Her name was Jasmine

 photo jasmine_0_zpsyvamphqw.jpgBack in January...January 22 to be exact....police found the body of Jasmine Sierra, a 52-year-oldtransgender woman of color, was found in an apartment in Bakersfield, CA. According to the police report, the body showed signs of trauma and foul play.

While police reportedly interviewed neighbors and witnesses about hearing gunshots and fighting, they won't release further specifics about the circumstances of Sierra’s death. Calls to Bakersfield police were not returned by press time.

Unfortunately, at the time the coroner and media identified Jasmine as a male and used her birth name, while asking "anyone with information helpful to the investigation to call police."

Because of the deadnaming, none of Jasmine's friends and acquaintances could help out because they didn't know she was dead.

Her friend of 30 years, Veronica Soto, is a transwoman.

I just cant believe how she passed away, it was horrible to hear what happened to her.

We live as a woman, as female. That's how we are. That's how we feel, mentally, emotionally, and that's how we identify ourselves.

--Soto

Soto has only just begun to mourn her friend.

I don't know who Robert Sierra is.

--Shantell Waldo, another close friend of Jasmine

Bakersfield Police Department Sergeant Gary Carruesco said in the state of California the coroner identifies the body and gender as well. He said even if a person was born a male and identified as a female, the department might not release that information especially if it is an ongoing investigation.

Waldo and Soto say they wish they could have given Jasmine a proper goodbye.

A vigil was held yesterday in front of the Bakersfield Police Department.

They looked at her driver's license and saw M and she became a man.

--Karen Adell Scot, TransCare

I just want to see that this sort of violence is put to an end.

--Audra Kilman

It needs to be justice for everyone, no matter who you are, because at the end of the day, we all bleed the same.

--Audra's mother, Barbara

She was a very loving, very kind, very forgiving, very generous, happy-go-lucky person.

There's somebody out there right now who's responsible for this and if you don't pay in this world, you will pay in the next. Jasmine will not be forgotten. This is not over yet.

--Ramona Sierra, Jasmine's sister

Jasmine is the fifth known transgender murder victim of this year.

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Comments

Granma's picture

Besides all the rest, stupidity not to name the person as that person identified. How did they think they could hope to solve a murder suppressing the name the victim lived as?
Very,very sad.

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Steven D's picture

So much hate, so much violence, and for what?

Peace, Robyn

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"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott

pfiore8's picture

when such injustice exists... murdered and then murdered again by the state, stupid and ignorant.

makes me so effin' angry.

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“There are moments which are not calculable, and cannot be assessed in words; they live on in the solution of memory… ”
― Lawrence Durrell, "Justine"

Seriously -- can't we have some sort of official paperwork, like a codicil or addendum to the original birth certificate to indicate when a person transitions? How the H-E-double hockey sticks are police supposed to solve a murder investigation when they give out the wrong name? Of course there are probably some who would prefer that the murders not be solved, in order to keep transfolks in the shadows in fear...

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Haikukitty's picture

Even if they felt compelled to use her legal name and birth gender, could they not have included the extremely relevant information that she goes by Jasmine and identifies as a woman? I don't like to see bad motives everywhere, but one can't help but wonder if they disapproved so didn't include all the information.

Its hard to see how leaving it out could be unintentional.

I've often seen articles that talk of people/crimes and mention "suspect so-and-so is also known to go by the name of John doe" so why would they not have included the name she goes by?

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