Iowa Gender-Fluid Teen Brutalized: Man Convicted Of Murder

BURLINGTON, IA — Kedarie Johnson, a gender-fluid teen from Burlington, Iowa, was shot to death last year and Johnson's body was found in an alley. A plastic garbage bag was wrapped around Johnson's head, investigators said, and bleach had been poured on the teen's bullet-riddled body, apparently in an attempt to destroy any DNA evidence.

On Friday, jurors convicted Jorge Sanders-Galvez, 23, an aspiring rapper who went by the nickname "Lumni,"of first-degree murder in Johnson's brutal killing, the Des Moines Register reported. At trial this week, prosecutors said Johnson was wearing a pink headband and hair extensions when Sanders-Galvez and his cousin saw the teen at a store, followed Johnson in their car, then took the teen to a Burlington home. The cousins attacked the teen after discovering during a sexual encounter that Johnson was gender nonconforming.

The killing stunned the city of 25,000 and raised fears that the Burlington High School student was the victim of a hate crime spurred by Johnson's identifying as both male and female, according to relatives. The teen alternately used his birth name and the female persona "Kandicee."

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions brought national attention to the case when he sent a federal hate crimes prosecutor to assist state and local authorities. A decision on federal hate crimes charges is pending, but the prosecutor assigned by Sessions indicated in court documents that Johnson's gender identity played a role.

Sanders-Galvez testified at his trial and maintained he didn't know Johnson and didn't kill the teen. He was from the St. Louis area but had been staying in Burlington for weeks before the killing.

His cousin, 25-year-old Jaron Purham, is expected to stand trial later. Purham is serving time in Missouri after he was convicted on charges related to his flight from officers tying to arrest him last year. Officers said they recovered a .357 revolver in Purham's vehicle after he drove into a police car outside St. Louis, and testing showed that it was the gun used to shoot Johnson.

Investigators testified they found Johnson's backpack at a Burlington home where Purham and Sanders-Galvez had been staying with Purham's pregnant girlfriend. Both men fled to the St. Louis area within 48 hours after Johnson's slaying, investigators said.

Photo credit: John Lovretta/The Hawk Eye via AP