Transgender Harlem Woman, 23, Found Dead At Orchard Beach

HARLEM, NY — A 23-year-old transgender woman from Harlem was found dead early Monday near Orchard Beach in the Bronx, police said.

The woman, identified by the Gay City News as Ellie Williams, had been reported missing by a friend, a police source told Patch. Williams had called the friend and said she was going to the beach but never returned, the source said.

The friend reported Williams missing at the NYPD's 45th Precinct in the Bronx. Officers searched the beach along with the friend, and found Williams around 6:09 a.m. Monday, unconscious and unresponsive in the sand near the intersection of Orchard Beach Road and Park Drive.

Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene, police said. There were no obvious signs of trauma.

The medical examiner will determine a cause of death and an investigation is ongoing, police said.

Transgender people in the U.S. face high rates of violence, researchers say. At least 26 transgender or gender non-conforming people in the U.S. have been killed in 2020, according to the Human Rights Campaign.