One was brutally murdered on an Athens trail. The other was mortally wounded on an Athens trail. That’s where the similarities between Laken Riley and Santonio Coleman end.
Amidst national media attention, a massive multi-agency manhunt took a suspect into custody just days after Riley, a white female college student, was found dead on the trails near UGA’s Lake Herrick. Meanwhile, because Coleman was a Black gay man or transgender woman, their death has not received nearly the same attention from the media or the police. (Coleman’s relatives used masculine language, but others said they identified as trans.)
“Many of us feel like, if this person was someone like Laken Riley—I’m just going to go ahead and say it—there would be donations coming in from the community, and everyone would know what was going on,” said Mokah Jasmine Johnson, cofounder of the Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement.
Friends, family and local activists held a memorial service last week for Coleman, 48, at the East Athens trail where a passer-by found them injured and unresponsive on Oct. 19. Coleman died the next day at a local hospital. Athens-Clarke County Police are investigating the case as a “suspicious death.”
Relatives, however, believe police are not taking the case seriously. They question the narrative that Coleman’s death was accidental. “All evidence suggests this was a hate crime and potentially a robbery,” their cousin Nikki Johnson said.
Trail Creek Trail, a paved footpath that connects Vine Street with nearby Virginia Walker Park, is unlit, but is flat and has no obvious obstacles where someone might injure themself in a fall that severely. According to Coleman’s sister LaKeisha Fleming, Coleman was likely visiting a friend who lives in the area and was walking home to their apartment near the North Avenue Piggly Wiggly around midnight when they were attacked, then lay on the trail during a chilly night for hours until someone came along. Fleming said Coleman’s phone was stolen, and that someone had ripped off their glued-on wig. “They twisted and turned my cousin’s body in ways you couldn’t imagine,” Johnson said.
Those who knew Coleman described the Cedar Shoals High School graduate, a hairdresser by trade, as a vibrant and joyful individual. “San would come in the door dancing, to any house,” said ACC commissioner and lifelong friend Tiffany Taylor. “Wherever San went, there was a party.”
Whatever the cause of Coleman’s death, people close to them question the muted response to their death in comparison to Riley’s. Besides the tremendous amount of media attention and law enforcement resources, after Riley’s murder both the ACC government and UGA invested millions of dollars into upgrading safety on campus and along city trails, such as additional cameras, police ATVs and emergency call boxes. Relatives and activists want motion-activated lighting, cameras and patrols on Trail Creek Trail, too, and they are pushing to have it renamed for Coleman.
Imani Scott-Blackwell, a local activist who works with Atlanta-based nonprofit Southerners on New Ground, did not know Coleman, but is all too familiar with what potentially awaits queer and transgender individuals in the current political environment. She wore a T-shirt reading “Homosexuals With an Agenda,” and explained: “The agenda is, we would like to die of old age,” and not from violence or policies that lead to evictions or lack of health care.
“No one is coming to save us,” Scott-Blackwell said, adding, “If they’re [the authorities] not doing anything, the question is, what are we going to do together?”
Meanwhile Coleman’s family plans to continue to press for answers. “We will fight for my brother until justice is served,” Fleming said.
Police have asked that anyone with information on Coleman’s death contact detective Christina Bradshaw at 762-400-7632 or [email protected].
Coleman’s family has set up a GoFundMe account at gofund.me/9d931a27 to cover funeral expenses. “He was a passionate advocate for the LGBT community, and his joy for making others laugh and feel loved was unparalleled,” the account reads. “He took great pride in doing hair because he loved to make others feel beautiful, inside and out. His memory will forever shine brightly in our hearts, reminding us of the importance of love, acceptance and empathy.”
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