The Murder of Laura Abarca (UNSOLVED)

Laura Abarca was a twenty-three-year-old transgender woman working as a prostitute in San Diego, California. This is the second article in a series by Trans True Crime of four murders of transgender women that all occurred between June and December of 1990. Tasha Santiago was originally believed to be a part of these four but was later ruled out. It is still unknown if Laura and the other two victims (which I will be covering in future articles) are connected.

On November 23, 1990 Laura's badly decomposed body was found in a ravine on mile marker 33.5 on Sunrise Highway in Mount Laguna, about four miles South of State Route 79 in California. She was asphyxiated and had her wrists tied behind her back with yellow cord. She had been reported as missing five days prior but was last seen on October 17 of that year. It is unknown to the public as to who had last seen her and who had reported her missing.

In other articles, it has been written that Abarca was discovered to have been undergoing gender reassignment surgery at the time of death. This simply is not possible as she didn't die as a result of vaginoplasty. Due to the lack of knowledge on the subject of transsexuality by some, this confused me at first. What they mean is that upon first examination, they believed a clothed Laura to be female off of secondary sex characteristics but once the medical examiner performed the autopsy, it was found in their minds that a pre-operative Abarca was "male". I hope to clear this up with my article.

NOTE: At this time I cannot locate Laura's family or friends for comment or to receive pictures of her. I have also reached out to the San Diego Sheriff's Department, whom are handling the case. They can't release any pictures of Laura to me or of course reveal any other details about the case.

The Murder of Tasha Santiago (SOLVED)

Today Trans True Crime will delve into one of my favorite cases, that of the murder of Tasha Santiago, a twenty-five-year-old transgender prostitute who was murdered at the Wally Johnson Motel in 1990. This will be the first in a series of articles examining four murders of transgender prostitutes that occurred between June and December of 1990. I like this case because too often homicides involving transgender victims go unsolved, however the Oceanside Police Department went above and beyond with Tasha's case; setting a great example for other departments! I am however not pleased with the current administration because upon many requests to get photos of Tasha for this story, they have refused, which is odd considering its a closed case; so this information should be available to the public.

On December 10, 1990 the Oceanside Police Department responded to numerous calls of shots fired at the Wally Johnson Motel in Oceanside, California. Upon arrival they found victim, Tasha Santiago, a known prostitute, lying dead in the driveway. Shattered glass from the nearby phone booth was found. Through various eyewitnesses whom were patrons at the motel, a few moments prior they ran out of their rooms to find Tasha dead in the driveway. They did so after hearing a few gunshots along with glass shattering, which alarmed them. Patrons had exact stories of seeing a car with two men inside speed away from the scene of the crime; leaving behind the murder weapon, a handgun. The police also got the same license plate number, of the killer's car, from each patron and went to investigate, as crime scene investigators examined the scene. Picture below of the Coast Inn's sign. Picture from Google Images.

It turns out Tasha was inside the phone booth to call police; making them aware that she saw the two men from her attack the day prior, and to let them know to investigate. The operator, unfamiliar with Tasha's claim, put her on hold for one minute to check on her case. By the time she got back to Tasha, the phone went dead. It is believed that as Santiago made the phone call, the killers, driving by, saw her and pulled up to the phone booth to confront and ultimately kill her. Unknown to police at the time, as to the motive for murder. Picture below of side-by-side view of the motel when it operated as the Travelers Auto Court during the 1930's to a more recent picture of it as the Coast Inn. Picture courtesy of the Oceanside Historical Society

When police got a positive identification from the medical examiner, cops familiar with Tasha discovered she had an assault case on her from the day prior to the murder. Their strongest lead, police looked over the case; seeing that Santiago said she was "jumped" by two men in an alleyway. They stole her coat in the scuffle, but she escaped unscathed. Once police identified the owner of the getaway car, it was found that the driver, Jeffrey Todd Hammons and the passenger, Todd Alan Thornton met up with Tasha on December 9, 1990 for sex. Both drunk, Jeffrey paid eighteen dollars up front for oral sex from Santiago behind a dumpster, while Todd kept look out. When Hammons couldn't ejaculate he blamed Tasha, and an argument ensued. Jeffrey wanted his money back, but Santiago refused. Hammons called Thornton over to hold Tasha down as he beat her, but she managed to slide out of his grip leaving behind her jacket with the eighteen dollars most likely in her pants pocket. She went to police that night to file a report.

