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Murder of Tanya Moore and Tina Rodriguez

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Tanya Moore
Born1955
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedJuly 3, 1986(1986-07-03) (aged 30–31)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Cause of deathHomicide
OccupationSex worker
Known forVictim of unsolved murder
Tina Rodriguez
Born1959
Puerto Rico
DiedJuly 3, 1986(1986-07-03) (aged 26–27)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Cause of deathHomicide
OccupationSex worker
Known forVictim of unsolved murder

Tanya Moore and Tina Rodriguez were two transgender friends and sex workers on 13th Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States[1] The pair disappeared on June 30, 1986 after getting into the car of a couple of clients. On July 3, 1986 their mutilated and dismembered bodies were found burning at a baseball diamond in Middletown.[2][3]

Disappearance and deaths

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After getting into a light medium-sized van with two male clients on June 30, 1986, the men they had left with were never seen again. Other transgender sex workers describe the men last seen with the victims as being two white men between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-five. The driver had curly dark hair and a mustache; the second suspect was blonde and clean shaven.[4] At 12:31 a.m. on July 3, 1986, police and firefighters responded to the report of a brush fire; the Fairless Hills Fire Co. found two burning bodies instead. Through meticulous fingerprint analysis, hands cut off of the charred victims were matched with prison records by the FBI, both being identified as Jonathan Streater and Faustino Arroyo.[5]

Victims

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Tanya Moore was a thirty-one-year-old transgender sex worker. She was born in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Tanya had over twenty arrests for prostitution in Pennsylvania going back thirteen years prior to her death. Tiffany Hall, a friend of Tanya and Tina said, "Streater was clean cut and went to church". but that Tina was "boy crazy" and estranged from her family; always getting bailed out of jail for prostitution and other offenses.[6]

Tina Rodriguez was a twenty-seven-year-old transgender sex worker. She was born in Puerto Rico, but grew up in Camden, New Jersey. She had over fifty prostitution arrests in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York prior to her death. Her half-brother, Arnaldo Mojica, told a newspaper in 1986 that Arroyo hadn't been seen at the family's home in Camden for six months leading up to the murders. Mojica said the family knew Arroyo was "gay". Arnaldo also said that Arroyo's mother "went all the time to Philadelphia to get him out of jail, going on to say, "We tried to help him, tell him to stay home, but he would always go away." Tina was the smaller of the two; weighing one hundred and twenty pounds (54 kg) at five foot six inches (1.68 m) tall.[7]

Suspects

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Around 2001, a witness told police Moore and Rodriguez were killed by himself and an "infamous member of the Warlocks Motorcycle Club" after picking them up for sex and discovering they were transgender. No charges were filed because the statement was made under a proffer agreement.[8]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Remembering Our Dead - Tina Rodriguez (30 Jun 1986)". Remembering Our Dead. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  2. ^ McCrary, Lacy (22 July 1986). "Police Identify 2d Mutilated Body - philly-archives". philly.com. Archived from the original on 19 September 2015. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  3. ^ Staff, P. G. N. "In response to Brownworth trans series". PGN | The Philadelphia Gay News. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  4. ^ Rosenberg, Amy S. (12 August 1986). "Two Men Sought In Bucks Slayings Of Male Prostitutes - philly-archives". philly.com. Archived from the original on 13 September 2015. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  5. ^ Heine, Kurt (22 July 1986). "Torture Victims Lured To Slaying? - philly-archives". philly.com. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  6. ^ "25 years later, transvestite prostitute murders remain unsolved - phillyBurbs.com : Courier Times: middletown, middletown police, levittown, trenton road, jonathan streater - - Muck Rack". muckrack.com.
  7. ^ "Mutilated Body In Bucks A Prostitute, 27, Fbi Says". tribunedigital-mcall. 20 July 1986. Archived from the original on 2017-05-10. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  8. ^ Finley, Ben; Mattar, George (August 11, 2011). "Faustino Arroyo and Jonathan Streater (Middletown 1986)". Bucks County Courier Times. Archived from the original on 21 September 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
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