Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

Nikki Kuhnhausen was 17 years old when she disappeared from her hometown of Vancouver, Washington to allegedly meet up with a 25-year-old man she met on Snapchat. That was June 6, 2019. After she was reported missing, David Bogdanov was named a person of interest in her disappearance.

Nikki would have turned 18 on July 6 this year.

Bogdanov claimed Nikki walked away from his vehicle after a dispute. Her body was discovered on Larch Mountain in the remote northeastern part of Clark County, Washington on December 7.

For six months, no one knew what happened to Nikki and now their worst fears have been confirmed. She didn’t get to graduate high school or experience a single moment of her adult life potential. Her life was extinguished by a man she met online and only because of her gender identity.

It seems important to note that no 25-year-old man should be meeting secretly with a 17-year-old, cisgender or transgender, male or female.

Monica Roberts at TransGriot reports:

Bogdanov was arrested on December 17 by Vancouver police and charged with Kuhnhausen’s murder, and his cell phone records according to detectives,  put him in the same remote area of northeastern Clark County on June 6 where Nikki’s remains were found.

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

We will share more details as they become available. Sadly, the mainstream media maintains its record of misgendering and poor reporting on Nikki’s life and death. Putting her name “in quotes” is not accurate or responsible, especially when the man who killed her is claiming her identity made him do it.

Rest in power, Nikki. You deserved a good, joyful transition from your youth to adulthood and an adult life filled with joy, passion, and love. Your friends never stopped hoping. Your family misses you.

My list of transgender neighbors lost during the calendar year 2019. It seems each year in this process of documenting the lives and deaths of our trans neighbors, the numbers start to differ – folks are using different criteria. Details about too many deaths are obscured or never come to light making it hard to pin down just how many transgender neighbors are caught up in this epidemic each year. I try to be as accurate as possible with details for the discrepancies listed below. I know that no list like this one could ever be comprehensive or thorough.

1. Dana Martin – Montgomery, Alabama. January 6, 2019. Age: 31.
2. Ashanti Carmon – Fairmount Heights, Maryland. March 30, 2019. Age: 27
3. Claire Legato – Cleveland. May 14, 2019. Age: 21
4. Muhlaysia Booker – Dallas. May 18, 2019. Age 23.
5. Michelle Simone Tameka Washington – Philadelphia, May 19, 2019. Age 40.
6. Paris Cameron – Detroit, May 25, 2019. Age 20.
7. Chynal Lindsey – Dallas, June 1, 2019. Age 26.
8. Chanel Scurlock – Lumberton, North Carolina, June 5, 2029. Age 23.
9. Jazzaline Ware – Memphis, Tennessee, March 2019. Age 34. **
10. Zoe Spears – Fairmount Heights, Maryland. June 14, 2019. Age 23
11. Brooklyn Lindsey – Kansas City, June 25, 2019. Age 32
12. Denali Berries Stuckey – Charleston, July 20, 2019. Age 29
13. Kiki Fantroy – Miami, July 31, 2019. Age 21
14. Pebbles LaDime ‘Dime’ Doe – Allendale, South Carolina, August 4, 2019. Age 24
15. Jordan Cofer – Dayton, Ohio, August 4, 2019. Age 22.
16. Tracy Single – Houston, Texas, July 30, 2019. Age 22.
17. Bailey Reeves – Baltimore, Maryland, September 2, 2019. Age 17.
18. Bee Love – Clewiston, Florida, September 6, 2019. Age 21.
19. Itali Marlowe, Houston, September 20, 2019. Age 29.
20. Brianna Hill, Kansas City, October 14, 2019. Age 30.
21. Nikki Kuhnhausen – Vancouver, Washington State, June 6, 2019. Age 17.

** Jazzaline Ware’s body was discovered in her apartment in Memphis, Tennessee in March. Cause of death was originally death by suicide, but according to The Advocate, authorities are now investigating her death as a homicide.

*** The death of Keyiariah Quick on August 10, 2019 in Carthage, North Carolina has been called into question. We will continue to monitor those details. Keyiariah was 25.

*** The death of Elisha Chanel “Diamond” Stanley on September 16, 2019 in Pittsburgh has been ruled an accidental overdose. We have more information here. 

**** Ja’leyah-Jamar Berryman was killed in September across the state line in Kansas City, Kan. Initial reports identified the victim as a trans woman, but Berryman’s family released a video saying Berryman was male. In keeping with LGBTQ media outlets, I have removed Berryman from my list pending any further information.