Travis Raregus Harrison
Age 2425 Jun 2006
Rocky Mount, North Carolina (USA)
Murdered
Harrison's decomposed body was found by a fisherman and his son.
They were reported as being a 'known crossdresser' whose murder was potentially linked to a serial killer responsible for seven other homicides.
Crossdresser Travis Harrison May Have Been Mistake for a Woman by Serial Killer (Dec. 15 2009)
In 2006, a Rocky Mount, North Carolina fisherman and his son got what may have been the catch, not to mention shock, of their lives when they stumbled upon the body of a man lying in a brush pile along a bank of the Tar River. Due to decomposition, all they knew was the body was dead and naked -- except for socks...
An autopsy revealed that the victim had been dead for at least a few weeks, but a pathologist could not determine how the victim had died due to the severity decomposition.
Information about the discovery was not initially circulated by police throughout Edgecombe County or the state, leaving police handicapped and unable to find anyone who knew anything about the man's death. They soon exhausted their leads. All they knew was that the dead man had significant traces of cocaine in his urine.
It took several months, but investigators eventually identified the dead man as 24-year-old Travis Raregus Harrison, a Rocky Mount resident. But the investigation seemed to stall until about two weeks ago, when detectives showed up at the home of Harrison's mother, Lillian Clark, and asked her for a new photo of her son.
"They said they didn't know anything new, and that they were out of leads," Clark said.
She also said that police were now looking into the possibility that her son's mysterious death may be linked to the case of seven Rocky Mount women whose mostly naked bodies had been turning up in swampy fields in the area since 2003. Harrison's stepfather, Joe Clark, recently said that he may understand why a connection between Harrison's death and the seven unsolved homicides of female victims had not been made.
"What they don't realize," Joe Clark said, "is that he was a crossdresser."
Similar to the seven other victims, Harrison was black, a known drug abuser, and that he sometimes traded his body for drugs.
Police began to consider the possibility that Harrison, in drag, had run across the killer they were looking for who had mistaken him for a woman. Under the circumstances and with little else to go on, it seemed like a viable theory to pursue.
Because most of the women's bodies had been found outside of the Rocky Mount city limits, the investigation was being led by Edgecombe County Sheriff James Knight who, naturally, declined to provide many details of the ongoing probe. A department spokeswoman stopped short of saying that Harrison's death had been officially linked or not to the other seven homicides.
"We investigate each case on its own," Rocky Mount police Captain Laura Fahnestock said. "We are not going to publicly link together any cases unless we have evidence showing that there is, in fact, a connection. Of course, we do consider other cases for any possible similarities when we investigate."
Rocky Mount City Councilman Andre Knight, however, has been pushing the sheriff's department to officially include Harrison's death as part of the other investigation.
"This case happened in the same timeframe, and this case has several similarities with the others," Councilman Knight said. "I think while we have the FBI involved, they should seriously take a look at this case. All the family wants is closure, and I think they should get the attention and resources they need to bring justice."
A state and local task force led by the sheriff's department has been investigating possible connections between the unsolved deaths of Jarniece Hargrove, 31, Elizabeth Smallwood, 33, Taraha Nicholson, 28, Ernestine Battle, 50, Jackie Thorpe, 35, and Melody Wiggins, 29. In September, Sheriff Knight announced that the death of Denise Williams, 21, had been included in the investigation.
Three additional women whose bodies have not turned up and are being looked for as "missing" as part of the larger investigation include Yolanda Lancaster, 53, Joyce Renee Durham, 46, and Christine Boone, 43.
Harrison's mother and stepfather said they were disappointed with the initial lack of attention shown to their son's death by the police and the media. "My son's death should be included with the others," Lillian Clark said. "If it will lead to them catching someone, then I think it should be."
https://www.wral.com/story/other-rocky-mount-deaths-remain-unsolved/7490027/
https://groups.google.com/g/alt.true-crime/c/NPDD_1S8Ofg?pli=1
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/72603911/murder-of-unamed-transgender-woman-in/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/72616576/murder-of-transgender-woman-travis/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/72616160/murder-of-transgender-woman-travis/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/72616259/murder-of-transgener-woman-travis/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/72616349/murder-of-transgender-woman-travis/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/72616491/murder-of-transgender-woman-travis/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24373231/rocky-mountain-telegram-2009-12-31/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75600785/murdered-transgender-woman-travis/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/rocky-mount-telegram-murder-of-transgend/75923362/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75600799/murder-of-transgender-woman-travis/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/rocky-mount-telegram-murder-of-transgend/144638021/
