Transgender prostitute slain in Memphis shadows
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/354/story/705198.htmlWOODY BAIRD - Associated Press Writer
12/5/2008
It took a bloody jailhouse beating by police to bring Duanna Johnson out of the shadows.
With a video of the beating making the rounds on the Internet, people who would never have known she existed - and likely paid her little mind if they did - were suddenly talking about her.
Angry residents sent letters to the local newspaper and a federal grand jury launched an investigation. The mayor and police chief voiced outrage at her treatment.
But it wasn't long before Johnson, a 43-year-old, 6-foot-5 transgender prostitute, slipped out of the spotlight and back to working the dark streets of a tough inner-city neighborhood, little noticed once again by mainstream Memphis.
And there she died with a bullet in her brain.
