Ashley Santiago Ocasio Photo Courtesy of Ocasio Family"When I heard about Ashley, it was like again to recreate the death of my nephew and wanted to come to support her mother because she must be suffering a lot, like my sister Myriam," said Sandra Ruby Mercado, Jorge maternal aunt of Steven Lopez-Mercado.
Ashley, a transsexual whose birth name was Juan Antonio and had a successful career as a stylist in Corozal, was found dead on Monday at her residence, totally naked with a bullet in her head. The preliminary investigation indicates that she had fought for her life, due to disorder and traces of blood found in her home. Local gay rights activists are calling on police to investigate Santiago's death as a possible hate crime.
Pedro Julio Serrano, a spokesman for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, told correspondent Bárbara J. Figueroa-Rosa, staff writer for Primera Hora:
"The law is very clear and we're asking authorities to investigate without prejudice. Even if Ashley's death was also a robbery, there could be the angle of hate. We need that to be investigated."
The slain man's mother told Figuero-Rosa that she is sending the message to murderer that "You have to pay for what you did with Ashley ... She did not deserve this," saying also she is confident that the authorities can crack the case and prosecute the perpetrator.The outlook remains uncertain as to identifying a suspect in connection with the case.
"We are still investigating all the information that reaches us, but we have nothing yet," said the Homicide director of the Puerto Rican Criminal Investigation Corps (CIC) from Vega Baja, adding that they have not been able to trace the whereabouts of the car Toyota Corolla the murderer stole from the victim.
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1 comments:
Was it really necessary to do the "birth name" thing here? It's often very problematic as it is often used as part of invalidating a trans person's gender.
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