New Details About The Detroit Pastor Charged With The Murder Of A Transgender Woman
Her murder is being treated as a hate crime.
Detroit Police Department / GoFundMe A Detroit pastor was charged with murder Monday in the death of a transgender woman whose gender identity was a motivating factor, prosecutors say.
Albert Weathers, a 46-year-old preacher, is accused of killing Kelly Stough, a 36-year-old transgender woman who was shot to death Dec. 7.
“After a police investigation, prosecutors arraigned Weathers on charges of open murder and use of a firearm in commission of a felony,” said a press release shared with NBC News by the Wayne County prosecutor’s office.
Weathers' bail was set at $1 million and he will be back in court in late December.
The Wayne County prosecutor's office plans to present evidence that Stough's transgender status played a role in her murder.
Stough's murder is being investigated as a hate crime.
"This case reflects the excessive brutality that members of Detroit’s transgender community constantly face," said Dana Nessel, Michigan’s attorney general-elect and president of LGBTQ advocacy group Fair Michigan. "We thank the Detroit Police Department for their efforts to investigate the facts of this tragic crime."
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According to Human Rights Campaign, violence against the transgender community has risen in 2018. Most of the victims are women of color.
Stough was an LGBTQ advocate and was even quoted by The Guardian in 2015 under the pseudonym "Keanna Mattel" in an article about the murders of transgender people in Detroit.
“The police are unaware with our struggle so they have no sympathy for us,” Stough told the outlet. “Nobody ever asks, what happened to that person to get here?”
Stough's mother wants her to be remembered as a loving and much-loved woman.
“I want people to know that because she was transgender doesn't mean that she was not loved, that she was not cared for,” said the victim's mother, Jessica Chantae Stough, in an interview with NBC News. “She has a family who cared about her, who loved her, and I want them to know that transgender ladies — expressly those of color — they're just not throwaways; people care about them.”
“She was educated, she was God-filled, she loved church, she loved others,” she continued. “As a human being in the United States of America, you have the right to be who you want to be, and you shouldn’t be shamed or bullied or persecuted for the choice you make.”
A GoFundMe page was set up by one of Stough's cousins to help with funeral expenses. As of Friday afternoon, $4,940 had been raised, exceeded its goal of $4,000.
Sarah Gangraw writes about all things news, entertainment and crime. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter.