular, I am left with a couple of unanswered questions that no amount of (free) sleuthing allowed me to dig up:

- What was the cause of death? It was reported that she was beaten, but there is nothing else out there.

- Why aren't there any suspects?

- Were there any witnesses? Since her clothes were found next to her, folded neatly, was she wearing something else or was she nude?

- Were the rope, zip ties, and brass knuckles [and watergun??] related?

- Who was the tipster?

- Can DNA help solve the case now?

- Why didn't police search the area she was found when they first got the tip?

Want to Learn More About MMIWG?

Our page is just a drop in the bucket of information out there on this topic! Here are some great sources that we have come across:

National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada) https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women USA https://mmiwusa.org/

CBC’s database on MMIWG (Canada) https://www.cbc.ca/missingandmurdered/

Justice for Native Women (USA and Canada) http://www.justicefornativewomen.com/

The REDress Project (Canada) http://www.redressproject.org/?page_id=43

[insatiabletc]

This is 16 year old Delphine Anne Camelia Nikal, an indigenous woman who went missing from Smithers, BC.

On June 13th, 1990, Delphine spent the day and evening with her friends. Around 10pm she called her uncle to let him know she would be heading home to Telkwa shortly. Some witnesses say they saw her trying to hitchhike back, a common means of transportation in the area. She never made it home, and as of 2019 she is considered missing.

The year before Delphine disappeared, her cousin Cecelia also disappeared from the same stretch of road. At this time, no arrests have been made and there are no known suspects.

There was an American serial killer, Bobby Jack Fowler, who terrorized the area in the 1980s and 1990s and has been linked to the disappearance of other indigenous women along the Highway of Tears, but no link has been made between him and Delphine.

I am incredibly frustrated at how little information there is available about the case online.

Want to Learn More About MMIWG?

Our page is just a drop in the bucket of information out there on this topic! Here are some great sources that we have come across:

National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada) https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women USA https://mmiwusa.org/

CBC’s database on MMIWG (Canada) https://www.cbc.ca/missingandmurdered/

Justice for Native Women (USA and Canada) http://www.justicefornativewomen.com/

The REDress Project (Canada) http://www.redressproject.org/?page_id=43