CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Family members of a 26-year-old transgender woman found dead Saturday morning in Cleveland think she was killed because of her gender identity.

Skye Mockabee's body was discovered by the owner of a granite shop the day after she went missing, according to her family and police reports.

Mockabee got into a van with a man she met online just after midnight Friday morning, texted her mother that she appreciated everything the mother had done for her and never came home, Mockabee's mother and live-in boyfriend told cleveland.com.

The owner of Ecclesiastic Granite Fab on West 130th Street found Mockabee the next morning lying face-down, bleeding from her mouth. Cleveland police said her body showed signs of head trauma. Detectives are investigating her death as a homicide but have released few other details about the investigation.

"They beat my baby to death," Mockabee's mother, Phyllis Carlock, said in a phone interview Tuesday.

Mockabee's family believes that the 2009 graduate of Lincoln-West High School was killed because of her identity as a transgender woman.

"Whoever did this was not comfortable with my baby being the way that (she) was," Carlock said. "They couldn't accept it."

Cleveland police spokeswoman Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia said she could not confirm whether investigators think Mockabee's identity as a transgender woman is a motive in her death. The official cause of death is pending the results of an autopsy from the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner.

Mockabee began hormone therapy at a clinic near her apartment. She also started saving money for a sex change operation to make her outward appearance match the person she was on the inside, her live-in boyfriend William Philpott said.

Carlock said she accepted Mockabee's new identity as a woman, but couldn't stop calling her her son. She said Mockabee was OK with the arrangement.

Both said Mockabee loved to please others and had a playful sense of humor.

"(She) wouldn't hurt nobody," Philpott said.

Skye Mockabee found dead n Cleveland 5 Gallery: Skye Mockabee found dead n Cleveland

Mockabee's easy demeanor makes her death seem all the more unbelievable to her family.

Philpott picked Mockabee up from the Greyhound Station in downtown Cleveland July 25 after she visited family out-of-town. The next morning she cooked him bacon and eggs, he said.

Mockabee had started working at a Chipotle off Broadview Road in Cleveland earlier this year. She also worked as an escort and advertised herself online, her mother said.

Mockabee told Philpott Thursday night that a man she had met online was going to come to their apartment near West 117th Street and Lorain Avenue and pick her up. She texted Philpott a picture of the man, who said he was coming from Lakewood.

The man showed up about 12:20 a.m. Friday, and Mockabee got into his silver minivan. She said she would be back in about an hour, Philpott said.

He texted her about 30 minutes later, asking if she was OK. She replied, "yes baby."

Philpott texted her about 1:30 a.m. and got no answer. He texted her a few minutes later. Still nothing. He started trying to call. After several rings, her phone went to voicemail.

Philpott kept calling and texting past 3 a.m., and never got an answer.

But her mother did. Mockabee texted Carlock about 3:45 a.m. and told her how much she loved her and appreciated her, and that the two would always be together, Carlock said.

Then, about 4 a.m., Mockabee's phone stopped ringing and went straight to voicemail, both Carlock and Philpott said.

Carlock said she thinks the person Mockabee was with let her say goodbye to her mother before they beat her and dropped her body off in the parking lot where she was found.

"Whoever did this knew the connection me and my baby had together," Carlock said. "I want to look him in his face, and ask him why. Why would you do somebody like that?

"That was my child," she said. "Whether (she) was gay or didn't fit your approval, (she) belongs to me. That was my child and you took (her) from me."

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