Stephanie (Wilbur) Thomas

Stephanie Thomas

Location: Washington, DC
Cause of Death: Shot multiple times
Date of Death: August 12, 2002
Source: WJLA ABC 7, Washington, DC
Notes: Stephanie was killed at the same time as Ukea Davis. Stephanie and Ukea were friends living in Washington, D.C., and had begun living in their preferred gender roles. Both were shot multiple times in a car they often shared. They were half a block away from home. Anyone with information about this crime is asked to call (202) 727-9099.  There is a $10,000 reward available.

The Death of Stephanie and Ukea

In the early morning hours of Monday, August 12 Stephanie (Wilbur) Thomas, age 19, was driving her friend Ukea (Deon) Davis, age 18, home in South East Washington, DC. Thomas has just purchased her Toyota Camry a few weeks ago. A car drove up beside them, and a gunman fired shots from an automatic weapon. The gunfire killed Ukea Davis and critically wounded Stephanie Thomas.

According to an eyewitness report, another car drove up after the shooting, and an unidentified man got out and walked up to the driver’s side of Thomas’ Camry. The man pushed Thomas’ shoulder to see if she was still alive. Thomas moaned in pain, but the man fled upon hearing the first car return. The gunman then got out of the first car and fired additional shots into Thomas’ car, killing her.

The two young transgendered women were members of Transgender Health Empowerment, an African-American transgender support group coordinated by Earline Budd. They also may have been members of the Teen Divas of the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League (SMYAL) although that has not yet been confirmed.

Whether or not the DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) will investigate this gruesome double homicide as a hate crime remains to be seen, but the assailants’ return to the scene to fire additional shots does seem to indicate an overkill factor common in many murders of transgendered people in the U.S.

Copyright 2002, Jessica Xavier. Used with permission.

Do you have more information on this person that you would like to see here? If so, please write to gwen@gender.org, with a subject line of “remembering our dead.”

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