Stacey Barchenger

sbarchenger@tennessean.com

Crushed by a tragedy now marked by a tombstone, Tiffany Fowler-Footman could not breathe. First, her right hand reached back for her husband's. Then, she collapsed into his chest, eyes closed, limbs limp, his arms all that kept her from crumpling.

"You need to keep breathing, you need to keep breathing, Tiffany," Johnny Footman whispered as he wiped a swirl of black hair from her face. Her tears blotted on his gray button-up.

This happens every couple of days, he said. She stops breathing. Passes out. He holds her. Waits for her to come to. They go home and lie down.

"But I'm going to tough it out to the end, because I love her," he said. "We're gonna make it through because we believe in up above."

One day in October, the couple visited Greenwood Cemetery in Nashville, where the grave of Tiffany's child Gilbert "Gizzy" Fowler is next to that of Tiffany's mother. They died within two months of each other in 2014. On the day she visited the gravesite to remember Fowler, it halted her breath. A picture of the 24-year-old in a baseball hat stares up from a headstone next to off-white silk flowers.

Fowler, a transgender woman, regularly used the first name Breana. Fowler was killed after a sexual encounter early one morning in 2014. Mallory Porter recently took a deal and was sentenced to 15 years for the crime.

Tiffany said Porter got a "timeout" while she is dealing with a life sentence. Standing beside Fowler's grave, wearing a button with Fowler's picture, she remembered her child as a hard worker and the glue of the Fowler family.

"He said, 'Mama, I want to have a house by 25,' " she remembers.

"But he didn't make it."

***

Fowler graduated from Pearl Cohn High School and worked two jobs: one at Chipotle in Green Hills, the other at a Burger King on Fesslers Lane, just a five-minute walk from the cemetery. Fowler had just a minor arrest record in Nashville — a couple of casual possession and suspended driver's license convictions — and an on-and-off-again boyfriend, according to police records.

If you knew Fowler, you knew Fowler was gay, Johnny said. Johnny and Tiffany married just over a year ago and after Fowler's death, but Johnny said he knew Fowler for several years.

Tiffany knew Fowler was transgender. And though she said she did not agree with that lifestyle, she said she supported Fowler like any mother who loves her child.

Of her three children, Fowler was the one who most encouraged her. Years ago, when she picked up jump roping for fitness, Fowler cheered her on.

"Mama, you can do it," Fowler told her.

"Imagine, a woman at my age, out there jumping rope," she said with a brief smile. She kept trying — for her child.

"You taught us to keep fighting," she remembered Fowler telling her.

"And that's what I'm going to do."

But at the cemetery, she was talking about something much harder than jumping rope.

***

In September 2014, Tiffany and her family grappled with the death of Tiffany's mother, Beverly Allen, who died of complications from a stroke. Fowler helped care for Allen, Tiffany said.

Two months later, a second death would plague the family. In November, Fowler logged on to Facebook as Breana Doinhathang, a name used on dating sites and at clubs, authorities said. Fowler arranged to meet with a man for sex and dressed as Breana, authorities and court records say.

Fowler's 2006 Buick LaCrosse was found parked in the driveway of a home in the 3900 block of Lunn Drive. Neighbors said they heard shots fired about 5 a.m., police said.

Fowler was found in the yard, the blood from a bullet to the head matting a black, long-haired wig.

Police at first had several suspects and followed a lead that the crime was retaliatory for another shooting.

But about four months into the investigation, social media posts and cellphone records led detectives to Porter, then 18. His DNA matched evidence at the scene, reports show. The lead investigator, Metro Nashville Police detective Lindsay Smith, was named the department's 2015 precinct-based investigator of the year for her meticulous work on the case.

Police publicly identified Porter as the suspect and he surrendered in March 2015. A video of an initial interview between Porter and Smith shows Porter denied his role and claimed his DNA would not be found at the scene.

Police records and one of the Nashville public defenders who helped represent Porter, Mary Kathryn Harcombe, say Porter and Fowler had oral sex in Fowler's car outside the house. Public records and Harcombe say the sex progressed, and Porter found out Fowler had a penis.

Harcombe said that's when Porter, who was on drugs, got scared and felt threatened because he and Fowler were of similar physical size. She said Porter was shocked Fowler was not a woman. Laura Getz, another public defender who also worked on Porter's case, said Porter brought the gun for protection because he knew the circumstances of meeting a stranger at night could be risky.

Still, Tiffany doesn't believe Fowler tricked Porter, and said Porter knew Fowler. She believes it was another motive, or speculated Porter was embarrassed about the sexual encounter.

One thing both agree on: Porter brought a gun and used it.

During a hearing last year, Assistant District Attorney General Nathan McGregor said Porter posted social media pictures with guns, writing, "Guns solve my problems!"

"I need children to put guns down, put these guns down," Tiffany said at the cemetery, removing her glasses to wipe her tears. "Once you do something, you can't turn back."

Porter in September pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He apologized in court. Harcombe said it sounded sincere.

Tiffany believes the words were empty.

***

Harcombe believes the murder is a tragedy for Fowler, Porter and both their families that could have been prevented. When talking about the case, she referred to Fowler as Breana out of respect, she said.

"I think it is very likely that because of fear of rejection and prejudice, Breana felt she could not reveal she was biologically a man even if she felt herself to be a woman," the assistant public defender said. "I think in an environment that was more open and tolerant, Breana would not have had to hide that, and a situation like this could have been avoided."

She cited efforts in states, including Tennessee, to block a presidential action that allows transgender students to use the restroom of their chosen gender identity. The Tennessee General Assembly for a time considered holding a special session on the issue before the state attorney general joined in a lawsuit against the directive.

Marisa Richmond, a lobbyist with the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition, said there is a culture of hostility toward transgender individuals despite some steps toward acceptance. More than 20 transgender people have been killed this year, Richmond said. She said most victims are women of color, like Fowler.

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"There's more and more acceptance," she said. "Polls are showing we're moving in that direction. But there's still hostility, and that's shown in this case."

Harcombe believes that a community that can be hesitant to accept transgender people, combined with a shock and a gun, are also at fault.

“It exploded in the middle of the night," she said. "It really is just a tragedy for everyone involved.”

***

Tiffany asked for a sentence of 25 years, because Fowler wanted to buy a home at 25 years old. Fowler promised to care for Tiffany there.

"I was not asking for this young man, Mallory, to get life," she said. "We're all humans. We make mistakes. But at least give him 25."

Harcombe said she and Getz planned to argue the crime was manslaughter and that the situation would have led another reasonable person to act as Porter did. Harcombe and Getz agreed to an interview with The Tennessean after getting Porter's permission.

Porter was looking at probation or three to six years in prison if guilty of manslaughter, the lawyers said.

Tiffany met with District Attorney General Glenn Funk as the attorneys negotiated a resolution of the case.

"This office felt strongly that this was a knowing killing, and therefore we insisted upon a second degree murder conviction," Funk's spokesman, Ken Whitehouse, said in an email.

In Tiffany's mind, the sentence says Porter's life was more valuable than her child's.

Harcombe said there is no number of years that are enough to compensate for that tragic loss, and Porter chose the plea deal rather than risk a longer sentence at trial.

"He very much understood the gravity that a life had been lost and accepted responsibility for that."

Reach Stacey Barchenger at 615-726-8968 and on Twitter @sbarchenger.