Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

Content Note: Graphic descriptions of violence, sexual assault, brutal murder of a trans teen.

Today, prosecutors in the trial of the murder and dismemberment of 14 year old trans girl Pauly Likens successfully added two charges – Involuntary Deviant Intercourse with a minor and a general homicide charge.  Watkins had been previously charged with murder, aggravated assault, evidence tampering, and abuse of a corpse. He will stand trial on all counts.

Today was a preliminary hearing to review the charges and determine if they should proceed to the Court of Common Pleas.

The District Attorney declined to press hate crime charges, a source of contention. Also, it is seemingly a terrible hill to die on – if this isn’t worth asking the feds to bring hate crimes charges, what would be? What does he have to lose? Surely the most hardened Shenango Valley Republican understands the depravity of this crime. Right?

Early in the investigation, suspect DaShawn Watkins told police that he had sexual contact with someone, seemingly Pauly. He claimed it was consensual, but Pennsylvania law says otherwise.

According to KDKA, some of Pauly’s body pieces have not been recovered. “she died from a series of wounds to her head and neck and also had a defensive wound to her right hand.”

Another outlet, The Erie Times,  reports that the hearing brought to light that she died of six sharp force trauma wounds to the back of her head and  neck, investigators said.

I won’t kid you – this has been a difficult post to write, as short and simple as it is. I poured through every report on the hearing I could find. The descriptions of how she died are soul crushing. But what wasn’t mentioned was the weapon. We know the saw was used after she died, but what was used to inflict the wounds?

We also still don’t know much about DaShawn Watkins. He has no criminal history. It is so rare for someone to escalate from zero to murder and dismemberment that I’m quite puzzled. It doesn’t seem like they are setting the groundwork for a ‘trans panic’ defense since he went shopping for a saw. DaShawn Watkins is from the region, so why isn’t anyone coming forward to tell us about him? God forbid, there are other victims who need to be helped. He doesn’t seem to be connected to anyone powerful enough to silence the community.

I know this reads as being flippant. That’s to contain my horror. Covering this story in the months ahead feels awful. I can’t help Pauly, I can’t protect her. But I hope shining a light on this situation and working to distribute Protect Trans Kids signs will help other kids like Pauly.

I know we’ll find out more about the weapon and the motives in a future trial, but I also feel a sense of foreboding.

Meanwhile, I have to acknowledge the stellar work of The Sharon Herald, the community newspaper for the region. They came out of the gate strong on a difficult story. They hit the right notes with Pauly’s identity. And they juggled this story with the assassination attempt in nearby Butler County. That’s the power of community journalism. Follow them for what I expect to be the best and consistent coverage. That’s justice for Pauly – transparenncy.

I also want to acknowledge Autostraddle. Pittsburgh based journalist Nico Hall did a fantastic job centering Pauly and her very typical teen life, her deep friendships, and the love she brought to the world. An entire nation of trans and queer people had the chance to read that perspective