Cassandra Flores Zapata
Age 393 Nov 2012
Roumare, Seine-Maritime (France)
Asphyxiated
TDoR list ref: tgeu/3-Nov-2012/Cassandra Flores Zapata
Cassandra's body was found in the forest of Roumare in Saint-Martin-de-France. She had been asphixiated.
A corpse wearing a thong, a top and a pair of boots was found shortly before 9 am Sunday morning by a hunter in the forest of Roumare, Saint-Martin-de-Boscherville, near Rouen. The gendarmes of the company of Rouen and the section of research (SR) were in charge of the investigation. They quickly established that it was actually a [trans woman] whoworked at Boulingrin in Rouen. The body did not show signs of blows, but the thorax was partially burned and a first examination by the medical examiner established that the victim died from asphyxiation.
Cassandra was Peruvian, and a stylist and hairdresser who also made a living from sex work.
"Cassandra was a stylist and hairdresser," said [her friend] Jennifer, "we were initiated together in Lima (disguise, Ed). She left for Europe to improve her situation, help her family. And also because there are terrorists who are violent towards [trans women]. Once, they threw a bomb into a room where [trans women] worked. What do you want to do next without a place?" The two friends found themselves many years later in a nightclub in Rouen. Jennifer had rolled her bump in Italy, in the south of France, in Paris and Caen. Cassandra had arrived directly in the capital of Upper Normandy.
"She was fine. She was married in Barcelona in December last year and had papers for 2 months. She was happy because she had to leave Peru on November 28 to spend Christmas with her family, whom she had not seen in four years. She had her mother every day on the phone.
Jennifer saw Cassandra for the last time Saturday night, a few hours before her death. "It was around 10 pm at home. She drank a glass like we do before going to work in the cold. We, the [trans women], are outside from 10 pm until 3 or 4 in the morning. I was not working that night, I went to help a friend prepare a party for the next day. When I came home, I hit the wall as we do each time between us to report to the other that we are back and that everything is fine, but I did not get an answer. I thought she had to leave. She had to go to Lourdes. She had promised it to the Madonna," said Jennifer, touching a wooden statuette of the virgin on a bookshelf in her small studio, which she shared with Marie.
TvT project: Le nouvelle observatuer 05.11.2012
