pandora_parrot

Her parents got into a horrible car crash. Her father died, and her mother lost an arm.

There was a trial. At the trial, one of the lawyers outed her as a trans woman.

The town she lived in was... somewhat less than supportive. They threatened her and her mother with death threats.

Yesterday, at 2pm, she was kidnapped, gang raped, bludgeoned with a sledgehammer, and buried alive.

She managed to crawl out of her grave and find help, but died in ICU last night.

All this for being transgender...

Details are scant, but here's where I heard about this.

I'm hoping this turns out to be a fake story, but honestly... I wouldn't be surprised at all if this were real.

EDIT: This looks like a hoax. Read here

Threaded | Flat

From:

maestrodog.livejournal.com

It's been years, but I still experience shock and sadness whenever I think of Gwen Arujo.

From:

uncledark.livejournal.com

That's horrible.

I can't find any stories in news feeds corresponding to the details given in the article you linked. 'Course, my Google Fu is not the greatest.

From:

snakey.livejournal.com

Every time I read that, I have to fight not to start crying.

From:

jmkelly.livejournal.com

I can't find anything in the news either, but the similarity to Gwen Araujo's murder makes me suspect it's a true story.

The story appears with less detail here (http://www.lauras-playground.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8583&view=findpost&p=80246).

From:

regalpewter.livejournal.com

I need a news story to link from on this to keep spreading it.
It also confirms my feelings that I will keep my firearms (and keep current on training) no matter what.
G_d, I hope that it is false as well, but am fearful that it may be true as well.
YIS,
WRI

From:

fabmadamj.livejournal.com

It's too disturbing for it not to be real. It's days like this I feel lucky to look like an effin' linebacker with bows in my hair.

From:

drewkitty.livejournal.com

I am neither shocked nor disgusted by what people do to people any more.

As a lifelong student of crime and violence but also of social ecology, this reads like a combination of memes.

The victim's behavior does not make sense. 1200 the PD leaves. 1400 she rides a bicycle to the store? Alone? I somehow seriously doubt it.

Other scene details do not ring true. Bike in a dumpster? Doubtful, as the trash is the first place to look, not to mention prints on the bicycle. Burying alive is not all that common as someone typically kills the victim (blow to the head, smothering, etc) out of disgust from the crime just committed.

The presence or lack of body evidence (bruises, hammer marks, semen, indignities inflicted, etc.) would be very closely held by the police, as this can be used as an important detail for suspect interrogation. It also takes time to conduct this level of data collection. Even little details such as "crawled for 3 hours" require technical collaboration of a type unlikely to be provided so quickly. Distinguishing between types of blunt objects is a nontrivial detail, and a sledge breaks bones rather than leaving bruises.

Given the likelihood of death as described, I would expect homicide detectives to be very strident in pursuing any deathbed information from the victim. This is a particularly grisly part of homicide investigation, as one is essentially berating a person (often with a doctor's help and with very careful use of stimulant drugs) who knows that they are about to die in the hopes of getting something from them that will help identify their killers.

The police would not reveal any theories regarding "kids from a nearby school" as descending by surprise and in force on the school is an honored tactic in this type of investigation. Pulling suspects out of class and sweating them gives a huge advantage that is not surrendered lightly.

A Google News search for "New York transgender murder" gives 183 hits with no recent incidents. A search for "transgender murder" gives 321 hits with no matching incidents in the first twenty-odd. Only 43 hits for "transgender rape."

I am sadly familiar with the phenomenon that the murder of a transgender person, particularly one labeled as a prostitute, is sometimes not considered newsworthy. However, in today's "it bleeds, it leads" news culture, a murder with these kind of lurid details would garner at least some media attention.

This is an eight months later news story regarding a transgender murder in Sacramento. Note lack of details: http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=3987

It is still tragic that such things happen. I don't think I buy this one, however.

From:

troublesturm.livejournal.com

More info:
http://www.lauras-playground.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8583&st=0&start=0

I still am finding nothing in the news about this. It apparently happened on the 17th.

Something about this triggered my "Urban Legend" filter, but I'm not sure. I hope it isn't true, but really just want to know the truth.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=com.ubuntu%3Aen-US%3Aunofficial&num=100&q=raychel+roo+site%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.lauras-playground.com%2F&btnG=Search&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

At least it looks like Raychel was a contributer to a chat forum, on Laura's Playground, but I don't find her name when I search the site, except for the story linked above. Is the chat room she helped moderate located at a different web site? There are people posting as if they knew her and corresponded with her, but I'm finding nothing else on that site.Is the site using robots.txt to keep most of the posts unsearchable for Google? that wouldn't be a bad thing, because the discussions may contain information that shouldn't be easily discovered, but it does make confirming the story difficult.

I'll keep searching...

From:

troublesturm.livejournal.com

Whether it is true or not, the fact is that hateful people want the queer community to be afraid.

Prepared is better than scared. Fear will keep transgendered and genderqueer and genderfluidity from being seen or accepted.

Hate comes from fear and ignorance. It is hard to fear people you know, and it is hard to hate people you know.

You are all beautiful people. Don't let fear keep you from being proud of who you are.

Gay rights are now accepted as much as they are because of the transgendered and similar folks who held their ground at the Stonewall riots. These are the people who the Pride festivals are held to celebrate.

Tell yourselves how beautiful you are. Support each other. It is important to not let these acts of gender-terrorism succeed in terrorizing you. Remind yourselves and each other that you are lovely, lovable, and loved. Commit a few random acts of kindness, to try to offset the fear this creates.

If this story is true, mourn her. If it is false, remember all the others who have been victimized. But don't let fear win.

love yourselves.

From:

sunlightlotus.livejournal.com

I have to say, there is one essential part of this that screams fake... its that her parents were in the car accident just last month (which would have to be May), and there's already a trial about it???? Our justice system is just not that fast. Plus no news stories.

So Im hoping that its fake, if only because its so horrible otherwise.

From:

lisanys.livejournal.com

*numb*

From:

gtonizuka.livejournal.com

...it still deserves confirmation either way, to deal with it. Do we just blow this off since "It's an urban legend about a trans person; why do we even care", or do we investigate it and see what the truth is?It's not as if it's impossible for something this disgusting to happen, and considering the very real cases of Matthew Shepard, Gwen Araujo, and Brandon Teena, this is something that should be verfied, because it's either a)a tragedy that needs to have the perpetrators prosecuted, or b)a hoax played by a sick individual who needs to be pointed out and ostracized for suggesting that something like this is worthy of making light of.