On July 29, 2015 police were called to a vacant lot on a residential street located between Harry Hines and I35, in the vacant lot a body was found. The body had been so far advanced in decomposition that police couldn't determine a race. The victim was found to be wearing a black wig, “false” fingernails (i’m assuming press-ons or acrylics or something) with pink tips and rhinestones, sunglasses, a blue and white cotton tube top, blue shorts, and black Nike flip-flops. There were faint tattoos visible, on the right shin there was one that read Shade, on the right shoulder there was the name Willie inside of a heart, and finally on the right thigh there was a banner and a star.
Shade Schuler via MySpace
The victim turned out to be Shade Schuler, a 22 year old trans woman. The initial police posting on the DFW Beat identified her sex as male when asking the public for help in a posting on August 10, 2015. However, Senior Corporal Monica Cordova, a public information officer with the Dallas Police Department, told Cosmopolitan.com that because some of Schuler's friends referred to her as female, and because "she was found in women's clothing," the department is now referring to Schuler as female. "Unfortunately, we can't talk to her to figure out what she would be liked to be called," Cordova said, but they have chosen to adopt female pronouns "out of respect" for the victim. (Cosmopolitan)
Friends and the trans-rights community affectionately call Shade Ms. Shade.
Unfortunately, again, i can't find an obituary for Ms. Shade. I can’t find much information on the crime except what I’ve given you and that reason is because of the sheer amount of trans WOC that are being murdered in Dallas. Ms. Shade’s story is overshadowed by the monster amount of cases the DPD has in their load.
In April 12, 2019 a video circulated of 23 year old trans woman Muhlaysia Booker being beaten brutally in an apartment complex while many men joined in and others watched Booker struggle to escape until a group of women helped her get away. It was described in an article by the Washington Post as looking like “mob violence.”
Muhlaysia Booker via Robyn Crowe
According to police Muhlaysia had accidentally backed into Edward Thomas’s car, who then got out of his car and held her at gunpoint until she paid for damages, a crowd started forming when someone offered Thomas $200 to beat Muhlaysia. Thomas was arrested and charged with aggravated assault on April 14th.
During a rally after her publicized attack Booker said “This time I can stand before you whereas in other scenarios we are at a memorial”
On May 22nd Muhlaysia Booker was found shot to death in a wooded area in South Dallas between an apartment complex and a golf course.
Muhlaysia was last seen getting into a light colored Lincoln.
In June 2019 a man named Kendrell Lyles was arrested under the suspicion of Muhlaysia’s murder, who is also suspected of two other murders and is a person of interest in the murder of Chaynel Lindsey, another trans woman who’s body was found in White Rock Lake..
Police connected Lyles to Booker’s murder when they saw that cellphone records indicated her and Booker were in the same place at the same time, his car also matched the description of the car Muhlaysia was seen getting into.
Because Lyles was arrested so recently, there is no additional information on the direction the case is going in. "Muhlaysia had many fights," Stephanie Houston, Booker’s mom, said. "Muhlaysia didn't start trouble, but she would finish it. ... She just always had to defend, defend, defend, defend."
Muhlaysia’s funeral took place at the Cathedral of Hope, one of the country’s largest LGBTQ+ congregations near Oak Lawn. She was buried in a blue casket that matched her bejeweled blue dress. 400 people attended the memorial.
Her mom openly admitted she had issues accepting Muhlaysia as a transgender woman and once in a moment of anger she said she’d cut Muhlaysia’s hair and dress her as a man if she ever died before her mother. Stephanie Houston ultimately “honored her truth because of how hard she fought for it and paid the ultimate price.”
“I grew up with a brother who I loved, and later introduced to Muhlaysia, who I loved. That was my sister, my friend, and she meant a lot to me,” Booker’s sister La’Quincia Taylor said.
Muhlaysia was also honored in a small London vigil outside of the US Embassy on May 29, 2019.
Sources: CNN, Dallas News, Buzzfeed, Cosmopolitan, Texas Tribune, NY Times, Wikipedia, The Guardian, and CBS