California Transexual Teen Murdered

The Argus (Fremont California) ^ | October 19, 2002 | Robert Airoldi

[BeAllYouCanBe]

Saturday, October 19, 2002 - FREMONT -- Three Tri-City men were charged with murder Friday after a 17-year-old Newark boy who lived as a girl was killed at a party after several party-goers discovered he was a male, according to court records.

Community members made a haunting comparison to "The Laramie Project" -- a play about a college student murdered because he was gay -- a controversial play that Newark Memorial High School students will perform in November.

The preacher of a Kansas-based Baptist church who vowed to send church members to protest the performance said he also intends to picket the boy's funeral.

Edward Araujo Jr. -- who also went by Gwen, Wendy and Lida -- was punched, dragged into the garage of a home on Saint Matthew Drive in Newark, where the party took place Oct. 3, and a rope was tied around his neck, according to court records. A spokesman at the Alameda County Coroner's Office said he died of blunt trauma.

Michael William Magidson, 22, of Fremont; Jaron Chase Nabors, 19, and Jose Antonio Merel, 24, both of Newark, each were charged Friday at the Fremont Hall of Justice with one count of murder, with a hate-crime enhancement that could add as many as four years if they are convicted.

Merel's 25-year-old brother, Paul,

also was arrested, but released when it was determined he played no part in the crime, said Ted Landswicke, senior district attorney.

The trio -- held without bail -- delayed entering pleas. Merel was referred to the public defender's office and will appear in court Monday. Nabors and Magidson, who already hired attorneys, are expected to enter pleas Thursday.

Robert Beles, Nabors' attorney, said his client was a college student with no history of violence.

"I feel confident my client will be found not guilty," he said after the hearing. "He's not guilty of a hate crime. He's not guilty of anything."

Imelda Guerrero, Araujo's aunt, said the family is pleased the three are being detained.

'A beautiful person'

"We're leaving it in the hands of the authorities and the (three) are going to pay for what they did," she said. "(Edward) was a beautiful person inside and out."

She said her nephew was a typical teenager who enjoyed hanging out with his friends and listening to music -- especially the band No Doubt, and its lead singer Gwen Stefani.

Araujo occasionally wore makeup and women's apparel on campus at Bridgepoint Continuation High School, but nobody seemed to mind, said Curt Carter, the principal at both Bridgepoint and Crossroads Independent Study in Newark -- two schools Araujo attended.

"It wasn't brand new to us as far as a campus," he said.

Araujo's biggest academic problem, Carter said, was attendance.

Araujo went to Newark Junior High School, then to American High School in Fremont, he said. But poor attendance at American forced him to enroll at Bridgepoint for the 2000-01 school year.

In February 2001, he dropped out of Bridgepoint and enrolled at Crossroads, Carter said. But he didn't register at either school this year.

The slaying reminded several people of Matthew Shepard's murder in Laramie, Wyo.

Paul Clifford, a spokesman for Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), recalled a line from the play: "Everyone says that things like this don't happen here. But it did."

"Newark is Laramie, everywhere is Laramie," Clifford said.

'The Laramie Project'

"The Laramie Project" is an account of the murder of Shepard, whose bludgeoned, nearly lifeless body was found tied to a fence post.

Fred Phelps, the Baptist preacher from Kansas who picketed Shepard's funeral in Laramie plans to dispatch a dozen or so followers to the Newark play and to Araujo's funeral.

"If you live in that sin and die in that sin, you're going to hell," he said Friday. "Everything else seems superficial compared to that solemn fact. That's what we'll say at his funeral."

But Newark Memorial High School drama teacher Barbara Williams was incensed at Phelps' comments.

"He has a right to free speech, however his evil is just overwhelming to me," she said.

The play is, in part, an attempt to alleviate local intolerance, she said.

"(The play) wasn't done on time," she said. "I knew all along that this community is just boiling. It was all there under the surface ... and I knew this play had to be done."

