murderer of 10th slain black trans woman, zoe spears, identified

Last month’s June 13th killing of Zoe Spears, 23, marked the 10th murder this year of a Black trans woman. Now, according to Prince George’s County, Maryland police, 33-year-old Gerardo Thomas has been identified as the alleged killer.

According to the Washington Post, detectives only had a shred of evidence to work off of — a grainy black-and-white image of a Dodge Caravan — but eventually found that the car belonged to the suspect.

According to police, Thomas did not give a reason for Spears’ murder, least of all transphobia. But that’s not something transphobes admit to, is it? “He did not mention anything about her being a transgender female,” said Police Maj. Brian Reilly, head of the criminal investigations division for the Prince George’s County Police Department. “He gave us no reason.”

Spears was afraid to return to her home at the District-Maryland line after witnessing her friend Ashanti Carmon’s killing in that same area only three months earlier, according to the Washington Post. That case remains unsolved.