Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

Ciara Minaj Carter Frazier was a 31 year-old Black trans woman living in Chicago. On Wednesday, October 3, she became the 22nd transgender person identified as a homicide victim in the US during 2018.

According to local reports, Ciara was stabbed to death by an unknown man.

A transgender woman who was found dead with stab wounds late Wednesday in the West Garfield Park neighborhood is believed to have been killed by a person she was arguing with, according to a statement from Chicago police.

At 9:28 p.m., the 31-year-old was with a male inside an abandoned building in the 4500 block of West Adams, police said. As a disagreement between them flared up, he proceeded to stab her and then leave her body in the backyard of the building.

Monica Roberts at TransGriot is reporting that the injuries Ciara’s body sustained were far more extensive and violent than is being reported. An autopsy Thursday found she died of multiple sharp force injuries and her death was ruled a homicide.

This is the second such homicide in Chicago in 2018. In August, Dejanay Stanton was found shot to death. There have been no arrests in her murder.

LaSaia Wade, executive director of the Chicago trans advocacy group Brave Space Alliance, knew Frazier through Chicago’s ball scene — underground gathering soirees for the black LGBTQ community to dance and compete.

Wade said she frustrated by the lack of progress in both Frazier and Stanton’s cases.

“It feels like we are being targeted,” Wade said. “I’m frustrated and upset with the lack of cases turning around. There is a lack of needs for our safety from police.”

Rest in power, Ciara. You deserved a rich, full, and peaceful life. We will seek justice for your death and continue to work for a safer environment for all trans neighbors.

22 murders by October 3 puts us perilously close to surpassing the 2017 death toll of 25. Are you asking yourself what you can do? And then doing it?

This is my list of trans neighbors we have lost to violent deaths in the US this year (2018.) We know that some deaths go unreported or undisclosed for a variety of reasons, most of which are related to transphobia. I ask you to take a moment to read this list to let the enormity of this ongoing epidemic sink in. It is the very least we can do.

1. Christa Leigh Steele-Knudslien – Massachusetts (January 6) 42 years old
2. Viccky Gutierrez – Los Angeles (January 9), 33 years old
3. Tonya ‘Kita’ Harvey – Buffalo (February 6), 35 years old
4. Celine Walker – Jacksonville, Florida (February 4), 36 years old
5. Phylicia Mitchell – Cleveland (February 23), 46 years old
6. Zakaria Fry – Stanley, New Mexico (February 19), 28 years old
7. Amia Tyrae Berryman – Baton Rouge (March 26), 28 years old
8. Sasha Wall – Chesterfield, South Carolina (April 1), 29 years old
9. Karla Patricia Pavon-Flores – Dallas (May 9), 26 years old
10. Nino Fortson – Atlanta (May 13), 36 yeas old
11. Gigi Pierce – Portland (May 21), 28 years old
12. Antash’a English – Jacksonville (June 1), 38 years old
13. Cathalina Christina James – Jacksonville (June 24), 24 years old
14. Keisha Wells – Cleveland (June 24), 58 years old
15. Sasha Garden – Orange County, Florida (July 19), 27 years old
16. Diamond Stephens – Meridian, Mississippi (June 18) 39 years old
17. Dejanay Stanton – Chicago (August 30) 24 years old
18. Vontashia Bell – Shreveport (August 30) 18 years old
19. Shantee Tucker – Philadelphia (September 5) 31 years old
20. Londonn Moore – North Point, Florida (September 8) 20 years old
21. Nikki Janelle Enriquez – Laredo, Texas (September 15) 28 years old
22. Ciara Minaj Carter Frazier – Chicago (October 3) 31 years old