Courtney Key

Courtney Eshay Key, a 25-year-old Black transgender woman, was known by friends and family as a hilarious and determined person who was the life of the party. A lifelong friend said, “She wanted to be something. She wanted to beat the odds.” Key was proud and straightforward about her identity and was close with her supportive biological family as well as her “Kors Family,” a group of LGBTQ+ mentors and mentees on Chicago’s South Side. In late 2020, she told friends she was ready to set new goals and was trying to better herself.

On Christmas Day, December 25, 2020, Key was spending the holiday near her mother’s house in Chicago’s East Chatham neighborhood. That night, according to prosecutors, surveillance cameras recorded her getting into a black Audi SUV driven by a man who was seeking a prostitute. A short time later, another camera captured the SUV entering an alley off 82nd Street. Around 8:30 p.m., a witness reported hearing a gunshot. Minutes later, the witness saw the SUV drive out of the alley with Key’s body hanging from the passenger door. The driver dragged her until she fell into the street at the intersection of 82nd Street and Drexel Avenue, where she was then run over by a second vehicle.

At 8:35 p.m., a patrol officer found Key lying in the street, bleeding from the head. She was pronounced dead at the scene at 8:50 p.m. An autopsy later confirmed she died from a gunshot wound to the head, and the Cook County medical examiner’s office ruled her death a homicide. Investigators followed a blood trail back to a nearby alley, where they found Key’s purse, her wig, and a single 9mm shell casing. In the days following her death, Key was misgendered by police and medical officials, causing further pain to her loved ones, who believed she had been targeted in a hate crime.

Detectives used surveillance footage and license plate readers to identify the black Audi SUV. The following month, in January 2021, they located the vehicle registered to William Truss parked outside his home. According to prosecutors, Truss later admitted to investigators that he had previously solicited prostitutes in the area where Key was last seen.

For nearly two years, no arrests were announced in the case. Then, in October 2022, authorities arrested 62-year-old William Truss. He was charged with first-degree murder for the killing of Courtney Eshay Key. A judge ordered Truss held without bail. As of October 2022, he was awaiting trial.