Betty Skinner, a 52-year-old disabled woman who lived at the Deaconess Krafft Center on Devonshire Road in Cleveland, Ohio, was found dead in her apartment on December 5, 2013. A home health aide who had left the evening before discovered her the next morning. The cause of death was severe head trauma consistent with blunt force injuries, and police ruled the case a homicide.

Betty required assisted living support and regular visits from a home health care worker and had lived at Deaconess Krafft for many years. Fellow residents described her as friendly and sociable, and the community reacted with shock and disbelief that someone in the building could have committed such an act. There were no immediate signs of forced entry, leading investigators to consider that the attacker might have been familiar with the building or gained access without arousing suspicion.

Betty’s murder was one of two homicides of transgender women in Cleveland around that time, raising concerns that the attacks may have been motivated by hate. The case remains unsolved and police asked anyone with information to come forward. If anyone knew Betty, her movements that week, or saw anything unusual at Deaconess Krafft on December 4–5, please share what is known.