CRIME
Questions About Newark’s Trans Woman’s Death
Victim’s mother, never notifi ed by police, given confl icting stories; county DA steps in
BY MATT TRACY
More than four months
after the suspicious
death of a 26-yearold
Black transgender
woman in Newark, the victim’s
family and local advocates are
seeking answers and demanding
justice for a woman they described
as a hard-working, aspirational
individual who had hopes and
dreams.
Ashley Moore was found dead
on April 1 outside of the Newark
YMCA, where she was renting a
room. Police who were initially
on the scene said she was found
face-down on her stomach, had
rope or wire abrasions on her legs,
and suffered rectal bleeding, according
to Moore’s mother, Starlet
Carbins, who spoke about her
daughter’s death in a Zoom interview
with podcast host Jasmin
Singer (see below, following this
story). Moore’s neck and legs were
“grossly swollen and disfi gured,”
Carbins said.
Yet, Carbins said she was told
something entirely different by a
detective who spoke to a doctor
at Newark University Hospital,
which was where her daughter
was transported once her body
was discovered. According to the
detective, the doctor said Moore
appeared to have died by vehicular
impact.
However, the same detective
would eventually go on to tell Carbins
that her daughter died after
suffering the impact of a long fall.
When Gay City News contacted
Newark police to learn about the
Ashley Moore, seen here last summer, was remembered as a motivated cook who was writing her
memoir and hoped to start her own business.
status of the case, there were a
range of responses. A spokesperson
fi rst said on August 10 that
the “death investigation is continuing
as police await fi nal cause from
the medical examiner. At this time,
the investigation is not involving a
homicide.”
Nine days later, on August 19,
the same police department said
in an email that Newark’s Public
Safety director Anthony Ambrose
asked the Essex County prosecutor
to review the case. Minutes
later, Ambrose himself emailed,
saying, “It was ruled a suicide by
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the medical examiner” and “at my
request the Essex County prosecutor
is reviewing.”
Advocates remain wary of any
sort of swift conclusion to the case
after they have heard different stories
but also noted general police
inaction in response to the case.
Carbins did not fi nd out about her
daughter’s death for nine days —
and she didn’t learn the news from
the police.
“I found out Ashley had died
via Facebook,” Carbins, a visiting
nurse who was in Vermont at
the time, said during that Zoom
interview. “All the information I
obtained I got on my own. No one
contacted me to let me know that
my child was dead…”
She added, “So I found out
through Ashley’s friends and social
media contacts via her social
media and Instagram exactly what
they knew, which wasn’t a lot, but
at least it started me on a path to
reach out to individuals.”
Carbins, who given her work as
a visiting nurse was unavailable to
speak with Gay City News, is not
the only one who views Moore’s
death with suspicion. The Newark
LGBTQ Center’s executive director,
Beatrice Simpkins, spoke to
Gay City News on August 18 and
described Moore’s case as one that
has been laced with inconsistencies
and contradictions.
Simpkins expressed shock that
she was never informed of Moore’s
death and voiced her unhappiness
at the fact that the police never told
Carbins. Had Simpkins known,
she could have informed the local
LGBTQ community, which could
have led to new information about
the case.
“Carbins had no crime report,
no cause of death, had no idea what
happened to her child,” Simpkins
explained. “And so we stepped in
to advocate on behalf of the family
and Ashley to fi nd out what happened
and make sure it was investigated.
The family needed to be
treated with more respect by the
police department and we thought
they owed her an apology.”
Simpkins noted that she has
been assisting efforts to train members
of Newark’s police department
as part of the department’s consent
decree with the US Department of
Justice that was brought on by
poor policing practices, including
the department’s interactions with
the LGBTQ community.
She has worked with the department
for two years, creating a level
of familiarity that would seemingly
make it a no-brainer for authorities
to notify her of any such incident.
However, she said LGBTQ liaisons
in the police department were not
initially aware of Moore’s death.
“Not only were they not telling
us, they weren’t speaking to their
own internal process because
those offi cers should have known
a Black trans woman was found
dead in the streets of Newark and
informed the LGBT community to
help connect police to her family
and support her family,” Simpkins
said.
Carbins and Simpkins worked
in tandem to amplify the case and
➤ ASHLEY MOORE, continued on p.17
August 27 - September 9,16 2020 | GayCityNews.com
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