Many have since forgotten Gwen. The San Francisco Standard. Feb. 24, 1985At age 14, Eddie tells his mom that he feels like a girl trapped in a boy's body. Merl was granted early parole in 2016, after reportedly showing extensive remorse to Araujo's mother, who supported the decision. Brown grabbed Araujo's crotch during a confrontation in the bathroom and revealed she had male genitalia. She walked into the house with [80], Jason Cazares was released from prison in July 2012. Magidson and Merl were each convicted on the charge of second-degree murder,[57] but not convicted of the hate-crime enhancement allegations. Make Muse | For Smart + Creative Young Women. [9], On the first anniversary of the murder, Horizons Foundation created the Gwen Araujo Memorial Fund for Transgender Education. PLEASE VERIFY RIGHTS. During the trial, the defense maintained that Araujo deceived the men into non-consensual sex by not revealing her biological gender and that the men reacted out of rage when they killed her. With content streaming every single day, readers can turn to The Crime Center to fill their true crime needs. A shrine to Gwen Araujo, who was murdered at age 17 in 2002 by four men who discovered she was transgender, rests in her mother's home in Tracy, Calif., on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. She was fearless, she was angry. [30] Magidson hit her head against the living room wall with his knee, rendering her unconscious. Nabors was initially charged with murder, too, but he agreed to testify against his friends in exchange for an 11-year sentence. The first trial started on April 14, 2004 and ended in a hung jury against Magidson, Merel and Cazares. All Rights Reserved. Paul Merl was quickly released because his girlfriend came forward to the . At first, she didnt know how to talk about it. Noyola said she remembers it as mostly non-trans people, a handful of folks, angry and grieving over Gwens murder. [8] Nabors had confessed to a friend what the four had done shortly after returning from the grave site. This is where I sleep now, she said, pointing to the bare floor of her sons living room. [25] Jos Merl became concerned that Araujo was bleeding on the couch and ordered her off it. Araujo's remains are cremated. Merl refused to answer the prosecutor's questions about how Araujo died. On their way home, they purchased breakfast at a McDonald's drive-through window. [15][29] Brown recalled that after she had left with Paul Merl, they drove around the block and returned to the house to see Nabors and Cazares leaving in Magidson's truck. As Judge Harry Sheppard instructed, the verdicts were kept secret. But I love you, and well get through this., Guerrero wasnt just a mother and confidante to Gwen and her three other children but to anyone who needed her. Four men brutally murdered her. Just let her go. And if you or anyone you know is being bullied, call the Transgender Law Center for help at 415-865-0176. The other two, Jaron Nabors and Jason Cazares, took plea bargains to voluntary manslaughter. "[15][24] Jos Merl became angry and struck her in the head with a can of food, denting the can and opening a cut on her head,[24] and then he struck her again with a frying pan. At age 14, Eddie tells his mom that he feels like a girl trapped in a boy's body. Araujo's mom reports her missing to police. California Gov. He is the younger brother of Ketan, a music producer in London. [31] Merl was concerned with cleaning Araujo's blood off the couch[30] and carpet before retreating to his room so the others would not see him crying.[23]. Some of the trans people say they were thinking of committing suicide before seeing Gwens story. [15][21][22][25] Araujo begged the men to stop, saying "No, please don't. HAYWARD / Witness tells of friends' anger at being duped / He HAYWARD / Araujo begged for mercy, witness says, THIS IS A HANDOUT IMAGE. Michael Magidson and Jos Merl were sentenced to 15 years to life for killing Gwen Araujo. Two of the men she had a sexual encounter with. [22], When Nabors and Cazares returned, Araujo was still conscious, bleeding from her head wound and sitting on the couch. She was the oldest of 11 children to immigrant parents from Irapuato, Mexico. Publicity by transgender activists was credited with informing the public about the tactics the defense lawyers had adopted to blame Araujo for her own death, changing the approach to the case. [78][79] The law further restricted the use of the gay/trans panic defense by amending California's manslaughter statute to prohibit defendants from claiming that they were provoked to murder by discovering a victim's sexual orientation or gender identity. "[20] Brown said the four men were out at a club together and did not return to the house until after midnight. She is born with male genitalia and raised as a boy by her family, who call her Eddie. She