Nikki Kuhnhausen

The number of transgender people murdered in 2019 now stands at at least 23 after authorities in Vancouver, Wash., confirmed that human remains found Dec. 7 in a remote area on Larch Mountain in Clark County, Wash., were those of 17-year-old trans woman Nikki Kuhnhausen.

Kuhnhausen was last seen alive June 6 when she left her apartment with a man she had met on Snapchat. Her mother reported her missing that same month.

Vancouver police on Tuesday, Dec. 17, arrested that man, 25-year-old David Bogdanov, and charged him with second-degree murder.

Police had questioned Bogdanov after Kuhnhausen earlier, and he told them at the time that he had picked the girl up at her home, and that they had driven to a “residence in the country,” where Kunhausen “told him she was biologically male,” Vancouver Police Lt. Tom Ryan said at a press conference this week.

Ryan said Bogdanov told police finding out that Kuhnhausen was transgender “made him really, really uncomfortable and disturbed him. And he asked Nikki to get out of his van, and she walked away.”

Ryan also said Bogdanov told police that Kuhnhausen being transgender was “offensive to his culture.”

While Bogdanov “declined to give any more statements” this week when he was arrested, Portland, Ore., TV station KATU Channel 2 reports that authorities say that cell phone records for June 6 show that on that day, Bogdanov’s cell phone was in the same area in which Kuhnhausen’s body was found.

Bogdanov is being held without bail in the Clark County jail.

Say Their Names
Transgender people murdered in 2019 are:

Transgender people murdered in the U.S. in as of Dec. 19, 2019 are:

  • Dana Martin, 31, a black transgender women was shot to death Jan. 6 in Montgomery, Ala.
  • Ellie Marie Washtock, 38, a gendernon-conforming person, was shot to death Jan. 31 in St. Augustine, Fla.
  • Jazzaline Ware, 34, a black transgender woman, was found dead in her apartment in Memphis, Tenn., in March. Her death is being investigated as a homicide.
  • Ashanti Carmon, 27, a black transgender woman, was shot to death in Prince George’s County, Md., on March 30.
  • Claire Legato, 21, a black transgender woman, was shot in Cleveland on April 15 during an argument between her mother and her mother’s boyfriend. She died a month later.
  • Mulaysia Booker, 23, a black transgender woman, was shot to death in Dallas on May 18, about a month after video of her being beaten by a group of men made headlines across the country. Kendrell Lavar Lyles was arrested and charged with her murder.
  • Michelle “Tamika” Washington, 40, a black transgender woman, was shot to death May 19 in Philadelphia.
  • Paris Cameron, 20, a black transgender woman was shot to death, alomng with two gay men, May 25 in Detroit in an anti-gay attack.
  • Chynal Lindsey, 26, a black transgender woman, was found dead in White Rock Lake in Dallas on June 1. Ruben Alvarado has been arrested and charged in her murder.
  • Chanel Scurlock, 23, a black transgender woman, was shot to death in Lumberton, N.C., on June 6. Javaras Hammonds, 20, has been arrested and charged with robbing and murdering Scurlock.
  • Zoe Spears, 23, a black transgender woman, was killed in Fairmount Heights, Md., on June 13. Gerardo Thomas of Baltimore has been arrested and charged in her murder.
  • Brooklyn Lindsey, 32, a black transgender woman, was shot to death in Kansas City, Mo., on June 25. Marcus Lewis, 41, has been arrested and charged in her murder. He told police he shot Lindsey after she approached him and tried to solicit him.
  • Denali Berries Stuckey, 29, a black transgender woman, was shot to death in North Charleston, S.C., on July 20. Dominick Archield, 34, turned himself in to police and has been charged with her murder.
  • Kiki Fantroy, 21, a black transgender woman, was shot to death in Miami on July 31. There have been no arrests that Dallas Voice can find.
  • Jordan Cofer, 22, was among the nine victims killed in a mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, on Aug. 4. Cofer’s brother, Connor Betts has been identified as the shooter. He was killed by police within minutes of beginning shooting.
  • Pebbles LaDime “Dime” Doe, 24, a black transgender woman, was killed in Allendale County, S.C., on Aug. 4. There have been no arrests.
  • Tracy Single, 22, a black transgender woman, was shot to death in Houston on July 30. Joshua Dominic Bourgeois, 25, described as Single’s boyfriend, has been arrested and charged in her murder.
  • Bailey Reeves, 17, was shot to death while leaving a Labor Day party in Baltimore on Sept. 2.
  • Bee Love Slater, 23, a black transgender woman, was found murdered inside her burned-out car in Clewiston, Fla., on Sept. 4. Jamson Richemond, 29, has been described as a person of interest in Slater’s murder and was arrested and jailed in connection with another murder.
  • Jamagio Jamar Berryman, 30, a black gender non-conforming person, was killed in Kansas City, Kan., Sept. 13. A man believed to have been in a relationship with Berryman has been described by police as a person of interest in her murder.
  • Itali Marlowe, 29, a black transgender woman, was shot to death Sept. 20 in Houston. Her roommate, Raymond Donald Williams, 23, has been arrested and charged with her murder.
  • Brianna “BB” Hill, 30, a black transgender woman, was shot to death Oct. 14 in Kansas City, Kan. A man has been arrested for her murder, but police have not released his name.
  • Nikki Kuhnhausen, 17, was killed in Vancouver, Wash. David Bogdanov, 25, has been arrested and charged with her murder.

In addition: Johana ‘Joa’ Medina, 25, died in an El Paso hospital within hours of being released from ICE custody where her severe health complications went untreated, and Layleen Cubilette-Polanco, aka Layleen Extravaganza, 27, died of complications from epilepsy in a solitary confinement cell at Riker’s Island on June 7. Cubilette-Polanco’s mother, Arecelis Polanco, has filed suit against New York City, alleging that the city’s Department of Corrections and Correctional Health Services personnel failed to provide “safe housing, adequate medical care and proper accommodation for her disabilities.”