Remembering Our Dead

Shelley 'Treasure' Hilliard

Shelley was killed after arriving home to find three men waiting for her. Her burned torso was found nearly three weeks later.

Police have identified a burned torso found on Detroit’s east side as belonging to a transgender 19 year old who was reported missing several weeks ago.

The woman, who went by Shelley or Treasure, was last seen at 1:20 a.m. on October 23, reports the Detroit Free Press, which reported on her disappearance earlier this week.

The paper notes that she had a distinctive tattoo of cherries on her upper right arm, which the Detroit Medical Examiner’s office used to positively identify her after police found her body near I-94.

A cab driver who Hilliard often relied on for rides dropped her off at home on the night of October 23, Lyniece Nelson, Hilliard’s mother, told the Detroit Free Press.

She says he claims there were three men waiting for Hilliard and that her daughter called the driver back and he “started to hear her say, ‘What are you doing,’ then scream out loud ‘No,’ then her phone dropped, a few muffling noises, then the phone went dead... By the time he got back around the corner, there was no one in sight.”

Police are investigating Hilliard’s death as a homicide.

In December 2011 Qasim Raqib, 30, was arrested for her murder.

In 2015 the documentary Treasure; From Tragedy to Trans Justice, Mapping a Detroit Story was released to tell Shelley's story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYdx6SH-mSc

‘Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide’ research project: Detroit News, 10.11.2011

https://www.advocate.com/news/2011/11/13/detroit-teens-body-went-unidenitfied-unclaimed

https://thechroniclesofefrem.blogspot.com/2011/12/transgender-woman-shelley-hilliards.html

https://planettransgender.com/was-the-murder-of-detroit-transwoman-shelley-treasure-hilliard-revenge-for-a-drug-sting-or-a-hate-crime/

https://www.glaad.org/blog/community-mourns-loss-transgender-teen-shelley-hilliard

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/shelley-or-treasure-hilliard-henry-hilliard-jr-transgender-teen_n_1088373

https://eu.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/oakland-county/2017/10/03/family-shelley-hilliard-transgender-police-informant-one-million-settlement/106272800/

https://thechroniclesofefrem.blogspot.com/2011/11/michelle-shelley-hilliard-murdered-in.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4569688/

Report added: 1 Nov 2018. Last updated: 8 Oct 2022

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