Murdered trans woman Miss Shade honored at vigil
The Rev. Carmarion Anderson, above, lights a candle during a vigil at Reverchon Park on Sept. 9.
The vigil was held in memory of “Miss Shade” Schuler, murdered in Dallas in July, and other victims of anti-trans violence.
A cousin of trans murder victim Janette Tovar, carried a sign and planted seeds that will grow as a memorial to those killed. (David Taffet/Dallas Voice)
About 35 people gathered in Reverchon Park on Sept. 9 to remember Miss Shade Schuler, a transgender woman whose decomposing body was found in a field off Regal Row in Dallas on July 29.
Participants in the rally lit candles and recited the names of 19 trans women killed in the U.S. this year, including four killed since Shade’s death. As a remembrance, those at the rally planted seeds to grow as a living memorial.
Police said the investigation into Schuler’s murder is ongoing.
A cousin of Janette Tovar — a trans woman murdered in Oak Cliff in 2012 by her boyfriend, who confessed to the crime — said a plea deal has been reached in that case.
Jonathan Stuart Kenney will serve 10 years probation for slamming Tovar’s head into concrete on Davis Street, and continuing to assault her after they arrived home.
Tovar died of her injuries later that day.
Another local trans murder case — the murder of Artegus Konyale Madden, shot to death in her home in Savannah, just east of Denton, in October 2013 — remains unsolved.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition September 11, 2015.