Hate Charges will be added

I wrote a letter to the DA on Wednesday, expressing my views and similar circumstances in the past for the horrific death of Angie, and pleaded with him to pursue hate charges in addition to second degree murder against the man that brutally killed Angie. I did receive a response from him on Thursday that expressed thanks for my letter and today he will pursue these charges against the murder.

Although there are many cases that happen like this each year, this one hit home with me, both from being from Colorado, as well as knowing a relative. I pray that because now this case is not becoming national news, that it will help educated and make aware that this is pure hate and will not be inexcusable and will save lives and eliminate hate that goes on everyday even within our own community, to be careful of all those jokes "hot tranny mess" etc that often those jokes are read as hatred, and is no better then decades ago using the "n" word to make jokes of black people what the true meaning of hate lies in those types of jokes within our own community but promoting out there for people that hate and discriminate against the TG community to began with. We have to stop, how many more of us have to die to get the message that we live in the land of freedom, but we are the last on the list when discrimination and hatred still goes on, how many more have to die? So before you go and say jokes, just remember you are not free from blood on your hands if your in the glbt community, because it this sort of stereotyping that leads to this violence and discrimination that sets us back in the stone age. STOP LISTEN THEN SPEAK

RIP ANGIE

Mercedez


Homicide brings national spotlight back to Greeley


Mike Peters
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A ceramic angel with a broken wing with “God bless you” sits at the door of apartment No. 8 in the 2000 block of 4th Avenue where Angie Zapata was found dead of July 17.
A ceramic angel with a broken wing with “God bless you” sits at the door of apartment No. 8 in the 2000 block of 4th Avenue where Angie Zapata was found dead of July 17.ENLARGE
A ceramic angel with a broken wing with “God bless you” sits at the door of apartment No. 8 in the 2000 block of 4th Avenue where Angie Zapata was found dead of July 17.
BRET HARTMAN/bhartman@greeleytribune.com
It's quiet today on the second floor of the brick apartment house on 4th Avenue. Sitting outside apartment No. 8 is a 6-inch ceramic angel, kneeling, one wing broken, the words "God Bless You" scrawled in black ink on the broken wing.

The significance of a broken-winged angel might explain the impact of this story of murder and the headlines and press conferences and talk shows.

Angie Zapata, 20, was born a boy, named Justin Zapata, but later began living as a woman.

Two weeks ago, on July 17, her body was found in this apartment on 4th Avenue. She had been beaten mercilessly. Police would later say she was knocked unconscious with a fire extinguisher, awakened, then beaten again until she was dead.

On Wednesday, Allen Ray Andrade, a 32-year-old Thornton resident, was arrested for Zapata's murder. He will be officially charged today. He was initially arrested for second-degree murder, but hate crime charges were added to the case.

But the ramifications of Angie Zapata's murder are being discussed across the nation. Gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender Web sites across the county have reacted to the murder of Zapata.

In court records released by the Weld District Attorney's Office, Andrade told investigators he killed Zapata after he discovered the woman he knew as "Angie" had male genitalia.

The reaction to Zapata's death is completely opposite of the quiet atmosphere around the apartment on 4th Avenue.

Greeley police spokesman Sgt. Joe Tymkowych has been fielding dozens of calls about the case from around the state, as well as the New York Times and other newspapers in St. Louis and San Francisco.

Crystal Middlestadt, a spokesperson for the Anti-Violence Project in Denver, said the case has sparked response from around the country, and many people are focused on the anger of the suspect in the Zapata murder.

"There is a typical defense in a transgender murder investigation," Middlestadt said. "They call it the 'transpanic defense.' The murderer supposedly kills because of what the victim did to him by being a transgender. It's an attempt to put the blame for the murder on the victim."

Because of the violent nature of Zapata's death, word has spread fast in the transgender community and other areas dedicated to ending sexual violence.

Mara Kiesling, director of the National Center for Transgender Equality based in Washington, D.C., said Thursday she'd been taking calls all day "from the national media asking about the murder and other murders involving sexual bias."

She also said members of her group have been concerned about reports that Zapata should be blamed for her own murder. "Everyone should be saddened by this case," Kiesling said. "Everyone should be saddened that this man who murdered Angie should have been stopped earlier.