Twenty years ago today.
It was the morning of New Year's Eve, 1993, when Lisa Lambert's mother found the bodies of her daughter and her friends Brandon Teena and Philip DeVine in the house she rented near Falls City in Richardson County, NE. Lisa's son, Tanner, was crying in his crib.
The cause of the triple murder at its base surrounded the identity of Teena. Although Brandon dated women and had a Nebraska ID card which categorized him as a male, was born a female named Teena Renae Brandon in 1972 in Lincoln.
For many Americans, Brandon Teena's death was their first introduction to transgender issues, and 20 years later, we still see alarmingly high rates of violence directed toward transgender people.
--Michael Silverman, Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund
Brandon's struggles are not that uncommon still today.
Brandon's father died in an alcohol-fueled car crash while his wife was pregnant with Brandon, her second child. Both children were molested by an uncle as they grew up. During his teenage years Brandon developed into a "ladies' man." He left Lincoln in November of 1993, just ahead of criminal charges and disenchanted girlfriends. He landed at Lambert's house in Richardson County. DeVine was also there, visiting from Fairfield, IA.
Shortly thereafter he met Lana Tisdel, a local belle from Falls River, probably through DeVine, who was dating Tisdale's sister. That's Brandon and Lana in the photo. Brandon began hanging out with Lana and her friends, which included Tom Nissen and John Lotter. Nissen and Lotter were trouble, Both had spent time in prison. And they drank. A lot.
On December 15 Teena backslid and forged some checks to buy Tisdel some Xmas gifts. On the 17th he signed a confession, was arrested, and during a search was discovered to be biologically a woman. It didn't take long for word to spread that he had been housed in the women's side of the jail.
Nissen posted bail for Brandon on December 22 with money from Tisdel, who was too young to post it herself. Things turned violent at a Christmas Eve party at Nissen's house. Lotter and Nissen stripped Brandon in front of Tisdel. Then they forced Brandon into a car, drove outside of town, and repeatedly raped him, while also beating him and threatening to kill him if he went to the police. Then they took him back to Nissen's house and locked him in a bedroom. Brandon escaped through a window and, without coat or shoes, ran to Tisdel's house a mile away on a 20 degree night.
He was taken to a local hospital. The hospital performed a rape kit, but it later turned up missing. Then Sheriff Charles Laux began his investigation. He treated Brandon like the instigator of a crime rather than the victim, more interested in the gender issue than the rapes. It would be three days before Lotter and Nissen were questioned…after which they were immediately allowed to go free.
Then the bodies were found. Searchers found a .380-caliber handgun and a knife wrapped in a pair of work gloves on the frozen Nemaha River. The name Lotter was written on the knife sheath. A jury found Nissen guilty of first-degree murder for killing Brandon and second-degree murder for killing Lambert and DeVine.
Nissen turned state witness to avoid the death penalty and admitted that he and Lotter began to plot the murder immediately after Teena went to the Sheriff's Office. Nissen claimed that Lotter kicked in the door of the farmhouse and shot each of the victims in the head. Nissen admitted he plunged the knife into Brandon's body to be sure he was dead.
Lotter's trial was held later. The transgender community did not let this trial slip timidly by. We were there. I have a written account of the surrounding details: Vigil, published in 1995 by ftm-intl.
In later years I discovered a photo from The Vigil, which you can see here. You would be able to find me just to the right of the cameraman's head, apparently dressed in pink. To the left of the cameraman's head is Riki Wilchins. Among those getting ready to be photographed are Jane Fee (the white hair). More identifications would require both better eyes and a better memory.
Lotter was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder. Nissen later changed his account of the murders, but Lotter's attempts to get a new trial have been denied. He is on death row in Tecumseh.
A civil suit filed by Brandon Teena's mother reached the Nebraska Supreme Court three times and resulted with Brandon's estate being awarded $98,223.20 for wrongful death, intentional infliction of emotional distress, mental suffering, and funeral expenses.