Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

It was January 18, 2021 when a 42-year-old trans Latina was shot to death in Albuquerque. Earlier in 2025, police announced that they have the suspect in custody.

According to new reports from 2021 and 2025, this trans woman was known as Chilendrina Gracia Dominguez. They also report her deadname which I will not share, but the linked stories do. I have found other references with the spelling Chilindrina. Chilendrena, and Chilindrina as variants of this name, what might be called a pet name. It is the closest thing we have to a piece of her identity beyond the details of her death.

She is known to us as Chilendrina Grazia Dominguez, 42, born in Ciudad Guerrero Chihuahua. Mexico where she lived her youth. Then she settled in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She was married to a woman and parented one son. This is her obituary, it deadnames and misgenders her. What caught my attention is that other the first same of the her spouse and son, there are no names listed. It reads very defensive and secretive. Granted, it was written after a terrible violent loss.

And based on the roommate’s testimony, we know that Chilendrena said no to sex. She was killed because she would not barter her body for meth. It wasn’t so-called trans panic. It was an experience all sorts of woman around the world struggle with – controlling our bodies, men demanding sex and reacting violently when denied.

No means no. It is a universal right that binds cisgender women, trans women, and nonbinary folx -along with everyone, of course – but it should be a rallying cry that brings us closer together, one that stops the ceaseless assault on trans people, women in particular

The obituary for this woman uses her dead name and misgenders her. In this obituary, there is zero indication that Chilendrina was a trans woman. It very heavy handily emphasizes what we consider traditional masculine values, almost defying anyone suggest she was a woman. While of course my heart breaks for the family’s pain, it also breaks my heart that she was erased from her own life and death.

It seems fair to assume that Chilendrina’s family was not supportive. But the media has been a little. As have law enforcement, such a strange turn of affairs. I’m speculating that the roommate provided information and the crime scene reinforced her identity? The media got the information from somewhere.

A local business provided video footage, an anonymous source provided leads from social media, and a lawyer representing the mother of the suspect all stepped forward – along with the unnamed roommate – to seek justice for Chilendrina and to protect others from violence. It took four years to find and arrest the killer. I wonder what would have happened if the larger LGBTQ community had been notified?

How did we miss her? I’m not 100% sure, but most of the TDor sources I’ve consulted do not list her.

From the Albuquerque Journal in 2025:

An Arizona man was arrested last week in connection with the 2021 fatal shooting of a transgender woman in Northeast Albuquerque.

At 6:16 a.m. Jan. 18, 2021, the Albuquerque Police Department responded to a call of shots fired in the 100 block of Rhode Island NE, near Central. The caller told dispatch that their roommate and friend — later identified as Dominguez — was shot and appeared to be dead, according to the complaint.

The roommate told police they and Dominguez were putting on makeup when Dominguez asked if it was OK for a man to come over, the complaint states. After the man — later identified as Montano — arrived, the roommate told police Montano wanted to have sex with them, but the roommate rejected him, police said.

Less than an hour before the call of the shooting, the roommate told police the two sent flirtatious messages to men on Grindr “offering to trade sexual acts in exchange for illegal narcotics,” the complaint states.

From KQRE

The Albuquerque Police Department reports that as officers arrived at the scene, a second caller stated their friend had been shot. Officers located a female with an apparent gunshot wound and authorities say the female died from her injuries at the scene.

Eric Montano, 33, of Sacaton, Arizona, is charged with an open count of murder in the Jan. 18, 2021, shooting death

I’ve worked pretty hard to find any scrap of information about this woman, but the language barrier has been an issue. Still now that we know she lived, we can honor her moving forward on TDoR lists using her pet name. She is no longer lost or erased, she is cherished and remembered. And the person who took her life will not hurt other women.

I hope LGBTQ folx in New Mexico will follow the trial to ensure justice for her. I hope her friends feel free to come forward to tell us about her life.

2021 was a difficult year. I recorded 57 violent deaths, now 58. Six of those incidents were reported after the fact. One involved another trans woman from Albuquerque, Za’Niyah Williams, who was 21 years old when she was killed in December 2021.

My heart hurts to think she was erased like far too many members of the trans community, erased even after death. I was to thank D.R. for assisting me with translation and cultural context.

Rest in power, Chilendrina Gracia Dominguez. Justice for your death has moved ahead, Transparency about your life and identity remain unclear, but there’s a better chance of finding your story now. You deserved to be safe, to say ‘no’ and be heard. You deserve to be remembered and mourned. You are not forgotten.

May your memory be a revolution.