Carlton Ray Champion, a football player at Texas College, has been arrested in conjunction with the murder of a trans woman, Ty Underwood, whom he was apparently dating.
Underwood was found dead in a vehicle on Jan. 26 with several gunshot wounds in Tyler, Texas, about 100 miles east of Dallas. From the Tyler Morning Telegraph:
Early interviews with people who knew Underwood revealed [Champion and Underwood] had been seeing each other for several weeks.
During an early police interview, Champion told police he had not spoken with or seen Underwood since 11 p.m. on Jan. 25.
The police located cell phone messages between Champion and Underwood the night of the murder that indicated [Champion and Underwood] wanted to meet after midnight. There was an argument between [Champion and Underwood] that ended with Underwood telling Champion [she] did not want to continue the relationship.
The words in brackets are our editorial change, as the paper misidentified the gender of the victim.
Police are claiming they have a mountain of evidence, including cell phone calls, blood on clothing and even video surveillance footage linking Champion to the crime.
Texas College is an historically black college in Tyler affiliated with the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. Enrollment is about 900 students.