left me with no filter, too. NEWARK19E-C-18OCT02-MT-HO [53], To avoid a third trial, Cazares pleaded no contest to manslaughter on December 16, 2005,[60] and was sentenced to six years in prison,[61] with credit for time already served. The elderly woman was a victim of recent storms. [8] Police did not initially take the missing persons case seriously partly because she was transgender,[9] and she was known to stay away from home overnight. A year after Araujo's death, her mother accepts an award from the Horizons Foundation to speak at local schools and promote a better understanding of transgender people. Nabors took the stand under tight security. While Merl expressed deep sorrow and regret to Araujo's family, Magidson was angry about his verdict and expressed "no remorse" for his role in murdering Araujo, according to presiding Judge Harry Sheppard. Emmanuel Merel said he later had left the house with his older brother, Paul Merel, and the brother's girlfriend, Nicole Brown. [30], Nabors received an 11-year sentence on August 25, 2006. Sylvia Guerrero had never even heard the word transgender until her 17-year-olddaughter Gwen Araujo, born a son named Eddie, was brutally murdered. Guerrero has been unable to return to work and now shuffles her belongings from relatives' houses using a borrowed car from her friend. In high school, Gwen would regularly ask Guerrero to give her friends advice on their relationships and drama at school. However, the autopsy showed that she died from strangulation associated with blunt force trauma to the head. Because a city this offbeat deserves a newsletter with some Theywere convicted at thesecond of two trials and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. That friend told someone else and the rumor of Araujo's murder eventually got back to the family who reported it to police. "Mike and Jaron were in front of the door," Merel testified in a Hayward courtroom. "[22], The party-goers did not report the crime and the assailants said nothing to anyone about the murder. Over the course of the trial, defense attorney Tony Serra, who represented Jason Cazares, attacked the credibility of Jaron Nabors, whom he accused of being the primary aggressor and blaming his friends for the murder. "[23], At some point after that, Brown woke Paul Merl, and they left the house with Emmanuel Merl. SFs most important stories, delivered straight to your inbox, Sylvia Guerrero, whose transgender daughter Gwen Araujo was murdered in 2002, sits for a portrait with a photo of her daughter on Saturday, Oct.1, 2022, in Tracy, Calif. Araujo, who spent a lot of time in San Francisco as a teenager, was beaten and strangled to death in Newark, Calif., when she was 17 years old. For more than a decade after Gwens death, she spoke at events about her daughters murder and the struggle for trans rights at events, before taking a break of several years. [30] After this, the defendants' testimonies diverge. On the night of Oct. 3, 2002, Araujo attended a party at a house rented by Jos and Paul Merl. Arnold Schwarzenegger signs the Gwen Araujo Justice for Victims Act. I feel like he forced them into homosexual sex, and my definition of rape was being forced into sex." Jos Merl testified and admitted he was ignorant about his thinking about sexuality at the time of the murder. At one point, he said, he saw Magidson choking Araujo and pulled Magidson's arm off the victim. The four defendants in the murder of Gwen Araujo are being sentenced to prison on January 27, 2006. Gwen Araujo was a 17-year-old transgender teenager who lived in Newark, Calif. with her mother, Sylvia Guerrero. Cazares and Nabors have long been out of custody. "[15] According to Nabors, Magidson added "I don't know what I'm going to do", and Nabors replied, "Whatever you do, make sure you don't make a mess. She was insistent that the justice system would not ignore or betray her daughter.. Gwen Araujo's murder brought about several changes in California law. Police then question Nabors, Magidson and Jos Merl. Gwens murder played no small part inthe ongoing movement against trans violence and forequality and understanding, said Isa Noyola of theTransgender Law Center. Manny later testified that he tried to get Araujo out of the house but was stopped by the other men. By this time, Araujo's mother was able to legally change her daughter's name to Gwen Amber Rose Araujo. In her death, shes allowed me to see how much I took for granted, Guerrero said. [29] The final votes were 102 in favor of acquitting Merl and Cazares of first-degree murder, and 75 in favor of convicting Magidson of first-degree murder. "My mom is stuck in her own grief," said Sunseri, who fought back tears about the impact Araujo's murder had on her mother. [7] Araujo usually checked in with her mother, so when she did not come home the day after the party, her mother