This archive report was first published on 26 September 2019.
On September 4, the body of Bee Love Slater, a 30-year-old black transgender woman, was found burned in an abandoned car near Clewiston, Florida. Three weeks later, authorities named Jamson Richemond, a 29-year-old man from Belle Glade, as a person of interest in her killing.
Richemond is also a person of interest in the separate killing of Jamal Hubert, a 30-year-old man found in a canal nine miles east of where Slater's body was discovered on June 6. While Richemond is not a suspect in either crime, authorities believe he may be living between Clewiston and West Palm Beach.
According to Sheriff Steve Whidden of Hendry County, Richemond had posted threatening messages directed at Slater before her death. However, Whidden declined to elaborate on the posts or say what connection, if any, Richemond might have had with Hubert.
Slater's death drew national attention as the 18th transgender person killed in the United States this year, according to the Human Rights Campaign. In 2018, advocates tracked at least 26 such deaths, the majority of whom were black transgender women.
Sarah McBride, a spokeswoman for the Human Rights Campaign, said the naming of a person of interest was a significant development. “In a lot of cases, the murder occurs in the context of underground economies, so they are very difficult to solve,” she said. “Then in some cases, law enforcement just doesn’t put their full resources behind solving them.”
It is not clear whether Slater’s killing is a hate crime, but Sheriff Whidden said it was “kind of leading toward that way.” The authorities had to use dental records to identify Slater after she was found.
