Stacey Blahnik Lee
Age 3111 Oct 2010
Point Breeze, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA)
Strangled
TDoR list ref: tgeu/11 Oct 2010/Stacey Lee
Stacey was found dead by her boyfriend in the home that they shared. The police said that there were no indications that the death was a hate crime but investigated it as a homicide.
While there was a person of interest in this case, the ongoing investigation has yet to lead to enough solid evidence to get an arrest.
Philadelphia Police Department Homicide Capt. James Clarke said in a Philadelphia Gay News interview last year that there was DNA evidence that placed the person of interest at the house, but it was not enough to warrant an arrest.
But that's of little comfort to the people who loved her, the members of the House of Blahnik and the Philadelphia LGBT community. The recent death of Kyra Kruz Cordova has only heightened the sense of frustration and nervousness people feel in the community about the lack of resolution of the Lee murder.
Damon Humes, founder of House of Blahnik, said to PGN Blahnik’s survivors worry that the case could fall to the wayside because of the identity of the victim.
Stacey Blahnik wasn’t just influential in the ball scene; she was the mother of the House of Blahnik, which had 115 members at the time of her death, per a Philadelphia Gay News report. Robert Burns, the then-executive director of local black LGBT health organization COLOURS, explained to the paper that Blahnik touched many lives, “not just to those in our house, but to those in the entire ballroom community and even those who are not a part of the ballroom house culture, with the extent of the relationships and the support she provided. She was a mother figure to a lot of young people, particularly for many of our transwomen of color here in Philadelphia.”
“Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide” research project: Philly, online portal, 14 Oct. 2010
https://transgriot.blogspot.com/2013/10/stacey-blahnik-lee-3rd-anniversary.html
https://transgriot.blogspot.com/2012/10/stacey-blahnik-lee-case-still-open-two.html
https://www.glaad.org/2010/11/19/transgender-day-of-remembrance-honoring-the-lives-lost
https://billypenn.com/2017/03/31/10-philly-transwomen-who-made-history/
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1656133681927&set=a.2361225428780&type=3&theater
