Violence against the transgender community has grown in recent years, with transgender women of color especially at risk. Such crimes have often gone unsolved, like the murder of Ciara Minaj Frazier, who was killed in Chicago more than four years ago.
According to her mother, Frazier was someone who loved to dance, had an uplifting spirit and made others laugh.
On the night of Oct. 3, 2018, Frazier was found stabbed to death in the back of an abandoned building in the city's West Garfield Park neighborhood. Hours later, her mother woke up to a phone call from her sister.
"I went to where it happened, where it actually happened," her mother, Tanya Griggs, told NBC 5 in an interview. "Oh my God, it was so much blood. And I know my child was a fighter."
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Griggs says everything she has learned about Frazier's case has come from her other daughter - not detectives. Because her daughter was transgender, Griggs believe her case wasn't important to police.
"No one contacted me at all," she said, referring to law enforcement. "I don't care if I do stay in a different city, it's still Illinois. No one contacted me. I got my information through my kids."
NBC 5 asked the Chicago Police Department's deputy chief of detectives about the case and was told he wouldn't discuss specifics, but did provide information about a department program aimed at preventing a lack of communication.
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"If it's a homicide that is associated with your reporting, then that family liaison officer will definitely make contact with that family member," said Deputy Chief of Detectives Rahman Mohammed. "And that's what their job is."
CPD's Family Liaison Program started in Nov. 2021 to work with family members after a homicide. As it stands, the department has four LGBTQ+ liaisons.
Griggs, meanwhile, says she has given up hope that she will ever hear from Chicago police or that they will find her daughter's killer.
"If it was somebody else of importance I bet it wouldn't just went like that," Griggs said. "She's important. She's still my child. So of course, she's important."
Griggs told NBC 5 that a man was questioned by police for her daughter's murder, but never charged. The Cook County State's Attorney's office said in a statement that "after a thorough review of the case, the office concluded that the evidence was insufficient to meet our burden of proof to file charges" and that CPD agreed with the decision.
Every year has become the deadliest yet on record for transgender and gender non-conforming people. NBC Chicago and NBCLX recently spoke with families and friends looking for answers and closure - for their loved ones not to be forgotten. Hear their stories during our special report "The Deadliest Year" at 6 p.m. Saturday on NBC 5.
