Transgender sex worker fatally shot client who demanded his money back at Crissy Field: court docs
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — The suspect in a deadly shooting at Crissy Field last month was working as a sex worker and shot her client after he learned she was transgender and demanded his money back, court documents revealed. Leniyah Butler, also known as Christopher Butler, was working as a sex worker on Nov. 12 when the victim approached her, according to documents released by the United States District Court Northern District of California SF Division.
Butler asked the victim if he wanted a date, to which he replied yes, adding that he was looking for “everything,” documents state. After discussing price, the victim said he needed to stop at an ATM and the defendant agreed to get in his car.
After stopping at an ATM, the victim insisted on driving to Crissy Field, despite the defendant wanting to pull over somewhere close. The defendant stated it felt like he was taking her “out of her element” since it was 20 minutes from where he picked her up.
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At Crissy Field, the defendant performed oral sex on the victim, documents state. The victim then said he wanted more. It was then that Butler told him she was transexual. The victim then demanded his money back and she refused, the documents state.
“There’s no money back,” she was quoted as saying. “I was never giving [the money] back to him.”
An argument ensued and the victim demanded she get out of the car. Butler felt disrespected and refused, documents state. She explained that had she gotten out, she would’ve been “stranded cold as f**k,” looked “dumb as f**k,” and “just really did not want to walk” home.
Butler said she believed the victim should take her back to where he’d picked her up and refused to get out of the car. It was then that the victim began getting out and she shot him in the head using a gun she kept in her purse, documents said.
Right before she shot him, she saw “hella different angles and ways on how I’m gonna do it,” she explained.
After debating what to do for a few moments, she decided to take the car. She pulled the victim’s body out of the way without rendering aid, and drove to Kiska Road and called her mother for help.
According to court docs, she parked the victim’s car and wiped it down for fingerprints and DNA. After her mother advised her to get rid of evidence, she disposed of the victim’s backpack and the clothes she was wearing, which had blood on them. Her mother threw away the purse and the defendant gave the gun to a third party, telling them “there’s a body on [it].”
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The FBI executed a search warrant for the defendant on Nov. 20. When agents arrived, Butler jumped out a second-story window and fled through neighboring backyards before the FBI located and arrested her.
She was charged with murder.
Court documents cited the defendant’s willingness to evade law enforcement, destroy evidence and violent criminal record as among the factors arguing for pretrial detention. Six months ago, Butler was arrested after spraying bear mace at a crowded venue, documents state. She also has previous convictions for attempting to evade arrest.
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