Remembering Our Dead

Christian Paige

Christian was brutally klled in her home. Her apartment was then set on fire, possibly to destroy evidence.

In what appears to be one of the most brutal hate crimes in years, Christian Paige, a beautiful 24 year old transsexual woman, was found savagely murdered in her apartment, Friday, March 22, at 10 PM. Ms. Paige had been brutally beaten about the head and ears, then strangled, and finally stabbed deeply in her chest and breast area between 15 and 2 dozen times. Prior to fleeing the scene, her assailant set fire to the apartment only a few feet from her prostrate body, apparently in an attempt to destroy evidence. Her body had been so savagely assaulted that some friends at first believed she had been deliberately mutilated. Ms. Paige’s body was discovered when the Chicago Fire Department responded to reports of arson at her residence. The premises, which Ms. Paige shared with 2 friends, was also ransacked and valuables were stolen.

Chicago PD Detective Gildea, who was assigned to Ms. Paige’s case, was interviewed over the phone by Deputy Sheriff Tonye Barreto-Neto of TOPS, the national group for transgender police officers. Gildea noted that all Ms. Paige’s stab wounds were so deep and severe that any single one would have been sufficient to kill her. In addition, preliminary results showed no defensive wounds on her body, consistent with a theory that she was struck unconscious from multiple blows to her head prior to being strangled and stabbed.

Ms. Paige, a native of Nashville, TN, had only recently moved to Chicago where she was working to save money toward sex reassignment surgery. She was employed at Chicago’s trendy downtown Baton Lounge, where she was well regarded. She had already had a highly successful career in clubs as a former Miss Gay Nashville and Miss Midwestern Continental.

Said one of her best friends, Marisa Richmond of Tennessee Vals, "Nashville is a community that is still in a state of shock. Everybody, whether they knew Christian or not, is crying either on the outside or inside. All of us cared about her because she was so genuinely likable. I’d be hard pressed to think of another person who enjoyed life and just like people. It’s hard to fathom that somebody who like to see people laugh and smile so much could bring so many tears, but that is how much we were touched by her."

http://gayhistory.wikidot.com/christian-paige

http://www.impartofdc.org/assets/__50-under-302.pdf

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10_JeZ7LEIRhvewTCoL5mVkH6MQJzf7fSXl4-P6QJ0v0/edit#gid=0

Report added: 17 Feb 2019. Last updated: 21 Jul 2025

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