22-year-old Bri Golec has recently returned to a transgender support group in the Akron, Ohio area. She had participated a few years ago, then stopped attending. Recently, she began to more assertively explore her gender identity.

Sadly, Bri will not have the chance to continue her journey after an altercation with her father, Kevin Golec, left her dead in their home. Please note that the media misgenders Bri. They use male pronouns, but have not released any name at all for the victim.

An Akron man has been charged with stabbing his 22-year-old son to death during an argument Friday night. Kevin Golec, 52, of Inman Street, is charged with murder and domestic violence and is being held at the Summit County Jail. He is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Akron Municipal Court. Akron police said they responded to a call for a robbery at 10 p.m. in the 1100 block of Inman Street and found a man dead near the side of the small yellow house in the city’s Firestone Park neighborhood. But authorities say that no robbery occurred and that there was an altercation between the victim and Golec.

Trans activist Jacob Nash has confirmed that Bri was a transwoman and was involved in the community. According to Bri’s obituary, Facebook page and friends, she was a drummer and an artist. She loved her cat and had many friends. Bri will be buried this Friday, February 20 in Ohio.

Her father’s attempts to cover up the murderous attack took a bizarre turn when he told police that Bri was in a cult, implying the cult was responsible for the non-existent robbery. Local activists believe the elder Golec may have been referencing the transgender community. They are hopeful that the police will consider Bri’s gender identity in their investigation.

Bri Golec is the 6th transgender individual to die a violent death in 2015. She is the 5th transgender woman to be murdered in Ohio since 2013 along with Cemia Acoff, Betty Skinner, Brittany Kidd-Stergis, and Tiffany Edwards. Another trans woman, Candice Milligan, was brutally attacked in Toledo.

It is critical that we talk more openly about family rejection and domestic violence. We’ve lost at least 3, possibly 4 other women this year to assaults by intimates. We also need to talk about the fact that our young people are being slaughtered – almost all of the above deaths were individuals under 30 with a few exceptions.

I hope more information comes to light to offer comfort to Bri’s family and the Akron LGBTQ community.

Rest in power, Bri. Your beautiful light will continue to inspire all of us to demand a safer community for your trans siblings.

**This post has been updated to reflect that while activists have hopes for police conduct, there has been no direct communication (or miscommunication.) .