Prayers for the family.
Kelly Stough, a 36-year-old transgender woman from Detroit, was murdered on Friday in the city’s Palmer Park neighborhood. Her mother, Jessica Williams Stough, has been spreading the message that every life has meaning since the slaying, per FOX 26.
“You keep fighting, keep pushing and live your life,” she said. “Don’t let the world dictate how you should live.”
“He was always a happy kid but bullied because of his tendencies,” Stough said.
Kelly originally took a college football scholarship to South Dakota but later changed course.
“He came back and we talked about it,” she said. “And he really liked fashion and wanted to be a buyer and designer.”
It was then, mom says, that her child embraced life as a transgender person.
On December 7, police say Stough’s path crossed with Albert Weathers. Stough was found shot to death on E. McNichols and Brush Street during the early morning hours. On Monday, the Wayne County prosecutor’s office charged Weathers in her murder, via NBC News.
“After a police investigation, prosecutors arraigned Weathers on charges of open murder and use of a firearm in commission of a felony,” said a press release shared by the Wayne County prosecutor’s office.
Weathers is being held in a Detroit jail on a $1 million bond for first-degree murder, and he is expected back in court later this month. No calls were returned from a former church in Warren where he was listed as a pastor from 1997 to 1999.
A GoFundMe page has been created to help pay for the funeral expenses. So far, $4,675 has been raised.