Facebook/Michelle P. Simmons
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Update 5/30/26: The previously unidentified transgender woman whose body was found near the Brays Bayou waterway earlier this week has now been named as Persia Amarra Conway, a 33-year-old described in a post by her family as “kind-hearted,” “funny,” and “headstrong like her mama.”
The news was first confirmed by the Instagram account for Blaque Out magazine, which focuses on Black queer culture, citing social media posts by Conway’s family.
“Most people may not know this, but I am the proud mother of a beautiful transgender daughter, Persia Amarra Conway,” Michelle P. Simmons wrote in a Facebook post on Friday. “A few days ago, my world changed forever. A monster in Houston, Texas, took my baby’s life.”
Simmons continued, “Persia was not just my daughter. She was a light. She was a force. She was the kind of person who could walk into a room and leave it brighter than she found it. To know her was to love her.”
Her post ended with an expression of gratitude “to the transgender community, to our family, to friends, and to complete strangers who have reached out with prayers, love, support, and compassion.”
“Your messages, calls, and kind words are carrying us through some of the darkest moments of our lives,” Simmons wrote.
The Houston Police Department has offered no further public updates on the case. Them will continue to follow the story.
Original Article 5/26/26: Detectives in Houston are investigating the death of a transgender woman whose body was found near the Brays Bayou river, according to local media reports.
After two walkers discovered the body on Monday morning, the Houston Police Department reported to the scene and pronounced the victim dead, per KTRX. According to the local ABC affiliate, investigators determined her to be a transgender woman “because of the person’s appearance” and estimated she was between the ages of 24 and 30. Per KPRC, police were spotted working the scene into Monday afternoon.
The Houston Chronicle reports that the victim was naked but that detectives suspect the clothes might have been taken to limit their ability to collect evidence from the scene. Further information about the victim’s identity is not yet publicly available. Them has reached out to the Houston Police Department for further information, but did not immediately hear back.
The discovery of the body follows a rash of violence against trans people in the U.S. across the last several weeks. On April 18, Luca RedBeard, a 39-year-old transmasculine farmer in New Mexico, was fatally shot, with charges filed against a husband-and-wife duo. On May 7, a 29-year-old transgender person who alternately went by names including Spot and Hailey, was found dead near railroad tracks in Marion County, Florida.
On May 10, University of Washington student Juniper Blessing, 19, was fatally stabbed in the laundry room of her off-campus apartment building; Christopher Michael Leahy, a 31-year-old man accused of stalking other UW students, was subsequently charged with first-degree murder after turning himself into police.
On May 19, Eryka Caldwell, a 41-year-old trans woman in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood was fatally stabbed in her home; a boyfriend, 38-year-old Jonathan Fernandez was arrested on the scene and later charged with murder.
This is a developing story.
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