An 18-year-old from Highland Park has been charged in the death of a transgender woman who was found behind a laundromat in Detroit.
Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced that Malique Javon Fails, 18, is facing charges of felony murder, larceny, and a hate crime tied to gender identity bias in the death of Christina Hayes, 28, of Taylor.
According to prosecutors, police were called on June 21 to the 17600 block of Woodward Avenue near 6 Mile, where Hayes was discovered in an alley, dead from injuries to her face and neck.
In court, prosecutors outlined disturbing details of the case. They allege that Fails paid Hayes for sex acts in an alley before learning she was transgender.
“We allegedly have a defendant who ended up paying a victim to give him oral sex in an alleyway,” a prosecutor said in court. “Prior to the intercourse act, we have this defendant allegedly finding out that the victim identified as a transgender. And as the direct result of that, we have this defendant who allegedly ended up choking that individual to death.”
Prosecutors say after the murder, Fails took back the money he had given her by pulling it from her shoe, stole her cellphone, and later sold it at a kiosk.
Fails was arraigned in 36th District Court Monday morning and given no bond.
