Houston Police Department(HOUSTON) — A man has been charged in the murder of a 22-year-old transgender woman he was dating who was found dead last month, according to Houston police.
The body of Tracy Williams, also known as Tracy Single, was found on July 30 about 3:30 a.m. in a parking lot on Interstate 10 in Houston, officials from the Houston Police Department said in a press release. She had sustained a “puncture wound” and severe lacerations, police said.
The medical examiner ruled Williams’ death a homicide.
Joshua Dominic Bourgeois, 25, was considered a suspect after investigators learned he had been in a “dating relationship” with Williams, police said. He was arrested Friday and charged with murder, according to online jail records.
Bourgeois is being held at the Harris County jail without bond. It is unclear if he has retained an attorney.
Williams was the oldest of six children and was living in an apartment in west Houston at the time of her death, friends and family told NBC Houston affiliate KPRC earlier this month.
Previously, Williams had been living at the Montrose Grace Place, the Houston Chronicle reported. The nonprofit organization houses “homeless youth of all sexual orientations and gender identities” between the ages of 13 and 21, according to its website.
Friends described Williams to the Chronicle as being spontaneous, outgoing and an expert fashionista.
Since January, 16 transgender people, including Williams, have been killed, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Last year, 26 transgender people died as a result of violent acts, according to the group’s tracking of such deaths.
Many of the victims have been black women, according to the HRC.
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