One of the lines in the play, she added, is that murders like Shepard's can happen anywhere.

"We believed it, but it was only intellectualized," she said. "And here it is, so real, just thrown out right in front of us."

Araujo's body was discovered Wednesday in a shallow grave in the Sierra foothills after Nabors led police to the grave site, according to court records. Araujo's hands and feet were bound and he was wrapped in a bed sheet -- still wearing the black shirt, denim mini-skirt and thongs he wore to the Oct. 3 party, records showed.

Police began searching for Araujo when his mother reported him missing Oct. 5. She was reluctant to call police sooner because her son had previous run-ins with police, according to court records. She told police her son had a substance abuse problem.

Nabors initially lied to police about when he last saw Araujo, according to the records. But when police took him to the station and confronted him with what they knew, he told of his involvement, according to court records.

He told police that Magidson and Merel had a previous sexual encounter with Araujo before anyone suspected he wasn't a woman, according to the records.

When several people questioned his gender at the Oct. 3 party, Magidson's girlfriend went into a bathroom with Araujo and learned the truth.

"It's a man; let's go," she said as she came out of the bathroom.

Dragged into garage

When Araujo exited, Merel punched him, knocking him to the ground. Magidson then dragged him into the garage where he was killed, according to court records.

Tara Rodriguez, 16, a Bridgepoint student, said Araujo was very sensitive.

She had this advice for people who don't like cross-dressers or homosexuals: "If you are uncomfortable and you know him, just keep it to yourself," she said. "Whoever did this ... God have mercy on their souls."

[csvset]

This story is as newsworthy as any other murder trial.

[Calico Cat]

I agree with you--Jerry IS a slimeball. I've seen the show a couple of times and have come to the conclusion that it's fake. It's like wrestling. There are some very trashy, very stupid people in the world who either create wild scenarios on their own, or who are handed a script by the Springer staff. Can you believe that some people find this entertaining? That some people waste hours of their lives watching this garbage?

Still, I'll place Springer one step above Jenny Jones, who pretends that her show ISN'T a freak show, that she's only helping people with problems, etc. Jerry tacks on a 'sermon' at the end of his stupid show, but everyone knows it's done with a smirk.

[Calico Cat]

Me, too. Those who use their sexuality as some kind of 'badge of honor' are like those whose identity is wrapped up in their race or their national origin: it's a substitute for any kind of real, individual accomplishment, and a way of finding a kind of 'group identity' in a culture in which families are, more than ever, fractured and scattered, and one town is indistinguishable from another due to homogenization of housing styles, strip malling, etc. This kind of 'identity politics' seems to be going out of style (or am I being optimistic?) because it leads to no real sense of self-worth. This comes, I believe, from developing your own skills, using your mind, and having control of your own life.

[jigga]

have any of you (who are heterosexual) ever been deceived into having an intimate encounter with a female impersonator who looked 100% female but omitted the vital fact that he/she was once a man? very recently, this may have happened to me and it is by no means an easy memory to let go, let alone prevent from being a source of tremendous anguish and distress. consider the obvious fact thta these 3 felons were victimized themselves before this troubled, deceitful transvestite boy ever became a victim. Now I am not justifying the murder. However, can you imagine the horrible thoughts of self-doubt, shame, guilt, violation, loss of identity, loss of manhood that these 3 young heterosexual, testosterone driven, sexually active (their only mishap was being too sexually eager and as such failing to use judgement to check for any indication of gender, such as the often overlooked adams apple) young men must have undergone after discovering that the individual with whom they had just had a sexual encounter who they thought was a woman, was in fact a man?! This sort of deceit can leave deep emotional scars and is highly likely to cause Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In a sense, these 3 young felons' lives were taken before they took the life of this selfish, deceitful transvestite and, though death may not have been warranted, I'm quite sure some sort of vengeful recompense would have been for this transvestite's conscious deceitful violation and disregard for the sanity and well-being of these three poor, yet over-vengeful convicted young men.

ps-if any of you (who are heterosexual men) has been deceived into intimacy with a cross-dresser whom you thought was female, and it bothers you, and youd be willing to talk about it with someone who shares your experience, please feel free to contact me. Believe me, I could use the help and support as much as you!