The tricky aspect of the case was that the killer and his accomplice were both U.S. Marines stationed at Camp Pendleton, so it was tough to get them tried in civilian court. By 1991 both men went to trial. The L.A. Times did two or three articles on the case; however once the trial came around, the articles ceased. It is unknown what the sentences were; however I did find profiles of a Jeffrey Todd Hammons and Todd Alan Thornton through mugshots.com (no pictures though) that I believe to be the same men involved in the crime, but I can't prove it. On the profiles it alludes to the fact that Jeffrey got life in prison, while Todd got only fifteen years; being released in the early 2000's. Jeffrey's profile shows he was admitted to California State Prison Solano on January 30, 1992.

NOTE: The Wally Jonson Motel mentioned in this article has been renamed Coast Inn. I also cannot find any: relatives, friends, or people who knew Tasha to request a comment or pictures. When reaching out to LGBT bars and nightclubs in San Diego to see if the owners or older patrons may have known Tasha, I was either ignored or told that they didn't know her.

Tanya Moore and Tina Rodriguez Homicides: Will They Ever Be Solved?

This past July 3, 2018 marks the thirty-second year anniversary of the day Tanya Moore and Tina Rodriguez's burning bodies were found ablaze at a baseball diamond in Middletown, Pennsylvania. Trans True Crime asks the question, "With so many twists in this case-will it ever be solved?"

Tanya Moore, 31 and Tina Rodriguez, 27 were two transsexual friends working as prostitutes on Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's infamous thirteenth street. Both friends briefly lived together in an apartment on sixteenth and Christian Street in South Philadelphia (most likely 1627, from sources of Tina's known addresses). Tina also lived at these addresses: 269 W. Diamond St., 313 W. Diamond St., 2240 Mount Vernon St. all in Philadelphia and one address of 306 Cooper St. in Camden, New Jersey. It is unknown which address she was living at, at the time of her death or if the two were living together at the time of their deaths. Pictured below, Tanya Moore (left), Tina Rodriguez (right)

According to, Tiffany Hall and Jackie Watson (two friends who were interviewed by police), it was just a typical night for the girls on The Stroll. They were all near each other; talking and waiting for a client to pick one or some of them up. On June 30, 1986 a tan medium-sized van pulls up to Tina Rodriguez, an energetic and feisty Puerto Rican transsexual, who jumps right in to the van. Soon thereafter she popped half her body out the van window; gesturing the other girls to come with; saying "Anybody wanna come party? The money's good", to which all of the girls began crowding around the van vying to be picked by the two men in front, described by one of the prostitutes as (paraphrasing) "nervous, both were sweating, almost as if they had never picked up a prostitute, or a transsexual prostitute before." Tanya was picked by the two men; sliding through a crowd of her peers, making her way into the backseat with Tina-and just like that they were gone...

Three days later a brush fire was reported by a passerby at a baseball diamond in Middletown. When firefighters put out the blaze, they discovered two charred bodies. Both were wrapped in melted green plastic, later determined to be garbage bags, with remnants of cardboard boxes around them. The two victims were unrecognizable and were determined to have been burning for around twenty minutes before the fire was reported.

