![]() for 2015, according to data from the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs.Ĭaitlyn Jenner referenced Williamson's death while accepting the Arthur Ashe courage award at this year's ESPYs. She became the ninth known transgender woman killed in the U.S. Miller said she regarded Williamson 'like a daughter'. Williamson, who was born male and named Michael Wilkins by her parents, was an aspiring cosmetologist who friends say also enjoyed spending time outdoors. While police have not yet revealed how Williamson died, remarks on a Facebook tribute page to the teen say stab wounds were found on her body. That is barely something that crosses people's lives anyway. I just keep wanting her to walk through that door. I miss the crooked teeth with that beautiful smile. 'I couldn't believe it,' Miller told the Sun Herald. When Williamson didn't return to the trailer for several days, Miller called the friend who she thought had picked Williamson up and the girl told her that the teen was dead. Miller remembers seeing Williamson get into an unknown silver vehicle and then driving off. Miller says the last time she saw Williamson was on May 30, around 2pm, when the teen left to go spend some time at 'the bay' with a friend. If that's the case, Vallum could face not only murder charges, but federal hate crime charges.Īt the time of her death, Williamson had apparently become estranged with her family and had moved to nearby Theodore, Alabama, where she was sleeping on the couch of 41-year-old friend Jeanie Miller's trailer since September. in 2015.Advocate: Williamson's murder gained national attention when Caitlyn Jenner mentioned the crime in her ESPY speech earlier this month Williamson was one of at least 21 transgender people murdered in the U.S. Bobby Vallum took the information to police, leading to Josh Vallum being charged with murder. ![]() Vallum confessed to his father Bobby Vallum on June 1st that he had murdered and buried Williamson on the rural property. When Williamson tried to run into the woods, Vallum chased her down and beat her to death with a hammer. He then shocked her with a stun gun and stabbed her in the body and head with a pocketknife. On May 30 th, Vallum lured Williamson into his car in Alabama and drove her 50 miles to his family home near Lucedale, Mississippi. Vallum kept hidden from friends and family while they dated. Prosecutors say Vallum killed Mercedes Williamson after the end of their relationship, because a friend learned that she was transgender, a fact Mr. His brother Jacob saw him on the night of the murder covered in blood and testified that Vallum told him: ‘Well, it was my life or his.’ Jeanie Miller, Williamson’s roommate testified that Vallum once told her and Williamson that his gang would kill both Vallum and Williamson if Williamson’s transgender status was discovered. He later admitted that his motive for the killing was fear of being killed once fellow gang members found out. Several witnesses stepped forward saying that Vallum knew she was transgendered and the two had been in an 8 month relationship. He initially told investigators that he blacked out and killed Williamson when he discovered she was transgendered. Vallum, a long time Latin Kings gang member, was arrested just days after the murder when his own father reported the crime to police. He was sentenced under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The Department of Justice later decided to pursue hat crime charges. Joshua Vallum, 29, plead guilty in the 2015 killing of 17-year-old Mercedes Williamson and was sentenced to life in prison in July 2016 by an Alabama judge. 400 comments Mississippi Man Gets 49 Years For Transgender Teen’s MurderĪ federal judge in Mississippi has sentenced a Gulfport man to 49 years in prison for murdering a transgender teenager, in the first-ever hate crime prosecution involving a transgender victim.
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