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Martasia Richmond was only 19 when she started caring for the newborn niece whom she would go on to adopt.
“She had a heart of gold,” said her brother, Marvin Newman, 40, of Hammond, Louisiana. “She was the go-to, the life of the party; everybody depended on her in some form or another. She was that person who you called and you knew things would be done.”
Richmond, 30, of Chicago, was the second transgender woman of color known to have been killed in Chicago in 2022.
Richmond was stabbed during a July 11 argument with the man she had been dating for about five years, according to prosecutors. Daniel Burley, 31, was charged with first-degree murder Friday and is being held without bail at Cook County Jail.
Richmond died at a time of growing concern over the number of homicides of transgender women of color and low solve rates for these crimes.
In June, the Tribune reported that about 23% of transgender homicides had been solved in Chicago since 2010, compared with 38% of homicides overall. Richmond’s case would bring the solve rate for transgender homicides in Chicago to 29%.
Richmond and Burley were at Burley’s grandmother’s home in the West Englewood neighborhood when the stabbing occurred, according to prosecutors, who said in court records that a witness heard Richmond and Burley arguing in the backyard.
Burley allegedly came in from the backyard with Richmond, who was following him, holding her hand to her upper throat and chest area, according to prosecutors. Blood was squirting from a wound on Richmond, prosecutors said, and Richmond yelled at Burley that he had stabbed and killed her.
Richmond sustained four stab wounds: two to her chest, one to her neck, and one to her cheek, according to court records. She was transported to the University of Chicago Hospital and was pronounced dead at 12:14 a.m. on July 12, police said.
Burley’s attorney, Shay Allen, said his client acted in self-defense.
“This was a fight. Mr. Burley — he was stabbed and attacked and defended himself. He had wounds on his body. When I visited him at the police station, there were visible marks on him,” Allen said. “By all indications, this was a fight that had a tragic end.”
Allen said that he didn’t think the stabbing had anything to do with Richmond being transgender.
Richmond, who worked in restaurants and at the U.S. Postal Service, was a devoted mom to her 10-year-old daughter, according to Newman. They went to the zoo and Disneyland, and the little girl’s birthdays were always big days.
“(Richmond) would just go above and beyond,” said Newman. “Although we weren’t as fortunate as most families, my sister always managed to find a way on that particular day for my niece so she would enjoy herself.”
Now, Richmond’s daughter misses her mother terribly, he said.
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“She keeps asking us, ‘When is she coming back?’”
In March, Chicagoan Tatiana Labelle, a 33-year-old transgender woman, was found dead in East Chatham. Labelle’s death was ruled a homicide.
Advocates say that discrimination puts transgender women of color at a particularly high risk of homicide.
In a 2015 survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality, transgender people of color reported deeper and broader discrimination than white transgender people. Their unemployment rate, at 20%, was four times higher than that of the general population. They were also more likely to live in poverty and be homeless, which are elements associated with a heightened risk of violence.
LaSaia Wade, CEO of the Brave Space Alliance LGBTQ center on the South Side, said she’s still trying to get more information about Richmond’s death.
“The picture, in general, would be, BSA is preparing for another funeral,” she said. “BSA is going to make sure — even though we’re an abolitionist organization – we’re doing anything we can possibly do to hold this person accountable for the harm that they caused, not only to the family but the surrounding loved ones.”
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