Not much is known to the public about Kim "Mimi" Young, a thirty-eight-year-old transgender woman who was murdered by stabbing on April 9, 2003, but at least her murder was solved with her killer, Corena Niko Watkins being brought to justice. It is not known what his sentence was or even what his motivation for the crime was. I also cannot find any pictures of Corena or Kim online to use for this article.
What we do know about Kim is that she was a prostitute who just three years before her own murder, was involved in the murder of a bail bondman, Dean J. "Dino" Pantazes' wife, Clara Pantazes, when Dean paid Kim for sex a few days prior to Christmas 1999; propositioning her five thousand dollars if she killed his wife Clara. Young refused, but did tip off police about the murder-for-hire pitch. This in addition to others, helped convict Dean of first-degree murder and sentence him to two consecutive life terms in prison for the March 30, 2000 murder of Clara.
Kim's murder case is one of the three solved homicides of transgender prostitutes that occurred between April and August of 2003 in Washington D.C. The other victims, Bella Evangelista and Emonie Spaulding were also profiled by Trans True Crime.
I really appreciate the time you invested in shedding light to this case, I stubbled upon your article after watching a show entitled fatal vows. I only saw photos of Kim on the show, I though it was so crazy how she was the key to solving a high profile murder for no gain on her behalf, only to be murdered 3 years later. What an angel and lovely soul that was taken in the most terrible of ways, she was truely a hero!8
ReplyDeleteHow do you know Corena Niko Watkins killed Kim? Where did you find that information. I could not find it when I looked it up. I wonder if it was related to the fact she was transgender? I mean was it a hate crime? Just curious. Corena is a female right? If it is the same person I looked up the person appears to be walking the street now. Did Corena ever serve a sentence for murder?
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