Tatiana Labelle, known as Tee Tee, died from “multiple injuries due to assault,” according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office, People reports.

The 33-year-old’s body was found on March 18 in an alley.

“It is heartbreaking for someone to beat her to death and throw her in the trash like she was garbage,” her sister Shameika Thomas told WLS-TV. “I loved my sister whether she was transgender or not, and I would like for me and my family to have justice.”

An East Chatham resident told the news outlet that the body of Labelle was found in the garbage bin as it was being emptied.

According to activists, Labelle is the seventh trans person killed in Chicago this year. However, Iggy Ladden, director of the Chicago Therapy Collective, said the number could be higher because the crimes against transgender people are grossly underreported, according to the Independent.

The Human Rights Campaign stated that in 2021, 57 transgender people or gender nonconforming people were fatally shot or killed; five of those deaths were in Chicago, the Independent reports.

“Trans women in general, especially Black trans women, are treated as disposable in this society and it is nauseating to think about what happened to Tee Tee,” Ladden said, according to People.

“Black women in general, certainly Black trans women, go missing and there is not enough done. There are not enough police resources. There is not enough community response or political power weighing in.”

The death of Labelle follows the discovery of Black transgender activist Elise Malary’s body, which was found on the rocks of Lake Michigan.

The cause and manner of Malary’s death have not been confirmed.

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