Dallas police arrested 22-year-old Ruben Alvarado on Thursday in connection to the murder of Chynal Lindsey, a Black trans woman who was killed on June 1.
Lindsey is one of at least 10 Black trans women who have been killed in the U.S. in 2019, and at least the fifth trans woman to be killed in Dallas in the last three years. Dallas has been marred by anti-trans violence especially in the last few months. BuzzFeed News reports a Black trans woman was stabbed but survived on April 13, the same week 23-year-old Muhlaysia Booker, another Black trans woman living in Dallas, was filmed being brutally beaten on the street in broad daylight. Just over a month later, she was found shot to death on the street. Within just a few weeks and a few miles, Lindsey’s body was found on June 1.
While repeated attacks on a subsection of a marginalized community have many in the Dallas LGBTQ community concerned, police say they have no reason to suspect that a serial killer may be involved in these deaths. According to BuzzFeed News, many trans women have been pushed out of Dallas’ biggest LGBTQ neighborhood by gentrification, making them more vulnerable to transphobic violence. Two murders of Black trans women, 29-year-old Brittany White in 2018 and 22-year-old Shade Schuler in 2015, remain unsolved. Last week, police announced they had arrested a suspect in Booker’s murder. While he was also initially investigated for Lindsey’s death, police said they found no connection.
Instead, police brought in Alvarado for questioning on Thursday. He refused to answer any questions about the death of Lindsey, and the police subsequently booked him on suspicion of murder. They have not yet shared with the public how they found Alvarado, or what, if any, connection he had to Lindsey before she was killed.
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H/T BuzzFeed News