'The heinousness of this crime is just unfathomable': Philadelphia's trans community demands justice after the horrific killing of Dominique Fells

• The body of Black trans woman Dominique Fells was found near Philadelphia's Schuylkill River in mid-June. Her legs were severed above the knee.
• Outcry over Fells' killing prompted protests across the US, coinciding with Black Lives Matter protests over the killings of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd, among others.
• At least 16 trans women have been killed in the US so far this year.

On a cloudy day in June, the battered remains of a young Black trans woman named Dominique Fells were found along the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia.

She'd been stabbed and had injuries to her face and head, and her legs were severed above the knees.

About a week later, on June 16, police stormed an empty home along Powelton Avenue, in West Philadelphia, and found blood and a cutting tool that investigators say they linked to the crime.

The person the police say they were looking for was gone, but the killing unleashed a wave of fury, both locally and nationally. Celebrities tweeted and retweeted their indignation. Among them were the actress Kerry Washington, the comedian Jenny Yang, the beauty blogger Nabela Noor, the wrestler Nikki Cross, the writer Janet Mock, the trans entertainer Peppermint, and Sen. Kamala Harris.

Protests in New York, Los Angeles, Nashville, and other cities have demanded justice for Fells and other transgender victims.

On Saturday, Fells' parents, Terri and Keith Edmonds, joined hundreds in a march through West Philadelphia.

"The fact that we have to come here and march in the streets of Philadelphia and others are doing the same across the country and around the world is disheartening to us," Terri Edmonds told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "Tolerance and acceptance should be a natural, common way of life."

"Get to the polls!" her husband told the crowd.

A GoFundMe account for the family racked up $124,678 in a matter of days. A fund for the Morris Home, a Philadelphia refuge where Fells once stayed, generated $160,614.

Advocates hope it's a sign of real change, but the number of trans women killed in 2019 — at least 27 — is discouraging.

'These are ridiculous numbers of deaths each year'

Hope Giselle, a trans activist assisting with the October 3 National Trans Visibility March, which aims to boost transgender civil rights, fears a higher toll in 2020. At least 16 killings have been reported so far, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

Black trans women are seeing "these ridiculous numbers of deaths per year," Giselle said.

Police have issued an arrest warrant for Akhenaton Jones, 36, in relation to Fells' death. Jones has been described as an acquaintance of Fells.

The Philadelphia police list Jones as one of its most wanted fugitives and consider him armed and dangerous. Homicide detectives referred questions about the case to police spokespeople who did not respond to a request for comment.

"The arrest warrant is just a first step," Fells' aunt, Germyce Williams, said. "We're hoping that Dominique will get justice, and we're confident it will happen. The gruesomeness, the heinousness of this crime is just unfathomable to me. We can't believe that a human being would do this to another human being.

"Our goal in all of this, if any good can come from this, is that we're going to keep Dominique's memory alive," Williams added. "We're going to just make the general public more aware of trans issues. Trans are people, too. And when we say Black lives matter, all Black lives matter, that includes trans people."

The killing of Fells and other transgender women has been swept into a broader conversation about systemic racism and police brutality.

Protests erupted in more than 400 cities in the US and around the world after a white police officer in Minneapolis pressed his knee into the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during a May 25 arrest, killing him.

Fells' funeral service was held Thursday at Jabez Ministries, in York, Pennsylvania, a two-hour drive west of Philadelphia. The crowd spilled out of the Baptist chapel and into the parking lot.

"We're fighting against racism, classism, homophobia, and other social ills," Pastor Adrian Boxer told the crowd. "Hate is running rampant. Don't stand by and be complicit. Black lives matter. LGBT Black lives matter too."

Friends and family members recalled the woman Boxer described as "strong, courageous, adventurous, talented, artistic, and Black." Among them was Fells' sister, Dior Edmonds.

"I am hurt. I am shocked. I am angry," she tweeted after the killing. "This should not have happened, and if there's one thing I know about Dominique is that she went out fighting for her life."

"Why do people have to be dead for others to finally wanna protect them?" Edmonds added. "Every day I wake up and I see her face. I have never felt more pain than sitting down and choosing the casket that's gonna end up being my sister's final resting place."

Fells' best friend, Bria Harcum, read an original poem at the funeral.

"They are calling you an icon, girl, and they are calling you a voice," she said. "But they will never know the classy, beautiful soul that carries such poise. I don't think you know how great you are, how amazing you were with all of your flaws."

'She was proud of who she was'

Fells was born in 1992, in Selinsgrove Borough, a predominantly white town of about 6,000 people in central Pennsylvania.

Fells graduated from William Penn High School of York, in 2010, and attended Cheyney University in Pennsylvania for a year before dropping out.

"I don't think she was ready for school," her uncle Roland Williams told Insider. "She got into the partying more than the education."

But Fells, known by friends as "Dom" or "Rem'mie" had a love for fashion. "She did make some of her own clothes," Williams said. "She was proud of who she was."

In January 2019, Fells organized "Rock the Runway: A Trans Empowerment Fashion Show" hosted by the Morris Home, a residential treatment program designed for trans- and gender-variant people in Philadelphia.

Alonda Talley, who knew Fells from the Morris Home and spoke at Saturday's march, called her "a very vibrant person" who loved creating clothing.

"She could make something out of nothing. One time I gave her a sweater, and she cut the sweater and made a headband, a crop top, and a little belt."

Fells had hoped to become a model, Talley said. "She was going to help her mother. She always talked about her mother."

Talley said she last saw her friend in December. She said Fells had been trying to return to the Morris Home, but no beds were available. Later she saw the news of Fells' death.

"I was crying. I wanted to fight. I didn't know what to do. I was like, am I next?" Talley said.

Philadelphia trans activist Deja Alvarez who met Fells only briefly said she "had personality."

"She was very intelligent," Alvarez said. "A very attractive girl as well."

Alvarez called her killing horrifying, and said it was another example of how society has complete disregard for Black trans women.

"Racism is woven into the very fabric of this country," Alvarez said. And if you are Black and transgender, she added, "in the eyes of most folks in this country, you are completely disposable."

More than 140,000 people have signed a Change.org petition demanding that Fells' killing be solved.

"Violence against trans women and ESPECIALLY black trans women is at an all-time high," the petition reads in part. "It is literally a pandemic. Dominique did not deserve to lose her life. She did not deserve to spend her last moments in terror."