Man
arrested in murder of Southern California transgender activist
Send a link to a friend
[October 09, 2014]
By Dan Whitcomb
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A 38-year-old man
has been arrested in the murder of a transgender and immigrant rights
activist who was found slain behind a Southern California fast food
restaurant in June, police said on Wednesday.
|
Randy Lee Parkerson was taken into custody on Tuesday in his
vehicle in the city of Anaheim, not far from where the body of
29-year-old Zoraida Reyes was discovered on the morning of June 12,
Lt. Bob Dunn of the Anaheim Police Department said in a written
statement.
Parkerson was booked into a detention facility in Anaheim on
suspicion of murder and was being held in lieu of $1 million bail,
Dunn said.
Police released few other details of Parkerson's arrest but said
that, despite concerns among activists, the investigation had not
uncovered any evidence that Reyes had been targeted because of her
transgender status and detectives were not investigating the case as
a hate crime.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2014/Oct/09/images/ads/current/humanesociety_sda022411.png)
She had been active in several transgender and immigrant rights
groups in Orange County before her death.
An autopsy at the time was inconclusive and police have not said how
Reyes was killed.
"For many the lives of transgender people don't matter and they're
viewed as disposable," Jorge Gutierrez, a friend of the victim, told
the Los Angeles Times in an interview.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/ads/current/richardson_lda_040113.png)
"We know that her identity as a trans woman was a huge factor,
whether the police want to acknowledge it or not."
Gutierrez told the Times Reyes had been born in Michoacan, Mexico,
and had attended high school in Southern California before earning
her associate degree from Santa Ana College.
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2014/Oct/09/images/ads/current/brickey_lda_061314.png) |