Serial killer Lucky Ward, of Houston, was handed a death sentence by a jury

Serial killer Lucky Ward, who strangled a transgender woman to death, has been sentenced to die.

The murderer, of Houston, Texas, was handed a death sentence by a jury on Tuesday over the 2010 murders of transgender woman Charlie Rodriguez and homeless woman Reita Long.

Lucky Ward convicted for murdering one trans woman, suspected of killing another.

Charlie Rodriguez, who had worked as a hairdresser, was found strangled in her home, naked and covered by blankets.

Lucky Ward was also suspected of involvement in the deaths of three other women by strangulation – including another transgender woman, Myra Chanel Ical.

Ical was murdered in January 2010, eight months before Rodriguez and Long were killed. Ical – who was misgendered by police and media at the time of the killing – was found half-naked, strangled “with numerous bruises and defensive wounds, as if [she] had struggled against [her] attacker”.

No charges were brought against Ward over Ical’s death due to a lack of evidence.

Serial killer dubbed the ‘worst of the worst’.

According to local media, Lucky Ward has a long criminal record – and targeted victims who were homeless or in shelters or were transgender because he knew they would arouse little suspicion.

Prosecutors had focused on Ward’s long history of violence – which include a rape charge and a number of other offences prior to his arrest in 2010 on the capital murder charge.

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said: “Jurors had the courage to look at all the evidence, give a voice to the victims, and declare that he was the worst of the worst.

“Ward tortured and brutalised his victims with no mercy.”