Brandi Bledsoe
Age 328 Oct 2016
Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
Shot
TDoR list ref: tgeu/8-Oct-2016/Brandi Bledsoe
Brandi was found dead with a plastic bag around her head and reports of head trauma. The cause of her death was a gunshot wound to the chest.
The death of a transgender woman in Cleveland has been ruled a homicide, making it the 23rd reported murder of a trans person in the U.S. this year.
Brandi Bledsoe, 32, died of a gunshot wound to the chest, the Cuyahoga County medical examiner ruled Thursday, The Plain Dealer of Cleveland reports. She was found dead Saturday around 10 a.m. in a driveway behind a house, with plastic bags over her head and both hands, according to the paper. She had also suffered head trauma. Her body was discovered by a young boy riding his bike.
Initial reports misgendered Bledsoe, but then members of her family came forward to say she was a trans woman, having come out to them two years ago. Bledsoe, a Home Depot employee and animation artist, was much happier once she began presenting as her authentic self, relatives said.
"She wasn't very outgoing before she told us," her cousin John Craggett told The Plain Dealer. "She just wasn't happy with who she was. When she told us, she was honestly a lot better as Brandi. She was happy."
"She was really beautiful," Craggett added. "She was really sweet and nice. That's what bugs the crap out of me about this. Whoever did this can rot in hell."
Brandi was a budding artist. The Life and Death of Brandi Bledsoe, the 23rd Trans Woman Killed in 2016 gives a real insight into who she was.
Nine months after Brandi's murder Michelle Cole and Heidi Krudy were arrested. In May 2018 Cole pleaded guilty to obstructing justice, gross abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. Krudy is charged with murder, felonious assault, tempering with evidence and offenses against a human corpse.
https://www.sisterspgh.org/remembering-our-dead2016/2020/7/1/brandi-bledsoe
https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2016/10/cleveland_transgender_woman_fo_1.html
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/10/transgender_woman_found_dead_i_1.html
