Colombian police arrested a suspect Wednesday in the brutal killing of a transgender woman who was thrown into a creek with broken limbs in a hate crime that sparked angry protests in the South American country.
Sara Millerey, 32, died in hospital after she was pulled out of the creek by firefighters, but not before bystanders filmed a video of her drowning, and circulated it online.
The attack, which happened in Bello, near the western city of Medellin in Antioquia department, has caused an outpouring of shock and anger and fueled fear in the trans community.
Sandra Borja, Sara's mother, told El Pais that she was with her daughter in her final moments.
"I knelt down and hugged her and told her that I loved her very much," she told the newspaper. "I told her she was going to be with God, because no one in heaven was going to humiliate or discriminate against her for being her."
Demonstrators hold signs and candles during a protest against the transfemicide of Sara Millerey, a trans woman who is tortured and killed, on April 9, 2025.
Sebastian Barros/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Police said Wednesday it had arrested a first suspect, a member of a gang, who now faces charges of torture and aggravated homicide, and risks 70 years in prison.
President Gustavo Petro has condemned the crime that he said was committed by "ignorant people" trying to "erase the differences" between individuals.
The office of the ombudsman in Colombia said 13 trans women have been murdered in the country so far this year. However, the Washington Office on Latin America, citing data from the NGO Caribe Afirmativo, reported that more than 24 LGBTQ+ people have been murdered in Colombia so far in 2025.
"This figure is an undercount since many LGBTQ+ cases are not designated as such," the organization said.
In all of 2024, the official number was 31.
The office of the ombudsman also reported 258 cases of violence against members of the LGBTQI+ community last year -- a 23 % increase on 2023.
There has been a rise particularly in Antioquia, the birthplace of notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar, according to Caribe Afirmativo.
Hate crimes in the region "represent almost half of the national total," it reported.
Congress is discussing a bill seeking to bolster the rights of transgender people and toughen penalties for hate crimes committed against them.