Authorities in Texas have contacted the FBI after a second black transgender woman was found murdered in Dallas within the past two weeks, with another transgender woman killed in October.
The Dallas Morning News reported that the body pulled from White Rock Lake on Sunday was identified as Chynal Lindsey, 26. Dallas police confirmed Monday that her death is being investigated as a homicide.
Dallas police Chief U. Reneé Hall said Lindsey’s body had “obvious signs of homicidal violence,” according to the Dallas Observer. Alarmingly, local authorities are reportedly in the process of investigating the murders of two other transgender women.
Less than a mile away from where Lindsey’s body was found, Muhlaysia Booker, 23, was found shot to death on a road near the Tenison Park Golf Course. Her May 18 slaying reportedly came a month after several men were filmed assaulting Booker in the parking lot of a Dallas apartment complex after she accidentally backed into a vehicle and tried to leave the scene.
Despite this, police Major Vincent Weddington said there’s no indication that the man charged in the initial assault had any involvement in Booker’s murder, according to The New York Times.
In addition to Lindsey and Booker, police are still working to find who killed Brittany White, 29. White was reportedly found fatally shot in a parked car located in southeast Dallas. The Observer noted that another transgender woman was stabbed and left for dead in April.
While Dallas police haven’t confirmed whether they believe the four cases are linked, Weddington said last month that two of the women got into a vehicle with someone before they were attacked. The third woman let someone into her car before she was attacked, he said.
“We are concerned,” Hall said. “We are actively and aggressively investigating this case.”
[Featured image: Chynal Lindsey/Dallas Police Department]
