Dominique Lucious, 26, is the 14th trans or gender nonbinary person to be murdered in 2021, according to Human Rights Campaign.
Dominique Lucious, a 26-year-old Black trans woman, was brutally murdered in Springfield, Missouri, last week after meeting her suspected assailant on a dating site, according to police. Authorities found her shot to death in an apartment Thursday morning and witnesses who saw someone leave shortly after shots were fired helped authorities identify the suspect, published reports said.
Charles Nelson, 28, was arrested on second degree murder and is being held without bond. He is due back in court on May 3 and he does not yet have an attorney listed.
“Whatever the case may have been, they didn’t have to kill Dominique,” Lucious’ cousin Ciara Williams told KY3.
Investigators said the pair had met on dating site Plenty of Fish, and Lucious had spent the night in the apartment, according to Ozarks Independent.
Police were responding to a 911 call before 7 a.m. of shots fired when they discovered Lucious' body. She was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.
Many witnesses saw a man leave the scene, and took down details of a car that had been there, according to court documents. Police also used text messages on Lucious’ phone to identify Nelson as a suspect, Springfield News reported.
Nelson had initially agreed to speak with police, and when authorities caught up to him, they reportedly discovered blood on his shoes and a gun in his home that matched the one they believed to have been used in the shooting, court documents filed by prosecutors said. He drives the same type of car that was on the scene, according to court documents.
Nelson was arrested the night of the shooting.
Those who knew Lucious remembered her for her bright personality.
”She loved herself how she was and that’s what made everybody adore her,” Williams said. “If she had her red lip stick and her red nails, she didn’t care what you had to say about her. And I loved that so much about her.”
Lucious' family is also accepting donations for her funeral service.
The Human Rights Campaign, an organization dedicated to ending discrimination against LGBTQ people, named Lucious the 14th trans or gender non-binary person killed in 2021.
“Trans women, particularly trans women of color, are disproportionately victims of violent crime,” The GLO Center, a non-profit supporting the LGBTQ in the Ozarks, said in a statement. “This murder and the other senseless slaying of trans folks must be contextualized within the anti-trans rhetoric and actions taken by too many. It is 2021 and we must understand that trans rights are human rights.”
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