The story contains descriptions of violence against a transgender woman.
Daniel Arnulfo Ceron, 22, was arrested on June 10 in connection with the violent killing of Persia Amarra Conway, a 33-year-old trans woman found dead near Houston’s Brays Bayou waterway on May 25.
In a press statement, the Houston Police Department said that after being taken into police custody, Ceron admitted to his involvement in Conway’s death, which HPD is investigating as a homicide. According to court documents, he allegedly told police that he beat Conway to death with his hands on May 25, the same day she was found. The filings allege that video also captured Ceron disposing of items that were later identified as acrylic nails, a cellphone, and slippers before leaving the scene. Conway had been found naked at the scene.
Conway’s mother Michelle Simmons said that community members sent her photos and video of a man who resembled Ceron that she later passed to the police after Conway’s death.
“One particular individual sent me two photos of this young man and a video, and in the video, he was literally saying and confessing to the murder two days before,” she told local ABC affiliate KTRX.
Following the alleged confession, Ceron was charged with murder and booked into the Harris County Jail. Prosecutors have filed a motion to set his bail at $500,000.
“To the man accused of murdering my daughter, Daniel Ceron Jr,” Simmons wrote in a Facebook post on June 11. “Because of you, I will never hear my daughter’s voice again. I will never receive another phone call from her. I will never watch her celebrate another birthday, chase another dream, or tell me she loves me. You robbed my family of something that can never be replaced.”
Family, friends, and loved ones described Conway as “kind-hearted, funny, ambitious, intelligent, fearless, and absolutely beautiful.” On June 2, Houston’s LGBTQ+ community held a vigil for Conway at a local LGBTQ+ community center.
“Persia was not just my daughter,” Simmons wrote in a Facebook post memorializing Conway on May 29. “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.”
In a March 31 Facebook post, Simmons wrote, “Don’t worry baby girl you have a tribe of prayer warriors praying for the monster to be revealed.”
This is a developing story.
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