Alabama 17-year-old Mercedes Williamson's lifeless body was found earlier this month in a field in the rural Mississippi community of Rocky Creek, according to authorities.

Josh Brandon Vallum, a 28-year-old Mississippi man with ties to the Latin Kings gang, told his father on June 1 that he killed the Theodore teen, authorities said. Her body was found the following day, and Facebook friends and media outlets have reported that she was stabbed, though the method by which she was killed has yet to be officially disclosed.

The motive is also not yet clear, though a number of theories have emerged. Williamson's murder may be related to gangs or drugs, according to Shonna Pierce, public information officer for the George County Sheriff's office in Mississippi, which is investigating Williamson's death in partnership with the local FBI Safe Streets task force.

But the sheriff's office is also considering another potential motive for Williamson's murder: the fact that she was transgender, Pierce told AL.com Wednesday.

"We're looking at several different things. It could have been gang-related, it could have been a hate crime, we're not certain yet," she said. "We're still in the process of investigating this murder. Mercedes deserves justice and we're working diligently to make sure that she gets justice."

Williamson's status as a transgender woman was not mentioned in most early news reports about the case, as George County Sheriff Dean Howell initially referred to her as male and used her male given name. It's a problem that often arises when cases of violence against transgender people take place, according to Osman Ahmed, research and education coordinator at the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, or NCAVP.

"We see a lot of mis-gendering of women when homicides happen, and only recently have we seen this trend get better," he told AL.com.

As such, the case is only now receiving national media coverage, and attracting the attention of advocacy groups from Alabama to New York, where NCAVP is based.

James Robinson, executive director of Free2Be GLBT Advocacy & Youth Services in Huntsville, spoke to AL.com about the initial mis-gendering of Williamson by Howell.

"There's just so much ignorance here in law enforcement," Robinson said. "This is a perfect example of that. I doubt that that sheriff did anything like that intentionally, he probably just did not know."

Crimes against transgender people are often prosecuted as hate crimes in states that allow for such cases, but Mississippi's state hate crime statute does not include crimes carried out against someone because of their gender identity under its umbrella. However, the fact that the FBI is involved in the case suggests that federal hate crime charges could be brought against Vallum, though Pierce said she was unsure about whether that would be an option.

"There is a hate crime law but I don't know how it would apply to this," she said. "As far as transgender, I'm not certain if it would fit, but I'm not certain it wouldn't either. That would have to be determined by our District Attorney's office."

The local district attorney, Tony Lawrence of Mississippi's 19th Judicial District - which includes George County - provided AL.com with an emailed statement in response to the question of whether the Mississippi hate crime statute specifically covers gender identity.

"Sexual orientation is not specifically listed in Mississippi Code Section 99-19-301, but gender is," he wrote.

Gender is specifically listed in that section of the Mississippi code, but gender identity is not.

"The penalty for any felony or misdemeanor shall be subject to enhancement as provided in Sections 99-19-301 through 99-19-307 if the felony or misdemeanor was committed because of the actual or perceived race, color, ancestry, ethnicity, religion, national origin or gender of the victim," Mississippi Code Section 99-19-301 reads.

Across the U.S., transgender individuals - in particular women - are targeted by violence at much higher rates than other people. At least 11 trans women, including Williamson, have been killed so far this year, though her case is the latest that the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) is aware of, according to Osman Ahmed, the New York-based group's research and education coordinator.

"This is an epidemic of violence for trans communities around the country, and especially trans communities of color. Trans women are the most impacted by fatal violence year after year," he said. "Since we have been documenting, and specifically in the last three years, trans women have been the majority of LGBTQ hate crime victims."

Williamson's roommate, Jeanie Miller, said the last time she saw Williamson was when she left their camper on May 30, according to the Biloxi Sun Herald, which also reported that Miller's son said she got into someone's car that day. Miller said that Vallum, who often spent time around Theodore, was aware of Williamson's transgender status, the Sun Herald reported.

At this stage of the investigation into Williamson's death, Robinson said that his main "concern is that this isn't being talked about enough" at the local and national levels.

"I'm just concerned about the fact that there's not as much attention being paid to the murder of this teenager as there should be, and the fact that the transgender community is victimized at a higher rate than any other member of the LGBT community," he said. "I can't imagine what it must have been like to live in Theodore, Alabama, as a 17-year-old transgender girl."