[62] Attorney Gloria Allred represented Araujo's family. Immediately after, she appeared on talk shows and at events with her hair styled, wearing crisp button-downs and leather boots. Nabors testified that he stated he "couldn't believe that someone would ever do that, would be that deceitful" and that Jos Merl added "he was so mad he could still kick her a couple more times". Now at 58, she wears flip-flops and jean shorts. Did the men REALLY not know the truth about Gwen? I feel like a freak.". Merl testified that Nabors was responsible for the major head injuries to Araujo, but supported the assertion that Magidson had strangled her. With credit for time served, he was expected to spend approximately five years in jail from that point on. The jury is unable to reach a guilty verdict and the judge declares mistrial. Her depression, anxiety and PTSD are so debilitating, Guerrero hasnt been able to find a full-time job. July 4, 1999 At age 14, Eddie tells his mom. Over the next few hours, Araujo was punched and beaten as she tried repeatedly to escape the house. She just wanted to jump into the crowd.. I cant tell youhow many people have told me, because of your daughter, I am free to be who I am.. Through this fund, Sylvia Guerrero and her family spoke in middle and high schools about transgender awareness and understanding. The 17-year-old from the San Francisco Bay Area was beaten, punched and eventually choked to death when several men discovered she was a transgender woman. On October 4, 2002, four young men brutally murdered a beautiful, 17-year-old transgender teenager named Gwen Araujo. [39][40][41] At the first trial, defense attorney Tony Serra accused Nabors of writing the letter knowing it would be intercepted and implicate Cazares. Gwen was a vibrant transgender teenager who was murdered in Newark, California in October 2002. For the uninitiated, Araujo was a 17-year-old trans woman from Newark, California. The 17-year-old from the San Francisco Bay Area was punched, beaten and eventually strangled to death when several men discovered she was a transgender woman. [22], When Nabors and Cazares returned, Araujo was still conscious, bleeding from her head wound and sitting on the couch. [19][42][43] During the formal entry of his plea, Judge Kenneth Burr warned Nabors that he could still be charged with murder if prosecutors found he was not "living up to your end of the bargain". Brown grabbed Araujo's crotch during a confrontation in the bathroom and revealed she had male genitalia. [70], Sylvia Guerrero, Araujo's mother, worked as a legal assistant at a San Jose law firm, but as of 2016 was homeless due to PTSD from the incident. To avoid a third trial, Cazares' lawyer reached an agreement with prosecutors for a manslaughter conviction. [4][5] In some contemporary news reports and during the first trial of the perpetrators, Gwen Araujo was misgendered and referred to by her deadname. I don't think most jurors are going to think it's OK to engage someone in sexual activity knowing they assume you have one sexual anatomy when you don't. Nabors and Cazares urged the others to "knock the b out", according to Nabors's testimony. At the sentencing of the suspects, Araujo's mother, Sylvia Guerrero, said that the murder and court process (which lasted three years) had taken an emotional toll on her and that it had affected her relationship with her children. On their way home, they purchased breakfast at a McDonald's drive-through window. Merl was granted early parole in 2016, after reportedly showing extensive remorse to Araujo's mother, who supported the decision. ",[20] and the men with whom she had had sexual relations became enraged and violent. If they actually did know, then why did they kill her? [23] It is not clear at what point during this sequence of events she died. Brandon, then 13, and Michael, then 10, lost their sister and in many ways, their mother. Eddie then began transitioning as a woman and called herself Gwen, after her favorite singer Gwen Stefani. (AP Photo/Anda Chu, Pool) POOL PHOTO, Defendant Jose Merel listens to the testimony of his younger brother, Emmanuel Merel, during Jose Merel's murder trial in Alameda Superior Court on Thursday, April 21, 2004, in Hayward, Calif. Emmanuel Merel testified that he tried to push Eddie "Gwen" Araujo that he tried to push her out the door to safety in the chaos that followed the discovery that she was biologically male. Michael Magidson, 23, Jose Merel, 24, and Jason Cazares, 24, are on trial for murder in the killing of the 17-year-old Araujo. "[22], The party-goers did not report the crime and the assailants said nothing to anyone about the murder. Emmanuel Merel said he later had left the house with his older brother, Paul Merel, and the brother's girlfriend, Nicole Brown. She lives in this prison in her own mind.". Gwen Araujo was a transgender teenager from the SF Bay Area who was killed 20 years ago by men who claimed they were deceived by her sexual identity. All Rights Reserved. She frequently encounters psychological triggers that derail her days. It was a beautiful conversation that Ill always cherish, Guerrero said. Gwen Araujo was a 17-year-old transgender teenager who lived in Newark, Calif. with her mother, Sylvia Guerrero. Cazares and Nabors were also at the house, as was Paul Merl's girlfriend, Nicole Brown. Then while Araujo was in the bathroom, Brown went inside, grabbed her crotch, and reportedly shouted to the group, "It's a man.". Days before the 20-year anniversary of her daughters murder, Guerrero stood in front of the TV at her sons apartment in Tracy and flipped through generic photos of Pescaderos foggy coastline. "[15][24] Jos Merl became angry and struck her in the head with a can of food, denting the can and opening a cut on her head,[24] and then he struck her again with a frying pan. | Olivia Cruz Mayeda/The Standard, By clicking Subscribe you confirm you have read and agree to our. Still, there have been nearly 25slayings of transgender people in the United States so far in 2016 alone, according to Noyola, including the killing of Brandi Bledsoe in Cleveland last week. A few weeks later they also arrested Cazares. I always have.. The first trial started on April 14, 2004 and ended