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Hers is at least the 23rd violent death of a transgender person in the U.S. this year.
Dylan Gurley, a 20-year-old transgender woman, was stabbed and strangled to death July 23 in Denton, Texas.
Her death and her trans identity are just now being widely reported. She was identified by police July 30, and her killing is being investigated as a homicide, according to the Denton Record-Chronicle. She was found in a home in Denton and was pronounced dead at a local hospital shortly afterward.
“A medical examiner ruled her death a homicide and her cause of death as blunt and sharp force injuries with strangulation,” the paper notes. She lived in Little Elm, Texas, and was experiencing homelessness at the time she was killed. She would have turned 21 August 18.
She was misgendered in some media coverage and a medical report, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
Her family has set up a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for a memorial service for Gurley. “We are just trying to put the pieces back together as best as we can and appreciate any and all help,” Senica Ciarallo, her sister, wrote on the GoFundMe page.
“Dylan is at least the fifth transgender person to be murdered this year while experiencing homelessness — and this is tragically not a coincidence,” Tori Cooper, director of community engagement for HRC’s Transgender Justice Initiative, said in a press release. “Studies show that 30 percent of transgender individuals have experienced homelessness at some point in their lives, which further endangers them and puts them in the path of fatal violence. Dylan deserved safety while she was alive, and now she deserves justice.”
She is the 23rd trans person known to have died by violence in the U.S. this year. She is also is the 36th trans or gender-expansive victim of fatal violence identified in Texas since HRC began tracking these deaths in 2013, with the state leading the nation in this sad statistic.
Denton police have yet to identify a suspect. They ask that anyone with information contact them at (940) 349-7977 or leave a tip anonymously at DentonCountyCrimeStoppers.com.