called the police on October 5 to report her missing. [13][14] She claimed to be menstruating and during sex would push her partners' hands away from her genitalia to prevent them from discovering that she had a penis. [17] After half an hour, during which Jos Merl later confessed he had sex with Araujo, Brown went to the bathroom, where she discovered Araujo had male genitalia during a forced inspection. That's not a world in which I want to live or most people want to live in. Guerrero looked after her 10 younger siblings while her parents worked, getting them ready for school and packing their lunches. And was stuck 10-2 in favor of acquitting Jos Merl and Jason Cazares of the same charge. [75][76][77] The law put California on record as declaring it contrary to public policy for defendants to be acquitted or convicted of a lesser included offense on the basis of appeals to "societal bias". Prosecuting attorney Lamiero used male pronouns and her birth name to refer to Araujo, saying the defendants had decided "that the wages of [Gwen] Araujo's sin of deception were death". At the sentencing, Merl apologized to Araujo's family but Magidson did not show any remorse. When trans people are painted in negative, stigmatized portrayals by politicians and so-called legal experts as has happened with ongoing bathroom policy debates the trans community gets marked for ridicule and violence, she said. Police began to interview the party-goers, and one of them led the police to the Merls' house. Watch the ABC7 Originals documentary, "Being Gwen: A Life and Death Story," streaming now in the video player above and on the ABC Owned Television Stations' connected TV Apps: ABC7 Bay Area, ABC30 Central California, ABC7 Los Angeles, ABC7 New York, ABC7 Chicago, 6abc Philadelphia, ABC13 Houston, and ABC11 Raleigh-Durham. "[14], The first trial ended in a mistrial on June 22 following nine days of deliberations, when the jurors were unable to reach a unanimous decision for the three men. Thats OK, Guerrero recalled saying. At least 48 trans people were killed in 2021, making it the deadliest year for transgender people in the United States, where the majority of victims are Black and Latinx. They had met her walking in the middle of the street, drinking a beer. A comprehensive rundown All Rights Reserved. In 2005, California Gov. Guerrero foughtthe possible parole of Magidson but supported parole for Merel, while other family members want neither paroled. Gwen Araujos brutal death two decades ago drew international attention and prompted the passage of a law in her name, as well as a movie about her life. LGBTQ+ resources are available: abc7news.com/TakeAction, JetBlue plane bumps into another aircraft in JFK Airport's gate area, Father, son accused of animal cruelty after 26 cats found in LI home, NYC confronts the problem of unlicensed smoke shops. [52] He asked the jury to return first-degree murder convictions of Magidson and Cazares, fingering Magidson as the main culprit who had strangled Araujo and calling him "a poor excuse for a man" with a "stupid and moronic" list of excuses for murdering her. In 2002, she would be brutally murdered by a group of men who uncovered that she was transgender. She taught them how to pick wild blackberries and catch salmon from the creek by their house, a place still close to her heart. [2] She was murdered by four men, two of whom she had been sexually intimate with, who beat and strangled her after discovering that she was transgender. Fred Phelps and the members of Phelps's Westboro Baptist Church promised to picket the funeral,[36] but did not.,[64] there were people there that picket with signs but friends wore angel wings to block casket from signs. [12] Later, she engaged in oral sex with Magidson and anal sex with Merl. Magidson, Jos Merl, Cazares and Nabors then drove four hours to the Silver Forks campground in El Dorado National Forest to buy Araujo's body. Prosecutors allege they beat and strangled Araujo, 17 -- who was born Edward Araujo but lived and identified as a young woman -- in the early morning hours of Oct. 4, 2002, before burying her body in the El Dorado National Forest in the Sierra foothills. [6] Her parents divorced when she was 10 months old. Editors note: A previous version of this story incorrectly noted that Sylvia Guerrero was the youngest of her siblings. EDWARD 'GWEN' ARAUJO, JR. Of Newark entered into rest Thursday, October 3, 2002. [23] Merl also said he thought she was still alive until he saw her body in the bed of Magidson's truck. Her loss has multiplied outside of the public eye in a system unequipped to support her. In this video, I explain my theory about what may have actually happened to lead up to Gwen's murder. Her family reported her missing, but police had no information about her disappearance until Nabors told a close friend about what happened.