A suspect has been arrested in the slaying of Dallas transgender woman Muhlaysia Booker.
Kendrell Lavar Lyles, a 33-year-old Dallas man, was arrested for the murder this week after a nearly month-long investigation, according to Dallas Morning News. Lyles was already in police custody for two separate murder charges when police connected him to Booker’s killing. Lyles was charged with shooting another woman on May 22, and the drug-related killing of a man on May 23.
Dallas police officers linked Lyles to the murder of Booker when cell phone data revealed Lyles was present at the scene of her murder, The New York Times reports. Police also concluded that he drives a car similar to the one Booker was last seen getting into.
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“The reason for the shooting is still unknown at this point,” said Maj. Max Geron of the Dallas Police in a press conference on June 12.
In addition to the murder charges, Lyles has also been implicated as a person of interest in the murder of transgender woman Chynal Lindsey. Lindsey’s body was recovered from White Rock Lake in Dallas on June 1, making her the third transgender woman who had been killed in the area in less than a year.
Booker, who was murdered on May 18, made national headlines after footage of her brutal beating at a traffic accident in April went viral. Transgender women, especially those of color, are one of the most at-risk populations when it comes to violence. The Human Rights Campaign has already tracked 19 murders of transgender women in 2019.
Lyles is now charged with three murders and remains in Collin County Jail without bail.
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