CHICAGO — Police confirmed Friday that a body discovered in an abandoned building in a west side Chicago neighborhood known as K-Town was that of 19-year-old Donta Gooden, a transgender female.
A spokesperson for the Cook County medical examiner’s office said that an autopsy determined that Gooden was stabbed to death and that her death has been ruled a homicide.
Gooden — who identified as female and was known as Tiffany — was found just three blocks from where Paige Clay, 23, another transgender woman, was found shot to death in April.
June LaTrobe, public policy director of the transgender activist group Illinois Gender Advocates, said that transgender women of color “are the most vulnerable members of our community,” reported WBBM-TV.
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LaTrobe said there are very little opportunities for such women, because, “sometimes the obstacles are just unbelievable. Here is someone murdered for simply being themselves. It gets … frustrating doesn’t even quite put it.”
Rick Garcia, a longtime local LGBT activist said, “oftentimes when folks like this are murdered or brutalized, it’s, ‘Well, you know, they brought it on themselves,’ or ‘What do you expect?’” Garcia said he was working with police to make sure these two victims, and others like them, aren’t re-victimized by not being priority cases.
Chicago Police said they believe that the cases of both women are unrelated and have visited some nearby businesses in hopes surveillance cameras might have captured relevant images.
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