Mercedes Williamson Was Murdered by Her Boyfriend in 2015 — Where Is He Now?

Aug. 24 2021, Published 5:Thirteen p.m. ET

In December 2016, Joshua Vallum pleaded guilty to hate crime fees within the loss of life of his then-17-year-old transgender female friend, Mercedes Williamson. He admitted to killing her in 2015 after they ended their dating, to be able to keep the truth that she was transgender a secret. He lured her from her house in Alabama to his automobile under false pretenses.

At the time, prosecutors mentioned Vallum surprised her with a stun gun and stabbed and beat her to loss of life to prevent any person from studying he were intimate with a transgender particular person. According to the prosecutors concerned in the case, Vallum were a part of the Latin Kings gang.

Because a rule within the group averted gay behavior (regardless of Williamson being a transgender female who did not establish as a male), Vallum killed her.

Three days after Williamson's death, her frame was found in a shallow grave. And now not long after, Vallum confessed to the homicide. He was the primary person within the United States to be convicted of a transgender hate crime.

Before the 2009 nationwide ruling of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, now not all states known such hate crimes. Now, MTV's True Life Crime details what happened in the case, and viewers are sure to surprise where Vallum is nowadays.

Where is Mercedes Williamson's killer now?

In 2017, at 29 years previous, Vallum was sentenced to 49 years in jail for Williamson's murder. Although Vallum had initially stated in court lawsuits that he discovered about Williamson being transgender in a while ahead of he killed her in 2015, he later said in his plea listening to that he knew she was transgender for longer.

However, he kept that knowledge, and the sexual nature of their relationship, a secret from family and friends.

According to Sun Herald, not long after Vallum admitted he killed Williamson, he was once present in his prison cellular after attempting suicide. According to the opening, George County Jail workers found him subconscious with a bed sheet wrapped round his neck. There was once additionally a be aware that said he have been "living a nightmare."

As of 2021, despite the fact that, Vallum is still alive and in prison.

In 2018, Vallum seemed within the three-part BBC docuseries Love and Hate Crime, and despite the fact that he stated in the docuseries that he needed he may just take again what he had completed, he also claimed Williamson is now in hell.

"I know that I'm secure in my relationship with God but I don't know if Mercedes was secure," he stated. "So I have to live with the fact that I killed Mercedes and she's in hell."

Mercedes Williamson's ex-boyfriend's mom spoke out concerning the murder.

In 2016, AL.com spoke with Kelly Wilkins, Vallum's mother. She defined that she seen each the murder itself and Williamson's sexual orientation as sinful. Wilkins misgendered Williamson and asserted, not not like her son did years later, how she felt about what took place.

"Josh is not gay," she said. "Ask all the girls he has dated over the years. I'm not more focused on either sin. They are both sin."

Williamson was the sufferer of a brutal hate crime. One can simplest hope her family gained some sense of closure when her killer was once dropped at justice.

If you or any individual you understand is a member of the homosexual, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, and wondering neighborhood and want reinforce, the LGBT National Help Center provides unfastened and confidential assets.

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