Remembering Our Dead

Transgender Death Statistics - 1970 through the Present

Compiled by Monica F. Helms, using information gathered and updated by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

224 Total - 187 Domestic, 37 International

as of 10/20/2001

This list should NOT be considered complete, by no means.  This is only made up of the names we know of.  New names are continually added when friends and family of deceased Transgender individuals become aware of this list and contact us.  In recent years, more efficient reporting of crimes against Transgender people has led to an apparent increase in numbers.  Even with better reporting, this list will never be accurate.  Law enforcement agencies are not always aware that a person is Transgender, or they may not consider that information pertinent to the crime.  Also, it is important to note that hundreds of Transgender people are brutally assaulted yearly, and survive.  This list represents just the "tip of the iceberg" as far as violence against Transgender people goes.

         International figures are, as expected, grossly inaccurate, due to the even less importance on reporting crimes against the Transgendered in other countries.  This is slowly improving, but we will never stop relying on the vigilance of the Transgender citizens of foreign countries to keep all of us informed.

        "Vigilance" will remain key throughout America, as well.  We remember the individuals on this list because they are our "family," and others need to learn from their passing.  If their deaths can be used to educate the general population and to improve their understanding of Transgender people, then those on this list will not have died in vain.

1970s

19 - Domestic, 1 - International

1980-1984

11 - Domestic, 4 - International

1985 -- 6 Total

6 - Domestic, 0 - International

1986 -- 6 Total

6 - Domestic, 0 - International

1987 -- 6 Total

5 - Domestic, 1 - International

1988 -- 7 Total

5 - Domestic, 2 - International

1989 -- 6 Total

6 - Domestic, 0 - International

1990 -- 13 Total

12 - Domestic, 1 - International

1991 -- 13 Total

13 - Domestic, 0 - International

1992 -- 13 Total

11 - Domestic, 2 - International

1993 -- 16 Total

14 - Domestic, 2 - International

1994 -- 6 Total

6 - Domestic, 0 - International

1995 -- 16 Total

13 - Domestic, 3 - International

1996 -- 10 Total

8 - Domestic, 2 - International

1997 -- 18 Total

9 - Domestic, 9 - International

1998 -- 12 Total

9 - Domestic, 3 - International

1999 -- 14 Total

13 - Domestic, 1 - International

2000 -- 18 as of 10/31/00

12 - Domestic, 6 - International

2001 -- 9 as of 10/20/01

9 - Domestic, 0 - International

Footnotes

• Deadliest Years – 1997, 2000 - 18

• Deadliest Domestic Year(s) - 1991, 1993, 1995, 1999 - 13

• Deadliest International Year - 1997 - 9

• Deadliest months(s) - 6/90, 10/91, 12/92 - 4

[1] 1980 - Kristi Independence Kelly - The suspicion is that "Dannites", the covert paramilitary wing of the Mormon Church, assassinated her. 

[2] 8/8/95 - Tyra Hunter - She dies from non-life-threatening injuries received in an auto accident because EM workers stopped treating her when they discovered that she was Transgendered.

[3] 2/22/96 - Logan Smith - Died from internal injuries after being kicked by the police.

[4] 3/22/96 - Christian Paige - Cause of death: Beaten, Stabbed and Strangled.

[5] 1/17/99 - Robert Eads - After being turned down by 20 doctors because he was a Female-to-Male Transsexual, he found a doctor to treat his cancer, but it was too late.

[6] 7/5/99 - PFC Barry Winchell - He did not identify as Transgender, but was killed in part for dating a Transsexual.

[7] 2/3/00 - Jill Seidel - Cause still undetermined, but it is suspected that local pimps killed her.

[8] 2/16/00 - Vanese-Lorena Ledesma - The police in Argentina listed the cause of death as "cardiac arrest", in spite of no history of heart problems. Autopsy showed she was beaten and tortured.

[9] 3/4/00 - Michelle Lynne O'Hara - She committed suicide after being beaten and raped.

[10] 6/18/00 - Amanda Milan bled to death, while cab drivers along the street cheered and applauded.

[11] 1/21/01 - James Jerome Mack was not Transgendered, but was in a relationship with a Transgendered woman. His death is a direct result of this relationship. Not only was he beaten and strangled, but drowned, then his body was set on fire.

[12] 4/3/01 – Robert Martin was severely beaten on 1/7/01 and laid in a semi-coma state in the hospital until his death.

[13] 6/16/01 - Fred C. Martinez Jr., 16, was a Navajo Native American, living in the Four Corners region of Colorado. The person accused to have murdered him was 18-year-old Shaun Murphy. Martinez’s body was found on 6/21/01, in a rocky canyon a few blocks from his trailer home. This is the first Transgender death reported in Colorado.

[14] 7/29/01 - Willie Houston was not himself transgendered, but faced anti-transgendered and (and anti-gay) violence because he was carrying his wife’s purse, and assisting a blind male.