Florida transgender woman beaten to death is 10th US trans murder in 2015

“We are not going to categorize him as a transgender. We can just tell you he had women’s clothing on at the time,” McKinnon told BuzzFeed News . “What his lifestyle was prior to that we don’t know – whether he was a cross dresser, we don’t know.”

National anti-violence groups working closely with organizations involved in the case see this misgendering of the victim as another form of violence, which hurts the potential for the case being solved.

“We appreciate that local law enforcement has reached out to community … but it’s critical that they reach out using the actual name and gender identity of the victim,” Chai Jindasurat, NCAVP co-director of community organizing and public advocacy told the Guardian.

“Otherwise there is the risk of a case growing cold,” he continued, “which is something we have seen all too frequently with trans women’s homicides, because people are being improperly named and gendered.”