A transgender woman who was found dead with stab wounds late Wednesday in the West Garfield Park neighborhood is believed to have been killed by a person she was arguing with, according to a statement from Chicago police.
At 9:28 p.m., the 31-year-old was with a male inside an abandoned building in the 4500 block of West Adams, police said. As a disagreement between them flared up, he proceeded to stab her and then leave her body in the backyard of the building.
She was identified as Ciara Minaj Carter Frazier on Thursday by Casey Callich with the Howard Brown Health Center.
Frazier was pronounced dead at the scene, police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. An autopsy Thursday found she died of multiple sharp force injuries and her death was ruled a homicide.
Area North detectives were investigating.
She was also the second trans woman killed in Chicago in a little over a month. On Aug. 30, 24-year-old Dejanay Stanton was found shot to death in the 4000 block of South King Drive in Bronzeville.
Detectives were still investigating Stanton’s killing as of Thursday night.
LaSaia Wade, executive director of the Chicago trans advocacy group Brave Space Alliance, knew Frazier through Chicago’s ball scene — underground gathering soirees for the black LGBTQ community to dance and compete.
Wade said she frustrated by the lack of progress in both Frazier and Stanton’s cases.
“It feels like we are being targeted,” Wade said. “I’m frustrated and upset with the lack of cases turning around. There is a lack of needs for our safety from police.”
According to the Human Rights Campaign, at least 21 other trans women have been killed across the country this year.
