A correction to an earlier version of this article has been appended to the end of the article.
SAN JOSE — A Union City man has been charged with murdering a San Jose drag artist whose death touched off a large outpouring of grief and tributes to her contributions to local culture as it grimly brought home startling trends in fatal anti-transgender violence.
Elijah Cruz Segura, 22, was arraigned Tuesday in a San Jose courtroom in the killing of 24-year-old Natalia Smüt — also known as Natalia Smüt Lopez — Friday at a Milpitas home. Segura did not enter a plea to a murder charge with a weapon enhancement for his reported use of a knife.
The day after her death, over 100 people attended a vigil at San Jose City Hall. Her family and supporters attended the arraignment Tuesday afternoon, either in court or outside the Hall of Justice in North San Jose. Segura appeared briefly in court before being taken back to the adjacent Main Jail.
“My sister was amazing. She was the strongest, most beautiful, and courageous person I know, and now we all have to live without that light in the world,” Smüt’s sister, Vanessa Singh, said after the arraignment. “I want to see that justice served and that Elijah spends the rest of his life in jail. But there will never be enough justice for me because my sister is gone.”
Segura called 911 early Friday morning from a home on Hillview Court in Milpitas to report that someone had been cut in the throat, Deputy District Attorney Rebekah Wise said after the hearing.
A bloody Segura later led responding police officers to a second-floor unit where they found a gravely injured Smüt, who Segura was dating at the time, authorities said. Smüt died from her injuries at a local hospital. A precise motive has not been publicly disclosed, but Milpitas police described the case as a domestic-violence killing.
An Afro-Rican trans woman from San Jose, Smüt was known for her “motivating and creative spirit, captivating performances, and her love for advocacy within the community,” according to a blog post shared by LGBTQ support and advocacy organization Project More. In the wake of her death, other fans and supporters spoke about how she cheered on their forays into drag performing, and for her courage in publicly sharing her life experiences to support other transgender people.
Smüt’s death also pulled into focus troubling trends in violence against people like her: She was the United States’ 16th person who died from violence against transgender or nonconforming people in 2021, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Last year, the organization tracked a total of 44 killings of trans and non-conforming people, the highest on record since it began tracking such crimes in 2013.
According to a report from Human Rights Campaign, while the circumstances all differ, “fatal violence disproportionately affects transgender women of color — particularly Black transgender women.”
Nathan Svoboda, president of the Project More Foundation, said Saturday that Smüt was a “jewel in our community” and that in honor of her and the other transgender victims of violence in the United States this year, the color of San Jose’s Qmunity District lights would be changed to those of the trans flag for 16 days.
Also in the days after Smüt died, one of her closest friends launched a GoFundMe page so support Singh and her other survivors.
“Everything the community has done,” she said, “has made it easier. Natalia was loved by everyone.”
Staff writer Annie Sciacca contributed to this report.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline can be reached 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by phone at 800-799-7233 or online at thehotline.org.
Due to an editor's error, an earlier version of this article incorrectly reported that suspect Elijah Cruz Segura had pleaded not guilty at a San Jose hearing on Tuesday. Segura was arraigned, but did not enter a plea.
