Dallas police work to recreate final days of murdered transgender woman Chynal Lindsey
Dallas police are working to recreate the final days and movements of murdered transgender woman Chynal Lindsey.
Lindsey’s body was found Saturday in the 4100 block of Lawther Drive along White Rock Lake. She is the second black transgender woman killed in the last three weeks in Dallas.
Detectives are working to establish where Lindsey went, who she saw and who were her friends. They are also analyzing her social media and trying to determine if she was using any popular dating apps. Police said the goal is to try to build a profile of the killer who took her life.
Tamaya Lindsey fought back tears as she spoke about her cousin, Chynal, whom she knew as Jason Haslett.
“The sad part is he's not even a fighter,” Tamaya said. “He probably didn't even fight back and that's what bothers me because that's how harmless he was.”
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins expressed his concern during a public meeting where commissioners were reading a proclamation to honor June as LGBTQ Pride Month.
“Along the lines of being an epidemic of violence against and hate against one group of people, we're going to have to redouble our efforts and stop it immediately,” Jenkins said.
Leslie McMurray works with the Resource Center in Dallas. She says there's a lot of fear in the transgender community.
“The echoes of Muhlaysia's funeral have hardly ended before there's another murder of a transgender woman,” she said.
A map pinpoints where the three murders happened all in the same general area. A fourth marker shows where a transgender woman was stabbed in April and left for dead but survived. Detectives are trying to profile who the killer is.
Tamaya is pleading for the public's help.
“I'm just begging the community to just please speak up because he was loved,” Tamaya said. “He was a person and we loved him so much.”
The murder of Lindsey just weeks after the still unsolved murder of Muhlaysia Booker has stirred part of the United Methodist Church in North Texas.
“We could not let that go without gathering up lay and clergy to express our dismay and disgust at the murders of these young women/10 and to tell the transgender community that we are with them one hundred percent,” said Rev. Dr. Sheron Patterson, Hamilton Park United Methodist Church.
Some of those attending the United Methodist Church North Texas conference spoke out not just against the violence, but in support of the transgender victims.
“We're here also to be a part of the black transwomen's lives, not just their funerals,” Joy Parks, Union United Methodist Church.
“I think it’s also important just to remember that this is a marginalized community that is often forgotten and is pushed off to the side of our society and some people consider them to be throwaway people and that they're not concerned about it. God loves all people we love all people,” said John Horany, Chairman of Trustees, Oak Lawn United Methodist Church.
Dallas PD is hosting a South Dallas safety meeting the MLK rec center on Thursday. Several members of the LGBTQ community plan to attend. The meeting begins at 6 p.m.
People who may have information about the murder of Lindsey are asked to call homicide detective Erica King at 214-671-3684.