Toronto Tula murdered Monday night

[d]

'Shemale' is 34th murder
Transgender escort strangled in apartment
By KIM BRADLEY, TORONTO SUN

The murder of a "shemale" escort in her downtown apartment has friends and fellow escorts fearful they may be next. Cassandra Do, 32, of Toronto, known as Tula on the street, was found dead in her 11th-floor home on Gloucester St. on Monday at 10:30 p.m. by horrified relatives after failing to hear from her. An autopsy yesterday revealed Do had been strangled.

"I just can't believe it," said Tasha Jones, a transgender friend and former escort. "That's why I don't do what she did anymore. It just got too scary."

Jones is suggesting the transgender escort community come together and look out for each other when working.

"It could have been one of us. We need to bond and stick together," she said. "Being a transsexual is sometimes very lonely. We really can't trust a lot of people."

Jones said Do lived a reclusive life and only let a select few know her real identity and background, adding she was well-liked and well-known by others in the business, but only as Tula.

"I didn't even know her real name," Jones said, her voice breaking with emotion.

Do, the city's 34th homicide victim of the year, used to turn tricks out of her apartment and advertised on the Internet using the Web site www.shemaletula.com. She also advertised in local community papers.

Another fellow escort, who asked not to be named, said she was in a state of disbelief when she heard about Do's death.

"I still can't accept it," she said, adding Do was a loner.

"She was a very private person. All I really knew about her is that she loved cats."

Her brother was visiting her at the time of her death, but police wouldn't confirm if he was the one who found her. Friends are planning a memorial service.

Det.-Sgt. Craig Sanson from Toronto Police is asking anyone with information on Do's final hours to call 416-808-7400 or Crime Stoppers at 416-222-TIPS (8477).

[jimmic]

she looks so sweet. what a fucked up world we live in

[SidChromeAU]

Murder is murder, irrespective of her looks.

[eded]

Unsolved case?

[tao1kiku]

Very unresolved. I used to see her at fetish parties, a very sweet, lovely and gentle girl, beautiful personality. The case seemed to drop off the radar of the public's interest and perhaps the police's interest as well.

[tao1kiku]

The son of an American soldier and a Vietnamese mother, Bi and his mother escaped Vietnam as boat people in 1980. They fled to Canada to meet Bi's new stepfather, a former South Vietnamese soldier. Do's brother and sister followed later.

Like many sex workers, Do was constantly afraid of "bad dates."
In the months leading up to her death, she had received "nasty letters" from a jealous transgender sex worker after taking part in a transsexual strip night at a club in Little Italy.

At another point, Do, who liked going to goth bars in the west end, escaped the clutches of a threatening client by moving from the west end to downtown.

Until then Do had been careful about her dates, asking them to contact her from a phone booth, then arranging to meet them at a nearby caf? before taking them to her Gloucester St. apartment.

"Cassandra was almost notorious for how she screened people.... She had a system. That's why her murder really stunned people," says Christina Strang, a close friend who now works as a counsellor at a women's shelter.

On her last day alive, she had a "date" before 7 p.m. and had arranged to meet her brother and sister later that evening.

When she didn't answer her door or her cellphone, they asked the superintendent to let them in.

Do was found face down in a bathtub full of water, strangled. It was 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 25, 2003.

Using the national DNA bank, police linked Do's slaying to an assault in 1997 on a Toronto sex worker who had managed to escape her attacker.

Do's friends feel that, because of her lifestyle, society basically forgot about her.

http://www.unsolvedcanada.ca/index.php?topic=1157.0

[youngblood61]

I hope there is justice for the family. Very sad story.

[eded]

Thanks for the data.

[bradball]

Another scumbag gets away with murder. I bet he is following this Thread. If the cops were serious about catching the killer they could do worse than track back on Google Searches.