Family of trans woman killed in front of Miami City Ballet speaks out

The family of a transgender Florida woman found beaten to death is speaking out after Miami Beach police arrested her alleged killer.

Gregory Fitzgerald Gibert, 53, was arrested and charged with manslaughter in connection with the death of Andrea Doria Dos Passos, 37, who police identified as the victim who found outside the Miami City Ballet Tuesday morning, said a press release.

According to an arrest affidavit obtained by JS, a Miami City Ballet employee found Dos Passos lying on her side near the building’s main entrance and tried to wake her, thinking she was sleeping. Upon further observation, the employee noticed that there was blood around her and called the police.

Responding officers “found trauma and blood” on Dos Passos’ face and head. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Further inspection revealed that Dos Passos had suffered injuries to her face and the back of her head, and that “two wooden sticks” were lodged in her nostrils. She also had a stab wound to her chest.

Surveillance footage cited in the affidavit shows Dos Passos arrived around midnight and lay down. Footage shows a man, reportedly Gibert, approaching Dos Passos “and starting to hit her with the metal pipe [on] the head and face several times.”

The man in the video is then seen walking away and throwing the metal pipe into a trash can, which detectives later recovered.

When officers arrested Gibert, he was wearing the same “unique” basketball shoes and red shorts seen in the surveillance footage. “There were blood stains on both the shoes and the shorts,” the statement said.

Victor Van Gilst, Dos Passos’ stepfather, told ABC affiliate WPLG that she had struggled with mental health for years, and that he had last spoken to her two weeks before her death.

“I knew this could happen one day,” he said. “Andrea was transgender. We initially thought it might be a hate crime.”

Several advocacy groups have spoken out about Dos Passos’ murder, including the Human Rights Campaign And the Flamingo DemocratsMiami Dade County LGBTQ Democratic Caucus.

“We call on the District Attorney’s Office to add a hate crime charge to the current second-degree charge,” the Flamingo Democrats wrote.

Miami Beach Police Chief Wayne Jones stated in the press release that “there is no evidence to suggest Andrea was targeted because of her sexuality or gender.”

“We aim to work closely with the Miami-Dade County Prosecutor’s Office to ensure this case is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Wayne said.

During Gibert’s appearance on Thursday, Miami-Dade Judge Mindy Glazer said there is probable cause for a more serious charge: according to NBC affiliate WTVJ.

“I have had the opportunity to review the arrest affidavit, it appears to me that it is a first degree murder and not a second degree murder based on the facts stated in this affidavit where he allegedly hit the victim with a metal. pipe around the head and face, and then it appears he contaminated the body by doing other things to the victim after she died,” Glazer said.

VanGilst told WTVJ he felt his stepdaughter was failed by the system.

“I think the system failed her,” he said. “Right now I also feel like I let her down. Nobody deserves this. No one deserves this, to die like this.”