Police arrested and charged a pair of suspects on Friday in connection to the murders of two Black trans women in Charlotte, North Carolina.
In eerily similar cases, Jaida Peterson, 29, and Remy Fennell, 28, were found dead in separate hotels just over a week apart, stoking fears that a serial killer could be preying on trans women. First, Peterson was discovered dead in a Quality Inn hotel on April 4 after being shot to death, as them. previously reported. Fennell was found dead on April 15 at Sleep Inn, also dying by gun violence.
During a Thursday press conference broadcast over Facebook Live, a spokesperson for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) said there were “pretty consistent similarities in both of the cases.” Rob Tufano, CMPD’s public safety communications director, warned LGBTQ+ people to be wary of additional killings.
“Both of those victims, transgender victims,” Tufano told members of the media. “Both of them sex workers. Both of them shot to death in hotels.”
But just hours after that warning, authorities announced breakthroughs in each of the homicide cases. On Friday, police named Dontarius Long and Joel Brewer as alleged suspects in a press briefing. They have been been charged with two counts of murder, two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, one count of robbery with a dangerous weapon, and one count of conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon.
CMPD is currently examining the suspects’ motives and says it’s working with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) to decide whether they will face hate crimes charges. North Carolina’s statewide hate crimes laws do not cover sexual orientation or gender identity, but those characteristics are protected at the federal level.
“If hate crime charges are appropriate, we will absolutely pursue those,” said Lt. Bryan Crum at the news conference.
While arrests have been made and charges filed, police note that the investigation is ongoing. LGBTQ+ locals are advised to remain cautious.
But such warnings are nothing new to the trans community, especially Black and Latina trans women, who experience epidemic levels of violence on a now-annual basis. According to the Human Rights Campaign, Peterson was the 14th trans person to be killed in the U.S. this year, and one of eight Black trans women to be killed in the last 5 months. That makes Fennell, whose identity was only recently released, the 15th trans person to lose their lives to violence this year.
When Peterson’s death was announced to the public earlier this week, HRC’s Tori Cooper referred to the violence these women faced as “alarming and unacceptable.” “We need everyone to speak up, affirm that Black Trans Lives Matter and take action now in order to end this violence,” said Cooper, director of the organization’s transgender justice initiative, in a statement.
In 2020, HRC group counted 44 confirmed killings of trans people, the largest number on record. Unfortunately, this year is already on track to surpass that total, with twice as many deaths in 2021 than the same point a year ago.
On April 9, about 50 close friends and family members gathered at a vigil in Tuckaseegee Park to celebrate Peterson’s life and mourn her death, the Charlotte Observer reported. Close friend Tawanda Barnett, who grew up with Peterson, told the local newspaper that she was someone who always had a smile on her face.
“That was my first best friend and first person I could ever talk to,” Barnett said. “I just don’t know how to get it together. … I just can’t believe something like that happened to my friend. She didn’t deserve that.”
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