Remembering Our Dead

TDoR 2025 / 2025 / April / 05 / Sara Millerey

Sara Millerey

Age 32

5 Apr 2025
Bello, Antioquia (Colombia)
Beaten and thrown into a ravine

Sara's brutal murder by a group of men who filmed her suffering with broken limbs at the bottom of a ravine caused widespread outrage which spread far beyond her native Colombia.

Activists and members of the LGBTI+ community in Antioquia are mourning the shocking crime that took the life of Sara "la Millerey," as her friends knew her, in early April 2025.

According to reports shared on social media, Sara's arms and legs were broken before she was thrown into the Playa Rica ravine in the municipality of Bello.

On social media, family and friends lamented the news after her death was confirmed on Sunday afternoon, April 6.

Sara's final hours were the stuff of horror films. Her attackers, not content with just beating her, decided to immobilize her to prevent her from escaping a deadly trap in which, despite her pleas, she ended up losing her way .

The investigation into Sara's murder revealed that at least seven individuals were involved. A reward of up to 100 million pesos has been offered for information on her killers.

One, Juan Camilo Muñoz Gaviria, (also known as "Teta") was detained on 30th April on charges of aggravated homicide and torture.

The Attorney General's Office revealed that at least seven people were allegedly involved in the murder of transgender woman Sara Millerey González, who was brutally murdered on April 4 in the municipality of Bello, Antioquia.

So far, only one person has been arrested in connection with these incidents, but authorities assure that the investigation remains active and more arrests could be made in the coming days.

The first person arrested in this case was identified as Juan Camilo Muñoz Gaviria, alias Teta, who was detained on April 30 during a joint operation between the Prosecutor's Office and the National Police. Read: One of the suspects in the brutal murder of Sara Millerey arrested.

This Friday, May 2, during the indictment hearing, the prosecution maintained that there was evidence indicating that the crime was not committed alone.

According to the victim's family attorney, Saúl León, a second person has already been identified, and the involvement of at least six individuals in the murder is being investigated. "There is evidence that prior to the physical assault, she was also verbally abused because of her gender," León said in an interview with Noticias Caracol, warning of a possible element of hate linked to Sara's gender identity.

Sara's funeral took place on 8th April. She was described as a happy, joyful and kind-hearted by those who knew her.

She had graduated in 2017, had a strong faith and loved to write.

Happy, joyful, kind-hearted—those are just a few of the adjectives that best described Sara Millerey González Borja, the trans woman brutally murdered in a river in the municipality of Bello, Antioquia.

Sandra Milena Borja, Sara's mother, is navigating these days in a kind of "sea" of memories. Surrounded by picture frames containing her daughter's best postcards, Sandra delves into memory to bring her beloved daughter's life back to the present.

“This is her graduation photo. It was in 2017. She was a girl who loved to write. Very devoted to God. These are the little photos of her I remember,” she says, with that sadness that only mothers feel when they lose a child. It's that absolute desolation and sadness that parents feel when the premise that says they, the children, are responsible for burying their parents, and not the other way around, is shattered.

“This was on a birthday,” she adds, holding back tears. “She was very cheerful, very happy. She liked to write about God and the Virgin Mary. I have some writings here, if you want, I can show them to you,” she tells RED+ NOTICIAS journalist Maicol Buitrago, who in his interview delved into the notebooks containing Sara's unpublished letters and writings, a previously unknown side of the trans woman the entire country is talking about today.

The texts reveal the other Sara. The Sara who dedicated a few hours of her time to writing letters addressed to God, to the Virgin Mary, and to life, using a black pen, the kind that leaves your fingers stained with ink.

"Lord Jesus Christ, please keep my home free from all evil at every moment, hour, minute, and second. Keep me away from tragic and painful situations. May I never fall into evil, much less be trapped."

-- excerpt from a letter by Sara Millerey González

In Sara's final diary entry she wrote that she had been threatened and was afraid:

Sara Millerey's mother, shared with Noticias Caracol the last message her daughter left in her diary. She wrote that she was afraid, afraid of what might happen to her, and that she wished to be healed, both body and soul.

"You know I've been through a lot of fear and a lot of threats, which I wouldn't want to come true. Please, I ask you not to let them happen," her mother told the aforementioned media outlet.

Her mother also showed a leaflet that read: “Bring me light. Bathe me in light. Heal my body. Heal my heart. Heal my soul.” She added that her daughter was afraid to go out because she would be attacked or insulted, “but she didn't tell me anything beyond that so I wouldn't worry, because she was a person who didn't harm anyone, anyone. Everyone knew her.”

After Sara's death a mural in her honour was painted near Solla on the Medellín-Bogotá highway.

The mural depicts Sara wearing a blue dress, with 1993 (the year she was born) and 2025 set against the colors of the Pride flag. On the mural is the caption "Hate is killing us".

Sara Millerey

Trigger warning