Detective Sproehnle was the first on the scene. Little evidence was recovered, however he discovered the fire was started from a burned cigarette and matchbox that were left at the scene. Some gasoline inside of a soda can was also found, and believed to be the igniter fluid to start the flames. The burned cigarette may have been smoked first prior to being used to start the inferno, but DNA technology wasn't used during those times, so officers didn't think to save the butt as evidence (what would have been a viable tool in identifying the possible arsonist). A brand of Kool cigarettes box was found at the scene, empty, and with no fingerprints being lifted from the carton. A quick examination of the victims yielded that they had been dismembered prior the the fire, with both victims' legs being severed above the knee-the technique being used to fit each victim into the boxes.

Since both girls were charred beyond recognition, the detectives brought in fingerprint analyst, John Durante who used his procedure of sawing off the hands to apply a mixture of lanolin and glycerin to soften their skin and restore their ridges, a key in fingerprint analysis. Once the ridges came through, John was able to lift the prints and send them off to the FBI, so their officials could comb through thousands of fingerprints, a tedious process which took several days. Through prison records, the first victim was identified as Tina Rodriguez, a twenty-seven-year-old transgender woman originally from Puerto Rico. She grew up in Camden, New Jersey with her mother and half-brother Arnaldo Mojica. Arnaldo says of his late sister (paraphrased) "We always knew Tina was transgender. Our mother always went down to the local jail to bail her out." A friend who spoke to police described Rodriguez as "Boy crazy". Several weeks later the second victim was identified as Tanya Moore, a transgender woman born in Germantown, Pennsylvania. She was described by a friend as "clean-cut and went to church."

Thirteen years later, in 1999 a seemingly strong lead about the murders came through to the police, by way of a gentleman involved as a witness to the homicides. The man, who to this day remains unidentified to the public, was also a witness in another murder in upstate Pennsylvania. While being questioned in the murder of that victim, he revealed if he was granted immunity in that case, he would reveal more details about the murders of Tanya and Tina. Through the man's attorney, he signed a proffer agreement. This unfortunately barred police from charging the killer for the crimes. The killer, they believe to be the leader of the Warlock biker gang. The leader was also the killer of the victim from upstate Pennsylvania.

The unidentified witness claims that on June 30, 1986 Tanya and Tina were picked up by two of his friends in the biker gang and brought back to the basement of an electronics store in Center City, owned by the killer's parents. The men, under the impression that Tanya and Tina were biological women, were brought there to engage in drug use and prostitution. Shortly before starting the process of intercourse, both victims used small amounts of cocaine; proceeding to perform sexual acts until the killer discovered Tanya had a penis. Enraged, he pulled out his handgun and shot Tanya in the face with a .38 caliber bullet. It didn't kill her, instead the bullet (shot into her through her left eye) lodged in the back of her skull. He then instructed the accomplice to hold Tina down fearing she too may be transsexual. As he made his way to inspect Rodriguez, he noticed Moore was still alive, so he beat her the rest of the way to death. Upon finding out Tina was transgender he tried smothering her. She must have played dead because she was also later beaten to death. Both victims were then wrapped in green garbage bags and first attempted to be stuffed into stereo boxes, but both victims: Tanya being six-feet-one-inch tall at one-hundred ninety pounds and the smaller Tina, standing at five-feet-six inches tall at one-hundred twenty pounds both didn't fit into the boxes; so they were subsequently dismembered; having both legs severed above the knee and stuffed into said stereo boxes. They were then kept in the back of a van for three days until decomposition set in, with the scent becoming too unbearable for the killer and accomplice(s). They then took both victims to a baseball diamond where they were dumped and burned.

It is believed that the leader of the Warlock biker gang was charged with the murder of the victim in upstate Pennsylvania and is currently serving a life sentence for the crime, but due to the proffer agreement, he cannot be questioned for the murders of Tanya and Tina. So Trans True Crime asks, "Have the murders been solved?" "If not, how can we move forward with the case?"

NOTE: The author of Trans True Crime has reached out to the investigating agencies surrounding this case, with no response. I believe that the original people involved with this case have since retired or sadly have passed on. When requesting new pictures of the victims, whether they be personal or booking photos, they will not be released to me. I also cannot find Tiffany Hall or Jackie Watson online for comment/pictures.