A Washington D.C. trans woman was killed while visiting some loved ones in Pennsylvania.

Elisha Stanley was found dead on September 16 in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, reports The Pittsburgh City Paper. Her body was discovered near the Westin Pittsburgh hotel.

Her friend, DeVar Ferguson, said the 46-year-old was in town to visit some loved ones. She had plans to attend an event but never showed up. Ferguson said Stanley was a “gay mother” to her and several others.

“People don’t really understand where that term comes from,” Ferguson explained. “There are a lot of runaways and displaced and abused people in the community. Without being funded by any government organization, there are people [in this community] who have taken these people on and moved them in, clothed them, fed them, taken them to school, and really played that part as a mentor in their lives and those are all the things she did for me.”

Losing Stanley is devastating for Ferguson, she says.

“She was my friend, someone who protected me, there was nothing she wouldn’t do for someone. She took me in and loved me like her own flesh and blood,” Ferguson continued. “She spent her life opening doors for women like herself.”

A spokesperson for the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police told Pink News the department is investigating her death.

“Police are aware of the death and detectives are investigating. The cause and manner of death will come from the Allegheny County Medical Examiner,” the representative said. “As this is an ongoing investigation, police cannot comment further.”

Ferguson is skeptical of the police’s dedication to solving the case.

“The detectives are working as hard as they can, but even with that being said, I have questions because she is a trans woman. Are they really pushing as hard as they would, were she a born biological woman?”

Officials have not ruled her death as a hate crime and have yet to determine a cause of death.

If considered to be a hate crime, Stanley’s death would mark her as the 20th transgender person to be murdered in 2019.

Nineteen of the victims are transgender women of color.

As Blavity previously reported, in early September, Ja’Leyah-Jamar Berryman was allegedly shot and killed by her ex-boyfriend on September 13. A week later, another woman was shot several times while she was walking down a Dallas, Texas, street. The unidentified victim survived the attack, and the assailant has yet to be caught.

Elisha-Stanley

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