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Not The Simple Life
http://www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=69404
Strange Twist In Hollywood Murder
Paulina Ibarra, 24, was a transgender woman living in Hollywood, Calif.
For many, California dreaming begins — and often ends — in Los Angeles. It’s sandy shores and bright lights were a place where 24-year-old Paulina Ibarra felt she was free to be herself and start life fresh when she moved there a few years ago.
On August 28, 2009, Paulina’s happiness ended in a scene right out of a horror movie.
LAPD detectives say neighbors heard a woman’s gut-wrenching screams coming out of Paulina’s apartment. When they went inside, nearly every wall and piece of furniture was drenched in blood.
Paulina Ibarra had been stabbed more than a dozen times which begged the question to cops: Who would kill Paulina Ibarra, and why?
Police were stumped by the mystery, so they were quick to turn to her past and her inner circle of friends for clues.On the night of the murder, cops believed Paulina could’ve been the victim of a hate crime.
Jose “Pepe” Ibarra transitioned into Paulina, taking her name from a favorite singer.
In Hollywood’s cult of image, sometimes nothing is what it seems at first blush. And that included Paulina’s identity. The birth name of that young woman whose life ended in tragedy was actually Jose.
Jose Ibarra grew up in a small Mexican village just south of the California border. The Ibarra family was a big one. Jose had seven brothers and three sisters who nicknamed him “Pepe.”
When he came out to his family as a gay man, his siblings accepted his sexual orientation and continued to love him unconditionally.
As Pepe grew older, the Ibarra family says he felt compelled to wear makeup and women’s clothing. However, for Pepe, the mere facade of being a woman didn’t seem to be enough.
Pepe told them he realized his true nature had less to do with sexual orientation and had everything to do with gender.
In the last few years, Pepe began the process of sex reassignment, and chose the name Paulina after a favorite Latina singer.At the time, Paulina had no way of knowing her quest for independence would be a long, tough road that would end in her brutal murder.
A Fetish For Murder
Moments after the gruesome discovery, word of Paulina’s death spread like wildfire after several transgender women who live in the same apartment complex caught wind of what happened to their friend.
Later that night, as cops were analyzing the crime scene, a couple of Paulina’s friends showed up with some evidence that helped take the investigation in a whole other direction.
They also provided cops with the name of a man who they thought may have inside information about what exactly happened to Paulina.
Shortly after the murder, cops say Jesus Catalan, 25, showed up at a friend’s place in clothes drenched with blood and with deep cuts on his hands. He had a harrowing story to tell: he happened to be the target of a gang attack while walking home.
Catalan, who is known to pick up transgender women and has a violent streak, changed out of his bloody clothes and told his friends he’d see them later.
Catalan’s friends didn’t buy his story and when they heard about Paulina’s murder that night, they arrived at the crime scene with his bloody clothes and turned them over to police. Cops were relieved to get whatever leads they could, especially possible DNA evidence.
Jesus Catalan hasn’t been seen since the night of the murder. DNA tests later confirmed that Catalan’s clothes contained Paulina’s blood in addition to his own. Catalan is now considered the primary suspect in Paulina’s murder.
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3 Replies
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We can only hope over time the long arm of the law will get this man for the evil he done. But sad to say he will not be looked down on for this as he will get a new name and fade some where in America. But still we can only hope Justice does happen. She did not need to die like that.
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This sort of crime goes to tell Us one thing: No matter whom you think the other person is, you do not even know them nor how they will react. You can never be too overly careful when on a date or having that “special Male-friend” come over.
The lessons here are: “Your safety is paramount and nobody else is responsible for your safety, so you’d better get used to looking out for Number One.”
And
“If it seems too good to be true, then it probably is!”Another death at the hands of somebody whom just doesn’t understand that she is a REAL person, of flesh and blood and NOT some idealistic piece of meat to be used and thrown away. Respect for life was obviously not in the mind of the murder’s mind at any stage!
Am surprised her death even got a mention in the press!
Sadly another person for the ever-growing list of Transgender people killed in the year whom will be remembered come Transgender Remembrance Day! -
This is a thing that I feel will never go away. In fact, and I would be prepared to debate the issue, the way our society is moving there is an enormous thrust towards ‘macho’ acts being the accepted mainstream idiom adopted by the ‘now’, ‘look at me’ (shallow) generation. This generation seems to lack the ability to understand there are differences and that any deviation from the norm is an insult to their credibility and sexuality.
One would hope that this is an isolated incident, however, I feel the incident’s publicity may be a means of legitimacy for those who cannot handle they have made a connection with a Transgender person and feel they need to be violent to prove what and who they are.
If only the world would grow up.
