A Transgender Teen Was Murdered and Burned. It ’s Not Considered a Hate Crime

(HOUSTON, Mo.) — Authorities say her eyes were gouged out and her genitals stabbed, but that the death of transgender teenager whose burned remains were found near the mobile home of one of her alleged killers in rural southern Missouri, her bones discarded in a chicken coop, was not a hate crime. The remains of Joseph Matthew Steinfeld Jr. — the birth name of the 17-year-old transgender girl who went by the name Ally Lee Steinfeld — were found last week in the town of Cabool. Twenty-four-year-old Briana Calderas and two 18-year-olds, Andrew Vrba and Isis Schauer, were charged with first-degree murder and other counts. A fourth suspect is charged with abandonment of a corpse and tampering with evidence. All four are jailed without bond. Steinfeld had been missing for weeks, and initial news reports referred to her as a male, in part because missing-person posters distributed by the family used Steinfeld’s birth name, as did police documents. Steinfeld’s mother, Amber Steinfeld, still refers to her child as Joey, but said the teen identified as female to family and to friends on social media. She said her child was “loving and kind-hearted.” Steinfeld was engaged to a woman until they broke up in August, Amber Steinfeld said, and soon after began dating Calderas. She said Steinfeld and the two 18-year-old suspects were all living at Calderas’ mobile home. She said that Steinfeld was upbeat before she disappeared, telling relativ...
Source: TIME.com: Top Science and Health Stories - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized APW Crime Missouri onetime Source Type: news