Unfinished Lives

Remembering LGBT Hate Crime Victims

Greeley Police and the Zapata Family Speak about Angie Zapata’s Murder

View a Greeley Police press conference, where Police Chief Jerry Garner announces the arrest of Angie Zapata’s alleged killer.

In the video, Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck expressed how Weld County and the City of Greeley will dedicate their best efforts to prosecute the man who murdered Angie Zapata. Buck said, “It doesn’t matter who the victim is, or whether the victim is victimized because they are a certain race, religion, sexual orientation. It’s a crime, and in Weld County, in Greeley, we’re going to do the best we can to enforce the law. It [murder] can’t be tolerated at any level.”

Buck continued, saying, “I hope that if anything positive were to come of this we would develop a stronger relationship with the gay and lesbian, transgender, community so that they understand just how seriously we take crimes like this, and how vigorously we will pursue justice in a situation like this…. We are not tolerant of people who would do harm to the residents of our town.”

Excerpts of the press conference are reported by the Greeley Tribune:

 

In this video, members of the Zapata family speak about the death of Angie Zapata:

 

In a recent article, CBS Channel 4 in Denver published this photo of Zapata’s alleged killer, Allen Ray Andrade:

 

According to the CBS Channel 4 caption, “Allen Ray Andrade, 31, faces several charges, including second-degree murder in the death of Justin Zapata, 20, who was known as Angie Zapata. Her bloodied, battered body was discovered in her apartment by her sister on July 17.”

 

 

August 6, 2008 Posted by | Bludgeoning, Colorado, Latino and Latina Americans, Law and Order, Perpetrators of Hate Crime, transgender persons | , , , | Comments Off on Greeley Police and the Zapata Family Speak about Angie Zapata’s Murder

Justin “Angie” Zapata murdered in Colorado hate crime

Teenager Justin “Angie” Zapata was found dead in her Greeley, Colorado, apartment on July 17, the apparent victim of an anti-LGBT hate crime.  Zapata, who was 18 years old, sustained wounds to the head and face with a fire extinguisher.

Kelly Costello, director of victim services at the Colorado Anti-Violence Program, served as Zapata’s family’s spokesperson and said this is not the first time transgendered persons have been targeted by violent crimes in Colorado. “It’s frightening but not necessarily surprising,” Costello said. “It does send out a ripple effect and lets everyone know how vulnerable they are.” Costello’s remarks appeared in a Denver Post article on July 25.

According to a July 31 Associated Press article, Zapata’s killer, 20-year-old Allen Ray Andrade, made remarks showing he did not afford his victim the status of a full human being. While speaking to investigators about his involvement in the hate crime, Andrade referred to Zapata as an “it”. Andrade said that after hitting his victim twice in the head with a fire extinguisher, he thought he had “killed it.”

Responding to the suspect’s remarks, Greeley Police Chief Jerry Garner said he felt disgusted by the comment. “It’s a horrible thing to say.”

After reading about her sister’s killer, Monica Murguia, told Denver’s KDVR-TV that Andrade deserved to remain behind bars forever. “He took a part of our heart, he did, when he killed her.”

August 1, 2008 Posted by | Bludgeoning, Colorado, Hate Crimes, Latino and Latina Americans, Perpetrators of Hate Crime, transgender persons | , , , , | 3 Comments

As Ebony Whitaker laid to rest, hate crime concerns continue in Memphis

According to a July 8 Out & About Newspaper article, the murder of transgender woman Ebony (Rodney) Whitaker has raised concerns about anti-gay violence in Memphis, Tennessee.  As Whitaker’s body was laid to rest on Monday, the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition (TTPC) called upon the Memphis Police Department to be more responsive when it comes to crimes committed against the transgender community.

Whitaker’s murder is considered the latest in a string of violent crimes against transgendered persons in Memphis.  TTPC president Marisa Richmond said that the unsolved murder of Tiffany Berry and the police beating of Duanna Johnson point to an unacceptable trend of violence.  “The lack of response by the Memphis Police Department,” says Richmond, “has set a tone in the community that the lives of transgender people, especially African-American, are irrelevant.”

 

Watch the video of Duanna Johnson’s beating by Memphis Police in February.

 

For more information about Ebony (Rodney) Whitaker, read a related article at the Memphis Eyewitness News website.

July 11, 2008 Posted by | African Americans, Hate Crimes, police brutality, Tennessee, transgender persons | , , , , | 1 Comment

Murdered transgendered woman a possible hate crime victim

Memphis police are investigating the death of Rodney Whitaker, age 20, an African American transgendered woman who was found on July 1, 2008, in Memphis, Tennessee.

While police are currently investigating the circumstances of the crime, says Tennessee Equality Project President Christopher Sanders, there is reason to believe that Whitaker’s murder was a hate crime fueled by “transphobia.”

