On May 30, 2015, Vallum drove to Alabama to find Williamson and convinced her to get in his car. They drove to his father’s house in Lucedale, Mississippi, and he brutally attacked her, stabbing her with a knife and beating her with a hammer. His family called local police after Vallum entered the house covered in blood. Responding officers found Williamson’s body in the woods and later contacted the FBI.

Vallum told gang members about the killing the next day. He lied and said he didn’t know Williamson was a male until they became intimate, and then he snapped and killed her in a fit of rage.

Vallum later told Task Force Officer Jonathan Carroll the same story in an interview, shortly after he surrendered to law enforcement. Carroll is an officer with the Ocean Springs Police Department in Mississippi and is assigned full time to the FBI Safe Streets Task Force.

In the midst of the investigation, Lorrain’s supervisor attended a conference on identifying hate crimes and victims’ rights. Two civil rights attorneys from the Department of Justice presented an overview of the Shepard-Byrd Act. Supervisory Senior Resident Agent Rachel Byrd (no relation to James Byrd, Jr.) recognized the possibility for federal prosecution and approached the attorneys.

“The DOJ attorneys were very enthusiastic about prosecuting this horrific murder under the Shepard-Byrd Act,” Byrd said.

Vallum found himself facing state murder charges and the federal hate crime charge. In light of overwhelming evidence, he pleaded guilty in state court in 2016, and was sentenced to life in prison. He later pleaded guilty to the hate crime.

Even though he received a life sentence in Mississippi, the federal plea and sentencing are important, Lorrain said. “The entire story about why Vallum killed Williamson wasn’t public until we charged him at the federal level. And now there is a precedent for future cases. There have been reports of a number of crimes against transgender people.”

Because some states—including Mississippi—do not have hate crime statutes that protect people from bias based on gender identity, the successful federal prosecution of Vallum could help other transgender victims gets justice. The federal sentence also ensures that Vallum will serve at least 49 years in federal prison, regardless of any early release he may be granted on his state sentence.