Dylan Gurley
Nearly a month after transgender woman Dylan Gurley died after being found unresponsive with traumatic injuries in an abandoned home in Denton, 53-year-old Michael Tooley has been charged with murder in connection with her death, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Gurley, 20, was found at about 11:10 p.m. July 23 in the abandoned home in the 3700 block of Holland Lane, where Tooley also stayed. She was taken to the hospital where she was pronounced dead at about 11:45 p.m. according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s office, Gurley died of blunt force and sharp force injuries and strangulation.
Tooley was arrested on an unrelated warrant the following day.
According to police, witnesses said that Tooley had said someone had taken from him and that he would hurt or kill whoever had taken it. They also said Tooley and Gurley had had confrontations in the past.
Although Tooley was at the scene when the 911 call was made the night of Gurley’s death, he had fled the scene before police arrived. He was arrested the next day on a warrant for indecent exposure.
When asked about Gurley’s death, Tooley admitted that he and Gurley had fought in the past, but he denied having anything to do with her death. But detectives later reviewed his telephone conversations from jail and found he had made several comments implicating himself in Gurley’s death.
A GoFundMe page launched by Gurley’s sister, Senica Ciarello, has raised more than $5,000 to “help put Dylan to rest.”
On the fundraising page, Ciarello said she hoped to give Gurley “the memorial she wanted and deserved,” including getting “urns and bracelets or necklaces for her ashes for the people she was close to.”
Ciarello also said she was planning something to mark Gurley’s 21st birthday, which would have been Sunday, Aug. 18.
“We are just trying to put the pieces back together as best as we can,” Ciarello wrote.
— Tammye Nash