SF Trans Woman's '09 Killing Remains Unsolved

Five years after the homicide of Mariah Qualls, a transgender woman who was found dead in her North Beach residential hotel room, San Francisco police are still working to bring whoever's responsible into custody.

In a recent interview the day before Qualls would have turned 28, her mother, Christine Qualls, said she thinks about her daughter a lot, and this month brings forth painful memories that have come since Qualls's body was found December 9, 2009, at the Golden Eagle Hotel, 402 Broadway Street. The medical examiner's office determined the cause of death was blunt force injury to the head.

"Her birthday was the first, then I got that call on the 10th, then I had the funeral on the 19th," said Qualls, 47, who lives in the Central Valley town of Los Banos. "I hate December. I hate the whole month of December."

An arrest in the case has eluded investigators despite the offer of a $75,000 reward from the mayor's office for information leading to the identification, arrest, and conviction of the suspect(s) responsible. The reward has been available since 2011, and the San Francisco Police Department reiterated the offer in a bulletin issued last week.

In an interview with the Bay Area Reporter, homicide Inspector Daniel Cunningham, who's been investigating Qualls's death for years, expressed some confidence that he's identified a suspect, but he declined to share any details about the person.

He said he doesn't have new information in the case, including leads or witnesses. But there's at least one person he's focusing on, and he's trying to build a stronger case against them so he can make an arrest and take the case to the district attorney. Cunningham said he plans to have made an arrest "by this time next year."

"I'm still looking at the same people I was looking at five years ago," he said, but "I'm looking at some of the evidence a little bit different."

Cunningham said he has "an idea" of where the person is, but "I don't want to say where."

He couldn't comment on the evidence he has.

"It's circumstantial," he said. There's nothing on video and, so far, no strong DNA evidence. It's a case where "you have to get a lot of different pieces and put it together like a jigsaw puzzle."

Christine Qualls said police have been looking at a homeless acquaintance who had been staying with her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend as a possible suspect. She didn't know the homeless man's name.

"Right now I think my case is going to be stronger if I don't talk to you about" the potential suspect, Cunningham said. "... I'm kind of reevaluating some parts of this investigation."

Some have suggested Qualls's former boyfriend killed her, Cunningham has said, but he said that man was in custody at the time Qualls was believed to have been killed.

He declined last week to remark on any interest he still had in the boyfriend, whom the B.A.R. hasn't been able to reach.

Cunningham, who's said he doesn't think Qualls's killing was related to her gender identity, said he's "still looking into" whether just one person was responsible.

Christine Qualls is incredulous that there's still no resolution.

"There's a $75,000 reward out there still, and nobody knows anything? I can't believe it," Qualls said.

Judy Garcia, 66, Mariah Qualls's grandmother, said, "It infuriates me that this hasn't been resolved." She's disappointed that information from other residents of Qualls's building hasn't led to an arrest.

"People aren't in little hotel rooms and not aware of what's happening next door," said Garcia, who lives in the South Bay city of Gilroy.

'She just wanted to start a new life'

Family members have said Qualls had moved to San Francisco from San Jose so she could be herself.

"She loved the gay community," Christine Qualls said in an interview shortly after her daughter's death. "She loved the gay Pride parades. It just fit. That's where she thought she would fit. She just wanted to start a new life."

However, Qualls said, "I think she was kind of having a harder time than what she let on. She moved around a lot. She stayed in a lot of different hotels."

The report on Qualls's death from the medical examiner's office indicates her final days were extremely troubled.

According to the report, which cited police and the manager of Qualls's building, at about 1:30 a.m. December 8, the day before her body was found, "the neighbor across the hall heard an altercation in the subject's room, describing the incident as 'yelling and someone getting slapped around.'" There's no indication the neighbor called police.

At about 11 a.m. December 9, the report says, "pest control and the building manager responded to the subject's room for monthly pest extermination and found the door unlocked." They found Qualls "lying in bed, apparently unresponsive." Within minutes, emergency responders pronounced her dead.

The documents say methamphetamine was present at the scene and "blisters and ulcers" on Qualls' upper lip were "suggestive of thermal injuries" from a "glass or metallic pipe." She had methamphetamine in her blood, according to the toxicology report.

"Drug paraphernalia consisting of multiple small plastic bags (bindles) and previously cut straws" were in a drawer, the documents say.

Christine Qualls, who hadn't seen her daughter since the spring of 2009 but had spoken to her just before the killing, said last week that Mariah Qualls had been "really sick," but she didn't know what from. She acknowledged Qualls's apparent meth use.

"She was so thin," she said.

Anyone with information in the case or who had talked to Qualls within the week before her body was found is asked to contact Cunningham at (415) 553-1109 or after hours at (415) 553-1071.

People who want to remain anonymous may call (415) 575-4444 or text a tip to 847411 (TIP411). Type "SFPD" and then the tip. The case number is 091 257 989.