Boston police recommit to solving murder of Rita Hester, whose death inspired Transgender Day of...

Kathleen Hester never stopped trying to find out who killed her daughter.

She marched through the streets of Boston that winter in 1998. She kept calling detectives long after they stopped calling her. On Oct. 20, 2020, she died at the age of 81 without closure.

Rita Hester’s murder inspired Transgender Day of Remembrance, an annual nationwide vigil that honors transgender murder victims. Hester has come to symbolize the crisis of violence facing transgender people. For Hester’s family and LGBTQ+ people in Boston and across the world, her murder also represents the disregard police and media show for Black transgender murder victims, the unsolved case casting a long shadow on Boston detectives.

All of that, however, could be changing. Earlier this year, the Boston Police Department assigned a new detective, Matthew Fogarty, to the case. On Nov. 28, the 25th anniversary of Hester’s death, the department renewed its request for information from the public about her murder.

“Rita’s murder shook the LGBTQ+ community,” the Boston Police Department said in a media statement. “The Boston Police Unsolved Homicide Unit is actively reviewing the facts and circumstances surrounding this murder.”