The Thirty Year Anniversary of Venus Xtravaganza's Murder

Thirty years ago today, December 21, 1988 a petite transsexual named Venus Xtravaganza was snubbed from the world after being killed by a client while working as an escort. Venus, later made famous by the documentary, Paris is Burning was not known to the world then but would later become an icon for her reads "You wanna talk about reading?" and "You're just an overgrown orangutan" featured in the aforementioned film. Happier times for a hopeful pre-operative transsexual with dreams of becoming a professional model, Venus was immortalized on screen as a murder victim in a case that's still unsolved.

After escaping a violent john while street hustling, Venus went to work for a friend's escort service described by a couple of other friends as "an abandoned building with a phone line put in it" that was ran by an "old fat tranny". The madam most likely spoke to the killer hours before Venus' murder; setting up a call for early December 21st at a seedy hourly hotel (which is still open to this day). Venus had plans to meet a family friend for brunch that same day, but never showed up. She was most likely dead at this point; rumors swirling that she either was caught stealing money from a client or wanted more drugs; views that differ from the typical liberal left that believes she was killed over being transgender, despite openly advertising as pre-operative.

Xtravaganza had a rough life; getting into drugs around the age of thirteen starting off with weed and acid before getting deeper into cocaine after the unrelated murder of her boyfriend, Rico, just eight months before she was killed. Rico (last name unknown at the time of this writing) was a bisexual "gay for pay" adult film actor with a penchant for cocaine; forcing Venus to escort frequently to afford more cocaine. After a drug deal gone wrong on April 22 in Times Square, Rico was shot in the chest by an "older African-American female drug dealer" "tall and wearing a long brown coat". The two had a disagreement that escalated over Rico's coke being cut with baking soda. Venus hid behind a car after Rico warned her the talk could get ugly. She raced out to his side after he was shot; scaring off the drug dealer. Venus laid on Rico's chest as he bled to death in the streets. Times Square was not then how we know now. It was cold and dark, with few people out unless they were engaging in similar behaviors.

Rico's death left Venus feeling helpless, as he had saved her from a potential fight in Times Square years earlier. Cocaine was what kept them together in the end, and what tore them apart; also possibly playing a factor in Venus' untimely death. She was strangled at the hotel before being stuffed under the bed. She was found four days later by a housekeeper. The murder remains unsolved.