Her death sparked Transgender Day of Remembrance. 22 years later, still no answers

Rita Hester fought like hell. The story was written in blood. The phone had been ripped from the wall. Half a shoe print — not Rita’s — marked the bloody floor. The locks on the front and back doors had been left intact, leading neighbors and police to believe her killer had been invited in. Hester’s siblings and her best friend, Brenda Wynne, cleaned the apartment themselves, trying to spare Hester’s mother, Kathleen Hester, the sight. The Hesters have been forced to relive these details for more than 20 years, because, by some stroke of fate, Rita Hester’s death spurred the international movement Transgender Day of Remembrance. Every November since her death in 1998, reporters have called Hester’s mother and sister Diana Hester to rehash the details and get updates on the case. And still, Hester’s murder has never been solved.