WSOCTV.com, CHARLOTTE — Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said they have arrested two men accused of killing two [so-called] transgender women in the last two weeks.
Police have charged Dontarius Long, 21, and Joel Brewer, 33, for the murders of Jaida Peterson, 29, and Remy Fennell. CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings called the two men very dangerous.
Officers said Peterson was killed on Easter Sunday. She was found fatally shot at the Quality Inn hotel on Queen City Drive in west Charlotte.
Detectives said Fennell, who was also a sex worker, was shot and killed Thursday morning at the Sleep Inn on North Tryon Street near East W.T. Harris Boulevard.
Police said CMPD’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Team, Union County Sheriff’s office and Marshville police arrested Brewer and Long Friday morning.
Investigators believe the men traveled from Union County together and murdered Peterson and Fennell. Police believe they are the only two suspects involved, and that there is no other risk to the public.
“Like I told her before I put her in the ground, I don’t care if it takes every breath in my body, I said, ‘I’m getting justice,’” Mary Peterson said. Jaida Peterson’s funeral was held this week.
Brewer is charged with two counts of murder, two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, robbery with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon.
Long is charged with murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon.
Authorities said they’re still investigating the motive behind the murders, and are working with the FBI to determine if hate crime charges should be filed … Click here to read more.
‘I feel angry’: Why some people regret and reverse their transgender decisions
‘I’m angry that every single doctor and therapist we saw told us this was the one and only option’
Tom Blackwell, December 14, 2020
Studies have estimated that 60 to 90 per cent of children who identify as transgender no longer want to transition by the time they’re adults.
By age 14, Eva became convinced she was a transgender boy. By 16, she had come out to her teachers and classmates.
Her emotionally manipulative family was less accepting of her decision. But a therapist in Toronto and trans activists she knew had a dramatic proposal.
She could move into the Covenant House youth shelter, and then freely go on hormones to push ahead with medical transition.
“They thought it was so important for me to be on testosterone that it was OK if I left home and probably didn’t graduate high school,” recalled Eva, who asked that her last name not be published to preserve her privacy around sensitive issues.
“Even at that point in life, when I was 16 and totally believed this was the only thing that was going to save me, I was more rational about it.”
She never did medically transition, a process that involves taking cross-sex hormones — testosterone for girls who transition to a male gender identity — and then undergo various surgical modifications.
And six years later, on her own at university in Manitoba, Eva decided she’d been “misled,” and was not transgender after all. She was attracted to women, and wanted to be attracted to them as a woman herself.
Eva, now 24, is part of a controversial cohort known as detransitioners and desisters, transgender people who come to rethink their decision, often having already undergone drug and surgical treatments.
In October she founded an organization – Detrans Canada – she hopes will support individuals she said can feel ostracized by the LGBTQ community … Click here to read more.
