Transgender woman of color Disaya Monaee Smith shot and killed in Chicago

Disaya Monaee Smith / Facebook 

At 4:00 am on Sept. 6 police responding to a report of gunfire at the Prestige Inn and Suites at 1335 E. Sibley Blvd found transgender woman Disaya Monaee Smith suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

Smith was pronounced dead a little after 5 a.m. at Franciscan Health hospital in Hammond.
Detectives are investigating the incident, and no one was in custody as of Tuesday morning, Dolton Police Chief Robert Collins said.

“We mourn the loss of Disaya Monaee Smith,” National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) Deputy Executive Director Victoria Kirby York said in a statement. “2021 is on track to be the deadliest year on record for transgender and non-binary people – and in Chicago, Disaya Monaee Smith’s killing marks the fourth transgender person to be murdered in the Chicago region this year alone. Illinois, 

Dolton, and county police departments must do more to proactively prevent the continued loss of trans lives happening across their city,” said York.

It took a period of time to learn of her murder as the only news source to report on it, by no fault of their own, misgendered and deadnamed Smith.

The Remembering Our Dead project reports that Disaya Monaee Smith is the 6th person to be murdered in the Greater Chicago area and the 65th transgender person to have needlessly died in the US since Nov. 20, 2020, the last Transgender Day of Remembrance. 

 
Public visitation will be held on Monday, September 13, 2021, from 3pm to 7pm at the Higgins Funeral Home.


A balloon release and vigil was held on September 8.

David Bogdanov given maximum sentence for the 2019 murder of trans teen Nikki Kuhnhausen

A Vancouver judge sentenced David Bogdanov Thursday to 20 years in prison for the 2019 murder of transgender teen Nikki Kuhnhausen. 

Kuhnhausen, 17, was reported missing in June 2019, and a hiker found her skull in the woods near Larch Mountain in eastern Clark County in December 2019. Police arrested Bogdanov days later.

 

Prosecutors said Bogdanov strangled Kuhnhausen with a cellphone charger cord after learning she was transgender during a sexual encounter in his van.

 After dumping her body, Bogdanov booked a one-way flight to Ukraine and called a friend to "get rid" of his car, according to trial testimony. He returned to the U.S. about six weeks later.  Bogdanov’s attorneys claimed he was acting in self-defense and said in court they would appeal the conviction and sentence.