Chynal Lindsey
Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall confirmed in a press conference today (Monday, June 3) that officers are investigating the death of Chynal Lindsey as a murder, and that her department has asked the FBI to help with the investigation into this and at least four other cases.
Hall did not say how Lindsey died, other than by “homicidal violence.”
Police also released Lindsey’s name before she transitioned, Jason Haslett, along with photos of Lindsey before and after she transitioned, saying they did so at the request of the family.
According to her Facebook page, Lindsey worked as a caretaker with Alpha Home Health Care. She lived in Grand Prairie, but her hometown was Chicago, and she had studied at Prairie State College, graduating there in 2012.
Lindsey is the third black transgender woman murdered in Dallas since last October: Brittney White was shot to death in October in South Dallas, and Muhlaysia Booker was shot to death in May in Southeast Dallas. A fourth black trans woman was attacked and stabbed multiple times in Dallas in April but survived the assault.
Police have said that while they found nothing to definitely connect the attacks, there are similarities and the attacks could be connected. They are also investigating the murder of Shade Schuler, a black trans woman who body was found in an empty lot off Harry Hines in July 2015, and looking into whether that murder, too, could be connected with these most recent attacks.
Hall said that the death of Nicole Hall, a black trans woman whose body was found in White Rock Creek on May 12, 2018, has been ruled a suicide.
When asked during the press conference whether these murders could be the work of a serial killer, Hall replied, We don’t have the evidence to substantiate that.” She urged those in the transgender community to “stay vigilant,” to make sure they are aware of their surroundings and that friends or family know where they are going and who they are going all the time.
Hall said Dallas police are “working with our partners in the LGBTQ-plus community” and have already had a meeting with Kirk Myers and others at Abounding Prosperity Inc., the agency focused on health matters primarily in the black LGBT community and which had been helping Booker after she was injured in a highly-publicized assault in April in the parking lot of her apartment complex.
Noting that numerous people have suggested these attacks are anti-transgender hate crimes, Hall said Dallas PD has “reached out to our federal partners so we will have their resources brought into” the investigation and to “help us turn over any unturned st0ne.”
Texas’ James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Law does not include gender identity.
The department is dedicated to “making sure that individuals are safe in their community.”
Police have asked that anyone with information about the murder of Chynal Lindsey contact Detective Erica King at 214-671-3684 or by email erica.king@dallascityhall.com. Refer to case #109919-2019.
