The body of a missing transgender
teenager was found on September 21 in Cabool, Missouri.
Ally Lee Steinfeld was reported missing
on September 1.
Steinfeld's murder was brutal. Both
her eyes were gouged out and Steinfeld had been stabbed in the
genitals. Her body was burned and several of her bones were found in
a garbage bag. Authorities found the bag inside a chicken coop.
According to the
AP, Steinfeld was living with her new girlfriend, 24-year-old
Briana Calderas.
Authorities have charged Calderas and
two 18-year-olds, Andrew Vrba and Isis Schaucer, with first-degree
murder. A fourth person has been charged with abandonment of a
corpse and tampering with evidence.
Vrba reportedly told authorities that
he stabbed Steinfeld in Calderas' living room. Calderas also
admitted to helping burn Steinfeld's body.
Steinfeld's mother, Amber Steinfeld,
told the AP that her child was “loving and kind-hearted.” She
said that she and the two 18-year-old suspects were living with
Calderas in her mobile home.
Authorities have said that they do not
believe Steinfeld's murder was motivated by her gender identity.
Steinfeld is the 21st
transgender person murdered in the United States this year, according
to Chris Sgro, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the
nation's largest LGBT rights group.
“This violence, often motivated by
hatred, must come to an end,” Sgro said. “We will continue to
mourn Ally and fight back against transphobia and anti-trans
violence.”
In an Instagram post from June,
Steinfeld said that she was “proud to be trans. I am beautiful. I
don't care what people think.”