On Tuesday, a transgender woman in Florida was found dead near a playground.
Officials are treating the death as a suspected murder, according to a WTSP-TV report.
India Clarke was found between the basketball courts and a playground near Tampa’s University Area Community Park, dead of blunt force trauma. So far this year, Clarke is the tenth transgender woman believed to have been murdered.
Orange is the New Black star Laverne Cox, who is also a transgender woman, posted a tribute to Clarke on her Instagram account.
She was only 25 years old and clearly into all things beauty hair and makeup just like me. I can’t help but feel like I’m next. That’s why I do the work I do because the avg. life expectancy for someone like me is only 35 years old.
Following the discovery of Clarke’s death, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office was harshly criticized for misgendering Clarke, as the story was initially reported that a man dressed in woman’s clothing had been discovered dead, and the name given to Clarke was Samuel Elijah Clarke.
The sheriff’s office has since come forward to say that they were unaware that Clarke identified as a woman.
The murder investigation is ongoing.