A transgender woman was stabbed to death last week in New Jersey.
Eryicka Morgan, 26, was found in her New Brunswick apartment Sept. 24 with multiple stab wounds and died later that night at the hospital.
Police quickly arrested 21-year-old Devonte Scott, who lived at the same boarding house as Morgan. He has been charged with murder and weapons offenses and is being held on $1 million bail.
Morgan is a former Rutgers University student who was involved with the North Jersey Community Research Initiative. She spoke at a 2011 LGBT conference at Rutgers about her experience coming out as transgender, which included leaving home as a young teenager.
A motive in the case is unclear.
The New Brunswick Police Department directed requests for information to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, which declined to comment beyond a prepared informational release.
The Prosecutor’s Office refused to comment on whether the incident was motivated by anti-transgender animus or if the case is being investigated as a hate crime.
— Jen Colletta