ORLANDO | A 27-year-old transgender woman was found dead in the parking lot of an Orlando apartment complex on the morning of July 19.
The victim was identified by multiple members of the LGBTQ community on social media as a Central Florida trans woman named Sasha Garden.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) reports that her body was found around 5 a.m. in the parking lot of the Reserve at Lake Buchanan apartment complex on Holden Avenue.
OCSO, as well as several local media outlets — including Wesh 2, WFTV-Channel 9 and the Orlando Sentinel — have misgendered the victim using her “dead name,” Steve Garden, as identification and describing her as “a man wearing a wig and dressed as a woman.”
Members of the trans community were outraged by local media and law enforcement’s misgendering Sasha.
“I mean when you go on Facebook, you can’t even grieve her because we find [misgendering] so disrespectful,” says Mulan Montrese Williams, a Central Florida trans woman who knew Sasha.
Though Williams says her and Sasha weren’t the “best of friends,” Sasha did attend a trans empowerment group at Williams’ house.
“Sasha was a misunderstood person,” Williams says. “She was a little rough around the edges, but her heart was sweet.”
Williams says members of the trans community spend their lives trying to “prove” who they are, and misgendering someone can change all of that in a “split second.”
OCSO officers came to Williams to help identify Sasha’s body as they were aware she was active in the trans community. But Williams says she’s upset with how the officers went about the identification process.
With no warning of graphic content, the officers showed her a picture of Sasha’s dead body with her “mouth wide open,” Williams says.
Williams also says she corrected the officers about Sasha’s gender identity, but it wasn’t amended on their end.
Williams, along with several members of the community, took to social media to remember Sasha and address her misgendering.
Sasha’s death is being investigated as a homicide. The cause of death has not been released, but investigators said the body had visible trauma.
Investigators are asking any witnesses who were near the apartment complex around 5 a.m. to call the sheriff’s office at 407-254-7000. The apartment complex is closest to the intersection of Holden Avenue and Rio Grande Avenue, which is near Orange Blossom Trail.
Watermark reached out to OCSO for further information on the case and on the misgendering of Sasha. We received an update to the media advisory stating, “The victim’s family confirms to the OCSO, that the victim was transgender and was known as Sasha to her family and friends. We hope this provides a clarification in this homicide.”
Check back for more updates as this story develops.
