Disclaimer: The article contains details of crime. Reader discretion is advised.
Taya Ashton should have been living with us. After nearly four years since her life was tragically cut short in a horrific act of transphobia, the man who killed her will now serve almost 50 years in prison.
This terrible incident is a sobering proof that, even in 2025, violence against the LGBTQ+ community is still prevalent.
In 2024, DeAllen Price, a 29-year-old man was sentenced to 60 years of prison term for the murder of Ashton. Ashton was just 20 when she was murdered in her Maryland residence in 2021. Ashton and Prince were in a relationship as per the prosecution, when Prince shot her to death after he came to know that she was trans-sexual.
The assistant state’s attorney, Sherrie Waldrup, described Price’s courtroom confession as “chilling.” Prince confessed in the courtroom that he had killed Ashton after he found out that she is transgender in a private meeting.
“[Price] told the court that he was engaged in an intimate relationship with Taya and that that evening was when he first learned” about her trans identity, Assistant State’s Attorney Sherrie Waldrup said, according to DC News Now. After that, Waldrup said Price shot Ashton.
The case provoked national indignation and brought public attention. People on the internet quickly started talking about the threats Black transgender women face in the United States. The murder of Ashton is still being cited by LGBTQ+ advocacy groups as a part of a broader trend of violence against trans women of color.
Her death added to the growing tension of transphobia and transphobic violence. In the past few years there has also been a growing number of transgender people who have been killed by hate crimes. Black transgender women are still highly targeted and some activists think imprisonment alone is insufficient to bring about justice.
Black Cosmopolitans, here’s the latest update in a case that has received national coverage.
DeAllen Price has been sentenced to 48 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder and using a firearm in a violent crime related to the 2021 death of Taya Ashton, a… pic.twitter.com/bXfMmipzS3
— 📌 Black Cosmopolitan | Black Culture & Fashion (@blkcosmo) May 8, 2025
Shortly after the death of Ashton, the Human Rights Campaign released a statement. “Taya was just at the beginning of her life — a life that she deserved to live to its fullest,” HRC Associate Director of the Transgender Justice
Initiative Lindsey Clark said. “Black transgender women continue to be killed in this country, and this violence is unacceptable. Everyone, from friends and family to community organizers and allies, needs to speak out with urgency. We must end the stigma and violence that all transgender and gender non-conforming people face.”
Maryland man sentenced to 48 years for murder of transgender woman Taya Ashton https://t.co/1ujcFNiOmJ pic.twitter.com/qPhl8VhdjW
— Jussuf Abdulrahman 🇵🇸 (@spiceguns) January 25, 2024
Stronger protective measures, such as national rules addressing hate crimes, police accountability in missing persons cases, and education efforts to eradicate anti-trans stigma, have been advocated for by LGBTQ+ leaders after Ashton’s murder.
Taya Ashton’s story continues to be a heartbreaking illustration of the pressing need for institutional and cultural change as we commemorate Pride Month in 2025. In addition to the court record, her memory lives on in every appeal for transgender safety, respect, and justice.
