Four vigils are scheduled throughout Texas on Wednesday night to remember the lives of a Houston lesbian couple killed earlier this month.
Britney Cosby and Crystal Jackson, both 24, were found in a trash bin near Port Bolivar on March 7. They’d been a couple for two years.
Cosby’s father, James Larry Cosby, was arrested for tampering with evidence in the case. He remains a suspect in the women’s’ deaths. Cosby’s mother told Houston media outlets over the weekend that her daughter’s father was upset she was gay, and she believed he killed them because of their sexual orientation.
Galveston detectives are still searching for a man who police believe was last seen with the women and information about the couple’s Kia Sorrento that was stolen. A $150 reward for information has been raised through a fund Dallas GetEQUAL TX activist C.d. Kirven started.
“We want to celebrate the way Britney and Crystal lived and not the way they died. They were a part of a community, an LGBT family that mourns their loss,” Kirven said about the vigils in a statement.
She said the Galveston vigil was canceled, and a Fort Wirth vigil was added, along with vigils in Dallas, Austin and Corpus Christi.
Tiffani Bishop, co-state lead organizer for GetEQUAL TX said, “The tragic murders of Britney and Crystal are truly heartbreaking. To discover that Britney’s father is suspected of committing these crimes is difficult to wrap my head around. It is beyond time that our community begin an open and honest dialogue about violence against queer women of color.”
People attending vigils or who want to show support for the women’s memory are asked to wear yellow in the memory of Cosby and Jackson.
Other vigils are still being solidified, including one for Williamson County. GetEQUAL TX will update vigil information on its Facebook page.
Anyone with information about the case should call the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office tip line at 866-248-8477 or Galveston County Crime Stoppers 409-763-8477.
Locations of the Texas vigils are below.
Austin Vigil at 8 p.m.:
MCC Austin
8601 South 1st St.
Dallas Prayer Vigil at 7 p.m.:
Living Faith Covenant Church
3403 Shelley Blvd.
Fort Worth Vigil at 8 p.m.:
Rainbow Lounge
651 South Jennings Ave.
Corpus Christi at 7:30 p.m.:
The Water Gardens
1902 N. Shoreline
