Black Trans Woman Murdered in North Carolina Is Ninth This Year

The body of Chanel Scurlock, 23, was found in a field early Wednesday.

Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.

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Trudy Ring

June 06 2019 3:41 PM EST

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Another Black transgender woman has been murdered, her body found in a field in Lumberton, N.C., shortly after midnight Wednesday.

The victim, identified by friends and activists as Chanel Scurlock, 23, had suffered fatal gunshot wounds. Reports by local media misgendered and deadnamed her, and her mother said Scurlock was a gay man. But trans activist Monica Roberts and friends posting on Facebook identified her as a trans woman. Scurlock lived in Lumber Bridge, about 20 miles from Lumberton, in the southern part of the state. She is the ninth trans American known to have been murdered this year; all of them are Black women.

A photo showing Scurlock in feminine clothing was taken down recently from an unknown person's Facebook page recently, and she was going to meet Tuesday night with the person who deleted it, Raleigh TV station WRAL reports. Friends feared she was going into a dangerous situation, according to the station.

Robeson County sheriff's deputies found Scurlock's body when responding to a report of gunfire. Her car was missing but was recovered later in the day.

Sheriff Burnis Wilkins told local paper The Robesonian that his detectives have "great leads" in the case. They are "working diligently to bring closure to a grieving family," he said.