Whitaker’s murder is the latest in a string of hate crimes against the Memphis transgender community.  This week’s murder follows the February 16 murder of African American transgendered woman, Tiffany Berry.

Read the original article at the Out & About online newspaper.

Read a related article at the Memphis Eyewitness News website.

July 3, 2008 Posted by | African Americans, Hate Crimes, Tennessee, transgender persons | , , , | Comments Off on Murdered transgendered woman a possible hate crime victim

Project Activity — 2004, 2005, and 2006

2004– Fort Lauderdale, Florida

June 2006– San Francisco Bay Area, California, to conduct research on Diane Whipple, Gwen Araujo, and Harvey Milk.

In the summer of 2006, Unfinished Lives project director Stephen V. Sprinkle visited the San Francisco Bay Area to conduct research about anti-LGBT hate crimes victims. His work included research about Harvey Milk. Sprinkle shares some of his recollections from the trip:

“On my first major trip to study LGBT hate crimes murder victims, I traveled to Gay Mecca, the Castro in San Francisco. Though this was one of several visits to Castro Street through the years, the summer of 2006 was different. It was the year I met Harvey.

“Gay life is as vibrant as those who live it, and the Castro is Ground Zero for all LGBT people thanks to Harvey, the ‘Mayor of Castro Street.’ On my way to the HRC Store, I had walked right by Harvey Milk’s camera shop without noticing it. A friendly clerk at the HRC named Fidel pointed me back there, and I walked back across the street and down the block until I stood facing the closed and vacant shop at 575 Castro Street. Down at my feet was a bronze plaque commemorating Harvey’s shop and home.

“I looked up and saw a mural of Harvey standing in the window, looking down from the second floor at the beloved community he represented as the first openly gay person elected to a major office in America. He and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated in City Hall by Dan White, a disgruntled former city supervisor, on November 27, 1978.”

July 2006 – Laramie, Wyoming

July 2006– Cortez, Colorado, to conduct research on F.C. Martinez.

2006– Fort Lauderdale and Miami, Florida

July 1, 2008 Posted by | Anglo Americans, California, Colorado, Florida, gay men, gun violence, Latino and Latina Americans, Monuments and markers, Native Americans, Perpetrators of Hate Crime, Politics, Project Activity Summaries, transgender persons, Wyoming | | Comments Off on Project Activity — 2004, 2005, and 2006

A Welcome Message

Stephen V. Sprinkle

Welcome to the Unfinished Lives Project, a place to remember and honor LGBT hate crime victims.

Our mission is to reveal the reality of unseen violence perpetrated against people whose only “offense” is their sexual orientation; to make anti-LGBT hate crime statistics available to our communities; to educate about the nature of hate crimes and how it affects LGBT and other communities; and to eliminate hate crime through social justice and awareness activities. On our website, we’ve dedicated pages and posts to achieve our mission:

A near brush with anti-gay hate crime in the late 1990’s in Fort Worth, Texas, shocked me awake to the reality of violence against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender people across America. As a graduate school professor, my pursuits are usually quiet ones, preparing for class, and doing my research. But my quest to understand the effects and causes of hatred against people because of their difference has made me stare into the face of radical evil: the sort that kills.

Because of my work and research, I have learned how much all of us need each other–especially all of us who are members of racial/ethnic, religious, differently-abled, female, and LGBT communities. I have learned how vital the work of advocacy is. I have learned how precious life itself is, and how fragile. For this project, I have interviewed relatives, bereaved lovers, co-workers, neighbors and friends, journalists, and law enforcement officers who had direct knowledge about the women and men who died so brutally because of ignorance, prejudice and fear. It has been the journey of a lifetime, and in a strange way, though I am a teacher, these deceased LGBT people have become my teachers.

I want to convey to anyone who will listen that it is possible by hope to bring something beautiful and meaningful out of the ugliest realities of American life. Every time I meet a mother or lover, a friend or an advocate of one of these murdered LGBT people and share their stories, the intentions of the killers and the haters are frustrated, and the hope for a better, more just society somehow springs to life from the ashes.

I dedicate this website to the victims and to all those working for a better world. Thank you for visiting with us, and for joining us in our pursuit for a world free of violence and fear.

I hope you will visit us often.

Sincerely,

Stephen V. Sprinkle
Director
The Unfinished Lives Project

June 28, 2008 Posted by | A Welcome Message, anti-LGBT hate crime murder, gay men, gun violence, harassment, Hate Crimes, Heterosexism and homophobia, Law and Order, Perpetrators of Hate Crime, Popular Culture, Protests and Demonstrations, religious intolerance, transgender persons, Uncategorized, women | 23 Comments

    Next Entries »