A Latin Kings gang member pleaded guilty to the grisly 2015 murder of Mercedes Williamson, admitting to soliciting sex from the transgender teen and then stabbing and beating her to death with a hammer.
Josh Vallum was sentenced to life in prison for killing Williamson, a murder that remains under investigation by the Department of Justice to determine whether it is a hate crime.
Vallum picked up the teen girl in Dauphin Island, Ala. on May 30, 2015, telling her that they were going somewhere to have sex—instead the gangbanger drove Williamson across state lines into Mississippi into a wooded area on his father’s property in George County.
Vallum started stabbing Williamson after the two got out of the car in the secluded area.
Williamson attempted to run for her life, but the gang member caught up with her and beat her to death with a hammer, the Sun Herald reported.
Vallum was taken into custody three days later after he admitted to his family that he had killed someone and buried the body on his father’s property, telling his brother that “it was my life or his.” Authorities discovered Williamson’s body and initially identified her as a male victim until the Sun Herald uncovered her identity as a transgender girl.
District Attorney Tony Lawrence said Vallum killed Williamson for fear of gang retaliation for carrying on a sexual relationship with a transgender teen.
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