Dallas Cops Tap FBI To Help Investigate String Of Transgender Murders

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Dallas Police Department Requests Help Of FBI After Latest Transgender Woman Is Killed

The FBI is being brought in after a number of transgender women have been murdered in the Dallas area.

According to ABC News, officers with the Dallas Police Department made the request after many of the investigation have currently been unsolved.

Most recently, a transgender woman, Chynal Lindsey, was found dead in a lake over the weekend. Her death came just less than a month after another Black transgender woman, 22-year-old Muhlaysia Booker, was found shot to death in Dallas. Cops didn’t reveal a suspected cause of death for Lindsay, but Dallas Police Chief Reneé Hall explained that her body had “obvious signs of homicidal violence.”

“The Dallas Police Department has reached out to the FBI because as we know, this is the second individual who is transgender, who is deceased in our community,” Hall said at a Monday press conference. “We are concerned, we are actively and aggressively investigating this case. And we have reached out to our federal partners to assist us in these efforts.”

Along with Lindsey and Booker’s death, another trans woman, Brittany White, 29, was fatally shot inside her car in southeast Dallas back in October. Meanwhile, another trans woman was nearly stabbed to death in April.

Clearly, this is, and has been, a national crisis.

The Human Rights Campaign has documented at least 136 deaths of transgender people since 2013 due to fatal violence, with most of the victims being Black transgender women. Even with this info, the organization said the violence is still hard to track because of misgendering and transphobia. The actual number of murders could be much higher said the organization.

“We are asking for our community’s assistance in this, in this tragic event,” Hall said, in reference to Lindsey’s case. “We don’t have all the answers and we’re looking for community if you have any information relative to where she was last seen, who she left with, who she frequently had contact with, we’re asking that you contact the Dallas police department.”

An FBI spokeswoman told ABC News that the bureau is “prepared to assist” if it becomes apparent that there could be “a potential federal civil rights violation.”

“The FBI is committed to investigating all federal crimes and providing assistance to our local partners when asked,” the spokesperson said. “We will continue to work with the Dallas Police Department as well as all our community partners to address any concerns. If in the course of the local investigation, information comes to light of a potential federal civil rights violation, the FBI is prepared to assist.”