in a hung jury against Magidson, Merel and Cazares. Morbidology Podcast The article continues below Morbidology is a weekly true crime podcast created and hosted by Emily G. Thompson. She fought like a guy. Jos Merl testified and admitted he was ignorant about his thinking about sexuality at the time of the murder. Whether its riding public transit or waiting in line at the doctors office on a daily basis, the amount of trauma a trans person experiences is really unparalleled, and it adds up, Noyola said. Charges against Paul Merel were dropped the following day. Publicity by transgender activists was credited with informing the public about the tactics the defense lawyers had adopted to blame Araujo for her own death, changing the approach to the case. [8] Police did not initially take the missing persons case seriously partly because she was transgender,[9] and she was known to stay away from home overnight. Araujo had been hogtied, bludgeoned, strangled to death, and then transported to the remote location to be buried beneath rocks in a shallow grave, The Mercury News reported. The jury deadlocked 10-2 in favor of acquitting Cazares and Merel of first-degree murder. Many have since forgotten Gwen. However, the autopsy showed that she died from strangulation associated with blunt force trauma to the head. Jose Merel, 36, was granted parole on Friday with the support of Guerrero, pending a review from the Board of Parole Hearings and Gov. When Gwen was 8, Guerrero stopped her daughter as she was getting out of the car for school and asked her if she knew she was a boy. How safe is your neighborhood? "[22], After Araujo was brought back into the house, Magidson grabbed at her skirt and underwear in an attempt to expose her genitals. It's who she was. One of the many factors that parole boards consider is the impact on the victims family. In 2002, she would be brutally murdered by a group of men who uncovered that she was transgender. Loving son to Sylvia Guerrero of Newark and Edward Araujo of Brawley. I love children. According to court testimony, Araujo, who presented herself as Lida, engaged in sexual acts with Magidson and his friend, 22-year-old Jose Merel. She and Guerrero shared a deep love for the city for that reason, and in the year leading up to her murder, Gwen came to the city almost every weekend. "[17] The four men debated in late September whether Araujo was female, concluding that "something bad could happen" to her if she was not. The men become enraged and Magidson punched Araujo. [8], Paul Merl was released after Brown and Emmanuel Merl told the police that he had left the scene with them. Also at the gathering were Paul's girlfriend, Nicole Brown, and friends Jason Cazares, 22, and Jaron Nabors, 19. Loves to Read. Magidson, Jos Merl, Cazares and Nabors then drove four hours to the Silver Forks campground in El Dorado National Forest to buy Araujo's body. The 17-year-old from the San Francisco Bay Area was punched, beaten and eventually strangled to death when several men discovered she was a transgender woman. At a vigil later that evening at the LGBT Center in San Francisco, advocated lamented the men were not convicted of first-degree murder but still called the verdict a huge victory for the transgender rights. All Rights Reserved. Araujo was born with male genitalia but her immediate family noticed early on that she identified more easily with being a girl than a boy. He said that he didnt understand the depths of what he had done until his own daughter, who was gravely disabled, died in 2011, said Alameda County Assistant District Attorney Jill Klinge. He also said that he and Jose Merel had been alone in a bedroom with Araujo, where they engaged in some flirtatious petting. She was killed 20 years ago. Some of the trans people say they were thinking of committing suicide before seeing Gwens story. The four defendants in the murder of Gwen Araujo are being sentenced to prison on January 27, 2006. [6] At age 14, Araujo sat down with her mom for a heart-to-heart talk. She went on to say, "It feels like we lost our mom. She cant afford the surgery to remove an IUD that should have been taken out in 2005 and has painfully embedded itself in her uterus. During Magidson's testimony, a tape of his initial interview with the police was shown, in which an investigator was recorded coaching him to use the trans panic defense: "You'd be surprised. Sylvia Guerrero said that she wants attorneys to refer to her daughter as Gwen when the case is retried. Guerrero foughtthe possible parole of Magidson but supported parole for Merel, while other family members want neither paroled. 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Michael Magidson and Jos Merl were sentenced to 15 years to life for killing Gwen Araujo. The case attracted national attention, both good and bad. [78][79][80] AB 2501 was introduced by Assemblywoman Susan A. Bonilla in partnership with Equality California. They are 22-year-old Michael Magidson, 22-year-old Jos Merl, 22-year-old Jason Cazares, and 19-year-old and Jaron Nabors. An estimated 3,000 marched from Dolores Park to Civic Center where a rally was held. Now, I express how I feel like she did.. [29], Before the first trial, the prosecuting attorney, Alameda County deputy district attorney Chris Lamiero argued that simply being transgender should not have been a death sentence:[44]. Dufty was elected as a supervisor in San Francisco a few months after Gwens murder and witnessed the community organizing that followed. Loving son to Sylvia Guerrero of Newark and Edward Araujo of Brawley. Any woman that knows you after this, it's not going to matter. Cherished brother to Pearl and Jesus Serrano of C Memorial for Gwen Araujo Gwen Araujo was mourned in a public funeral at St. Edwards Catholic Church in Newark on October 25, 2002. The day after the first trial ended in a mistrial, a court granted Araujo's mother's petition for a posthumous name change, requiring the defense lawyers to refer to the victim with female pronouns. The men would later claim during the trial that they were driven to a fit of rage after learning that Gwen, who two of the men had slept with, was biologically male. 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