Remembering Our Dead

Laura Vermont Araújo

Laura died as the result of a head injury, having also been shot in the left arm. Two policemen were arrested for her death.

Ailton de Jesus, 43, and Diego Clemente Mendes, 22, claimed in a police report that Vermont had died June 19 from head trauma after stealing the officers' military police car and slamming her head into the dashboard when she hit a condominium wall. But when Vermont's parents came forward to state that their daughter did not know how to drive, civil police authorities became suspicious of the officers' account, reports Brazilian human rights site Bridge.

The day after Vermont's death, Jesus and Mendes were arrested by civil police for loose procedural fraud and perjury.

The family of the 18-year-old [trans woman] Laura Vermont, who was killed a week ago in the East Zone of Sao Paulo, questioned the military police's statement that she had got into a police car and driven it into a wall. According to the victim's mother and sister, Zilda and Rejane Laurentino, she could not drive and therefore could not have driven the vehicle.

Her body was found stabbed and she had been shot in the arm. Report from the Legal Medical Institute (IML) concluded that the cause of death was the head injury she suffered and not the shot.

"She was two blocks from home, walking in the opposite direction from where the car was. It makes no sense that she drove the car," said her sister.

About 50 people gathered on Saturday afternoon (27) in Praça da República, in central São Paulo, to protest the death of the [trans woman]. Dressed in Laura-printed T-shirts, the group used white roses and posters to protest against prejudice and transphobia.

Laura's Facebook profile is https://www.facebook.com/LauraVermontt.

TvT partner organization Grupo Gay da Bahia & O Ponte 22.06.2015

https://g1.globo.com/sp/sao-paulo/noticia/2023/04/17/justica-antecipa-juri-dos-5-acusados-pela-morte-da-travesti-laura-vermont-em-2015-na-zona-leste-de-sao-paulo.ghtml

https://noticias.uol.com.br/cotidiano/ultimas-noticias/2023/04/16/caso-laura-vermont-julgamento.htm

https://ponte.org/governo-de-sp-e-condenado-a-dobrar-indenizacao-para-familia-de-laura-vermont/

https://es.globalvoices.org/2021/08/12/madre-de-travesti-asesinado-en-brasil-convierte-el-luto-en-bandera-de-lucha/

https://web.archive.org/web/20210124023107/https://planettransgender.com/trial-for-the-murder-of-laura-vermont-begins-thursday/

https://web.archive.org/web/20210124031455/https://planettransgender.com/two-sao-paulo-police-officers-arrested-for-the-murder-of-transgender-woman-laura-vermont/

https://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2015/07/09/brazilian-military-police-suspected-covering-trans-teens-murder

http://g1.globo.com/sao-paulo/noticia/2015/06/familia-de-travesti-morta-questiona-versao-sobre-roubo-de-carro-da-policia.html

https://g1.globo.com/sao-paulo/noticia/apos-2-anos-5-reus-acusados-de-matar-travesti-laura-vermont-seguem-soltos.ghtml

http://g1.globo.com/sao-paulo/noticia/2015/06/travesti-morreu-em-sp-por-causa-de-traumatismo-craniano-diz-laudo.html

http://g1.globo.com/sao-paulo/noticia/2015/06/pms-sao-presos-suspeitos-de-mentir-sobre-morte-de-travesti-em-sp.html

https://www.facebook.com/groups/pgmreal/permalink/892196940853608/

Report added: 31 Oct 2018. Last updated: 11 Mar 2024

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