On an October evening in 2015, 21-year-old transgender woman Zella Ziona, formerly known as Deandre Smith, was fatally shot in an alley behind a shopping center in Montgomery Village, Maryland. Ziona had planned to lay flowers on her grandmother’s grave that day. Her mother witnessed the shooting.

Investigators focused on 20-year-old Rico Hector LeBlond of Germantown, who had known Ziona. He was arrested the day after the killing and charged with first-degree murder. Early reports suggested embarrassment after Ziona flirted with LeBlond, but prosecutors later said they could not substantiate that as a motive or classify the killing as a hate crime. Witnesses said LeBlond and others were lying in wait; after initially shooting Ziona, LeBlond allegedly stood over her and fired additional rounds.

A first trial ended with a hung jury; a second trial in July 2017 produced a first-degree murder conviction and life sentence, later overturned on appeal because of trial errors including admission of certain hearsay. Facing further proceedings, LeBlond pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in August 2020 and was sentenced in September 2020 to 35 years, the maximum under the plea. Who has information about Zella’s life or the events that night?