2008 Woodie Awards
GSA Holds Day Of Rememberance For Murdered Transgender Student
Genevieve Ramirez
Issue date: 5/12/08 Section: Campus News
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Araujo was killed for being biologically male, but identifying herself as a female. According to authorities, Araujo was attending a party that night when a male began choking her in the hallway of the house. At this point numerous guests left the residence and after everyone was gone two other males remained and continued to assault Araujo.
Araujo was brutally beaten for five hours by the three males. One of the males struck her head with a frying pan while another hit her again with a can of tomatoes, causing a gash to her head which bled profusely.
The third male struck her with a barbell weight and kneed Araujo in the head against the living room wall with such force that her head caused an indentation in the plaster wall.
After the brutal beating, Araujo was taken to the garage of the home and strangled with a rope. She was then hog-tied, wrapped in a blanket and placed in the bed of a pickup truck.
The three assailants then drove her body to a wooded area in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada known as Silver Fork, where she was buried in a shallow grave.
According to authorties, it is not clear at what point during this sequence the death occured. However the autopsy showed that she died from strangulation associated with blunt force trauma to the head.
Araujo's mother, Sylvia Guerrero, who visits college campuses to talk about her daughter's life and death as well as the aftermath, attended the event to speak on behalf of her daughter.
Guerrero makes these visits as an advocate for equal protection. In over 200 cases of anti-transgender murder in California, only one perpetrator has been sentenced to death, and only two others have received life sentences.
Only two of Araujo's four attackers were charged with murder; the other two were sentenced for manslaughter, and involuntary manslaughter, respectively. None of the men received more than 15 years in prison.
Guerrero has made it a priority in her life to spread the word about tragedies such as her daughter's.
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