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A 33-year-old man has been charged with murder in three recent murders in Dallas, including the murder of a transgender woman, the Dallas Police Department said Wednesday.
The man, Kendrell Lavar Lyles, has been charged with the murder of 23-year-old transgender Muhlaysia Booker, who was found dead on May 18, Major Max Geron told a news conference. Mr. Lyles was also charged with the shooting of a woman killed on May 22 and the murder of a drug-related man on May 23, said Commander Geron. The police did not disclose the names of these victims.
Mr. Lyles was arrested on June 5th following the death of the anonymous victim. The police then linked him to the other murders. The police department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday night.
The arrest came as a series of violent acts against transgender women in the region scared the transgender community. Last week, the police department said it was investigating four unsolved murders of black transgender women. There were two from 2019 – Mrs. Booker and Chynal Lindsey, 26 – one in 2018 and another in 2015.
Major Geron testified that Mr. Lyles was a "person of interest" in the murder of Ms. Lindsey, who had been abducted from White Rock Lake on June 1 st. He did not say whether Mr. Lyles was related to other transgender murders. women in the city.
"We continue to investigate them and we will seek links with Lyles with these other cases," he said.
It was not known whether Mr. Lyles had a lawyer.
The police linked Lyles to the murder of Ms. Booker while investigating the May 22nd and 23rd murders. Dallas police officers recognized a car that allegedly took Ms. Booker on May 18, said Commander Geron.
The mobile phone analysis showed that Mr. Lyles was in the area where Ms. Booker was riding in the car and at the scene of her murder, said the major.
"The Muhlaysia Booker was last seen riding in a light-colored Lincoln LS, which is the same type of car driven by the suspect Lyles," said Major Geron.
In April, Ms. Booker was the victim of a brutal beating who hospitalized her with a concussion and a fractured wrist. A video of the attack, which took place in a Dallas car park, was taped on a cell phone and widely shared online.
At the time of his death, the police stated that she was not related to the assault.
Jessica Anderson, Ms. Booker's best friend as a child, had mixed views on Mr. Lyles' arrest.
"It's the strangest thing, because I thought it would make me happy or soothing, and in some ways that's the case," Anderson said Wednesday night.
"But at the same time, it's one of those things he still lives and does not live," she said. "At the end of the day, I still have no real answer as to why; What was so necessary, what was so crucial that you had to take his life like that?
Ms. Anderson also said that she was perplexed as to how her best friend and Mr. Lyles met. "That definitely took me by surprise, why would she even be associated with someone who looks like that," she said.
Lou Weaver, community coordinator of transgender programs at Egality Texas, said she is delighted that the police department "take this seriously and listen to the community".
"They are taking seriously the opportunity for this imaginary serial killer to leave the road to make the transsexual community safer," Weaver said. "They can begin the healing process after the grieving process."
Reported attacks against transgender women have increased in recent years. The Human Rights Campaign said that in 2018, there was In the United States, at least 26 deaths of transgender people related to fatal violence. Black transgender women were most often targeted.
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