Remembering Our Dead

J. Sanchez

J. was found dead on Elston Kerr Street in the early hours of Sunday 12th January. She had been stabbed.

She had been was on her way to a party dressed in a white sleeveless vest and a short green and black skirtt, when she was attacked by two men who stabbed her to death. Belizean LGBT NGO UNIBAM called the murder a hate crime. It was reported that she had been harassed and received death threats before in the days leading to her murder.

Police have evidence which says that Sanchez - dressed in full drag - was seen walking up and down on Elston Kerr Street near the Lord's Ridge Cemetery after 1:00 am. The evidence says that two men on bicycles rode up and are tried to rob Sanchez. [She] put up a fight, and in the scuffle one of them stabbed [her] in the chest. Sanchez ran and collapsed a short distance away.

Media reports variously describe J. as a gay man who crossdressed and a "teenager who identified with a transgender orientation". We will probably never know their true gender identity, but female pronouns are used above for consistancy with their presentation at the time they died.

TvT project: On Top Mag 17.01.2014 & UNIBAM announcement 20.01.2014

https://planettransgender.com/belize-transgender-womans-murder-hate-crime-says-family/

https://lexiecannes.com/2014/01/16/trans-woman-murdered-in-belize-city/

http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=27568

https://www.breakingbelizenews.com/2014/01/14/unibam-killing-joseph-sanchez-inhumane/

http://edition.channel5belize.com/archives/94348

http://amandala.com.bz/news/cross-dresser-stabbed-dead/

http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=27628

Report added: 31 Oct 2018. Last updated: 13 Jan 2021

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