ABOVE: Nina Pop, photo via Facebook/HRC.
SIKESTON, Mo. (AP) | Police are investigating the death of a transgender woman in southeast Missouri as the Human Rights Campaign raises concerns about a rash of similar killings so far this year across the U.S.
The body of 28-year-old Nina Pop was discovered May 3 inside her apartment in Sikeston, a town of about 16,000 residents 145 miles south of St. Louis. Pop had been stabbed several times, the town’s police chief James McMillen said.
Investigators are looking into the possibility of a hate crime, but a motive has not yet been determined, McMillen said. The region’s major case squad and the Missouri State Highway Patrol are assisting in the investigation. No arrests have been made.
The crime is believed to be at least the 10th violent death of a transgender or gender nonconforming person this year, and the fifth in the past month, according to the Human Rights Campaign. All five of the recent victims were transgender women of color.
“For the past four weeks, we have seen the deaths of five transgender women of color in this country,” HRC Director of Community Engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative Tori Cooper said in a statement.
“We are seeing an epidemic of violence that can no longer be ignored. Transgender and gender non-conforming people, especially trans women of color, risk our lives by living as our true selves – and we are being violently killed for doing so,” she continued. “We must be outraged by this news and we must channel that outrage into action immediately. These crimes must be reported, investigated and prosecuted. These lives must be mourned, honored and fought for. What we are doing is not enough. HRC mourns alongside all those who know and loved Nina, and we will continue our tireless fight to ensure a future where living one’s truth can never become a death sentence.”
To read more information about HRC’s transgender justice work, visit HRC.org/Transgender.
