Sep 19, 2003  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO JR.  | COMMENTS     

Their line of work may not have been the direct cause of their deaths, police say. But investigators familiar with the killings of seven D.C.-area transgendered women and the attempted murder of another since April 2000 say the victims in at least six of those cases are believed to have engaged in street prostitution at the time of their killings.

“As far as these cases are concerned, we’re not investigating prostitution, we’re investigating homicides,” said Sgt. Brett Parson, commander of the D.C. police department’s Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit.

Yet law enforcement sources say people who knew the victims have told investigators that six of the victims regularly or occasionally hung out in sections of the city where transgendered women solicit money for sex. At least three of the women frequented the corner of 5th and K Streets, NW, the District’s best-known location for picking up transgendered prostitutes, according to police.

One of the cases that drew media attention to the prostitution angle was the Aug. 16 killing of Bella Evangelista, 25, who was shot to death about 4:30 a.m. at the corner of Allison Street and Arkansas Ave. NW. Police say Hispanic male-to-female transgendered sex workers solicit business in that location.

Evangelista, whose birth name was Elvys Augusto Perez, was shot by a man who allegedly paid her for sex and became enraged when he learned a short time later that she was a biological male, police said. Police charged Antoine D. Jacobs, 22, with first-degree murder while armed in connection with the shooting. Authorities classified the case as a hate crime.

Evangelista’s killing is one of just three of the recent transgender cases where police have made an arrest. The others remain unsolved.

Parson, who has helped investigate most of the recent transgender deaths, acknowledged that the victims’ possible involvement in prostitution — as well as their use of names other than their legal, birth names — make it difficult for investigators to obtain information needed to identify those responsible for the killings.

“Most of the witnesses you talk to on the street never knew their real names,” Parson said. “Sometimes the victims use several different names and no one knows exactly how to spell them. It makes our job a lot harder.”

Sex worker labels ‘unfair’
Transgender activists have expressed concern about news reports linking these cases to prostitution, saying they believe the killers targeted the victims because of their status as transgendered people, not because of their possible role as sex workers.

“We’re talking about real people who are human beings,” said Ruby Bracamonte, one of Evangelista’s closest friends.

Bracamonte called Evangelista a “warm, loving, and caring person,” and said it would be unfair to “label” her or remember her as a sex worker.

But Bracamonte and Earlene Budd, founder of the local group Transgender Health & Empowerment, said widespread discrimination and prejudice against transgendered people has forced some transgendered women to become involved in commercial sex work as a means of economic survival.

During a press conference following Evengelista’s murder, Budd told how transgendered women informed her that they turned to prostitution only after they had been denied jobs because of their appearance.

“It’s a matter of simple survival,” Budd said. “Some of the girls have no other choice but to turn to the streets for survival.”

The D.C. Human Rights Act bans job discrimination based on an individual’s personal appearance , gender, dress and sexual orientation, among other grounds. Gay and transgender activists have long concluded that one or all of those categories combined make it illegal in D.C. to discriminate against transgendered people.

However, Cornelius Alexander, an attorney and chief hearing examiner for the D.C. Commission on Human Rights, which is in charge of enforcing the Human Rights Act, said no transgender discrimination case has ever reached the commission for adjudication. Alexander said that until a ruling on such a case is rendered, it remains unclear whether the Human Rights Act actually bans transgender discrimination.

Recent D.C. trans killings tied to prostitution Court records and information released by D.C. police have indicated that these recent transgender killings, and one case of assault with a dangerous weapon and attempted murder, are linked to prostitution: Tyra (Tyrone) Henderson, 22, was found beaten to death in an alley behind the 3600 block of 11th Street, NW, on April 23, 2000. Friends told D.C. police that Henderson was last seen alive the previous night at ... COMMENTS email       password Please review and follow Washington Blade’s current Comment and Discussion Policy. Guidelines updated as of August 22nd, 2009. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.

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