Prominent trans activist Dana Rivers, born David Chester Warfield, has been found guilty of slaying a lesbian couple, Charlotte Reed (56) and Patricia Wright (57), and their 19-year-old son, Benny Diambu-Wright, six years ago. The Oakland jury took less than a day to return the triple-murder verdict.
On November 11th, 2016, police were called to the home of Reed and Wright after gunshots were heard on the family’s property in Oakland, California. Once authorities arrived, Rivers was seen fleeing the scene, towards a black Harley Davidson motorcycle parked outside, covered in blood and gasoline, with the house set ablaze.
During a body search of Rivers, officers found a bloody screwdriver, a knife, brass knuckles, bullets, pepper spray and Benny Diambu-Wright’s iPod. Blood was found on the motorcycle, as well as a bloody knife in its saddlebag.
Charlotte Reed had been stabbed and bludgeoned, as well as having multiple gunshot wounds. Patricia Wright had been shot twice. Benny Diambu-Wright, a recent graduate of Berkely High School, had been shot in the heart by Rivers while investigating the brutal scene. He then staggered outside the home and collapsed in the middle of the street, later dying.
Rivers was immediately taken into custody. According to police reports, Rivers began making “spontaneous statements” about the murders.
The defense argued that a fifth person must have been in the home, helping Rivers with the murders, believing a 61-year-old could not single-handedly commit such a thing. However, prosecutors argued that “Rivers spent weeks gaining Reed’s trust, arranged to spend the night, waited for the victims to fall asleep, then used a gun equipped with a silencer to shoot Reed and Wright in their beds,” according to The Mercury News.
“They all went to sleep that night expecting to wake up the next day,” Deputy District Attorney Abigail Mulvihill told jurors.
Prosecutors claim the motive was a disagreement between Reed and Rivers, who are reported to have been on and off-again friends. The feud apparently centered on Reeds’ departure from a defunct “all-women” motorcycle club, “the Deviants.”
Rivers has a “1 percenter” tattoo, referring to the small percentage of motorcyclists who join gangs. Authorities say Rivers had usurped the role as “enforcer” for an “outlaw motorcycle club,” seeking revenge on Reed for leaving the Deviants.
Rivers became known in 1999 after being fired from Center High School in Sacramento County, California, for discussing gender self-determination in class with students. Rivers had also been active in “Camp Trans,” a campaign against Michfest, a female-only festival in Michigan that Reed and Wright attended frequently. Rivers’ campaigns against female-only space were not raised in the trial, even though the murders took place within one year of the final festival.
The case has now moved onto the sanity phase, which starts December 5. The same jury will decide whether Rivers was legally insane at the time of the murders. If found “insane,” Rivers will be sent to a mental hospital until being “cured,” or for the entire prison sentence. It is unclear whether Rivers, biologically a male — and who still reflects the patterns of violent male behavior — will be housed with female inmates.