[Seriene]

Do you even realize that there is a difference to being a Transvestite and being a Transsexual?

Transvestite is a man who wants to be a woman for sexual pleasure.

A Transsexual is a person who has a womans brain in a mans body due to birth defect.

http://transsexual.org/index.html

That and did you ever give any thought that they might have actually intended to rape her and found out she was in fact a he?

[hellinahandcart]

A Transsexual is a person who has a womans brain in a mans body due to birth defect serious mental illness.

There. I fixed your typo.

[hellinahandcart]

Looking promising over here, though. Two noobs with "issues". And stories, no doubt.

[oceanperch]

I was trying to think of the right term for a rare birth defect where both genitalia are present.

Do you know?

If my memory serves me I think it is male/female but one gender is dominate or fully developed and is usually corrected soon after birth.

[Siamese Princess]

If he was my kid I would not allow it. I wouldn't allow him to drop out of school. I wouldn't allow him to use drugs. I would not allow him to live out his fantasy of being a woman.

Agreed. There was a piece about this on "Dateline NBC" last Sunday -- the young man's mother (who consistently referred to her son as "she") and uncle were interviewed. No mention of the father. They claimed that the family accepted his lifestyle. If my memory serves me correctly, the mother said that at first she wasn't concerned about her son being out all night because he often returned home at the time she was heading out to work (!!).

The mother is now "speaking out" in favor of acceptance of the "transgendered." She struck me as the classic liberal moron. This obviously disturbed kid associated with lowlife bunch and suffered for it.

[cyborg]

I missed the party :D

[metalurgist]

There was no sexual encounter between any of them. They found out he was a boy dressed as a girl and simply beat, killed, and buried him.

Nabors initially lied to police about when he last saw Araujo, according to the records. But when police took him to the station and confronted him with what they knew, he told of his involvement, according to court records.

He told police that Magidson and Merel had a previous sexual encounter with Araujo before anyone suspected he wasn't a woman,

according to the records.

Reading comprehension is our friend. You are wrong. I guess in your haste to advocate queer behavior you missed this paragraph.

[TheOtherOne]

Me thinks you are a little queer fixated, going back to 2002 postings looking for errors. Get a life.

[Libertina]

have any of you (who are heterosexual) ever been deceived into having an intimate encounter with a female impersonator who looked 100% female but omitted the vital fact that he/she was once a man?

NO Why the 2 year old rehash here?

[HitmanLV]

In any event, murdering this young (and what I would consider very troubled) teen wasn't a good thing to do. I hope they lock up these perps for life.

This is also another example why adding an additional 'hate crime' charge is downright silly. The victim is no more (nor less) harmed by the addition of such a charge. Dead is dead. This was a crime of hate just as any crime is a crime of hate.

Time for these guys to take responsibility for their murderous actions. Lock 'em up in prison - thats where they belong.

[SamAdams76]

I watched a day talk show about transexuals that had a sex change operation and now were sorry they had it done. They realized they had mad a mistake and their "gender preference" was all a big mistake.

I read an article a few years ago about those who had the operation and none of them were happy with their "new selves" and they regretted the whole experience. Fact is, you are who you are and no amount of plastic surgery and mutilation is going to change that. (Just ask Michael Jackson.)

Besides, all the "women" created by these bogus operations end up being butt-ugly. I'm talking Janet Reno ugly. Maybe you can "pass" for a few years when you are very young, but as you age, it becomes more and more apparent that something "just ain't right" about you. Eventually, you are going to look like Don Imus in a dress and even Bill Clinton will steer clear.