Detroit Police Department
Malique Javon Fails was charged with murdering a transgender woman in Detroit.
An 18-year-old Highland Park man was charged with homicide and a hate crime Monday in connection with the brutal death of a transgender woman of color whose body was found behind a laundromat in Detroit.
Malique Javon Fails is accused of fatally assaulting Christina Hayes, 28, of Taylor, on June 21 before robbing her of cash and a cellphone. Police said her body was discovered later that day in an alley on the 17600 block of Woodward.
Hayes suffered severe injuries to her face and neck, police said.
A Detroit police investigation led to Fails’s arrest Friday. He was arraigned Monday in 36th District Court on charges of felony murder, larceny from a person, and a hate crime based on gender identity bias. He was ordered held without bond.
“This case represents a continuing pattern of vicious attacks and murders on trans women of color,” Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said Monday. “Every single citizen of Wayne County has the right to lead their lives and be safe. We will bring the alleged murderer of Christina Hayes to justice.”
A probable cause hearing is scheduled for Aug. 26, and a preliminary examination is set for Sept. 2.
If convicted, Fails faces up to life in prison.
Nationwide, violence against transgender and gender-expansive people remains alarmingly high. In 2024, at least 32 of those individuals were murdered across the U.S., according to data compiled by the Human Rights Campaign. A study of 229 fatal incidents found that Black transgender women accounted for roughly 78% of all transgender women murdered in the U.S.
In February, Tahiry Broom, a 29-year-old Black transgender woman, was shot and killed in Detroit. In June 2023, Ashia Davis, another Black transgender woman from Detroit, was shot to death in a hotel. In 2018, Kelly Stough, a Black trans woman, was murdered in Detroit. The killer, former pastor Albert Weathers, later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
In 2015, then-Detroit Police James Craig pledged to crack down on crimes against LGBTQ+ people, saying many hate crimes go unreported.
“People in the LGBT community often don’t report crimes because there traditionally has not been a strong relationship with police,” Craig said. “We want to change that.”
Craig later appointed Officer Danielle Woods to serve as the department’s LGBTQ+ liaison. She still holds the position.
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