Death of Nina Pop

Death of Nina Pop

Map of Sikeston
Date	May 3, 2020
Location	South New Madrid Street, Sikeston, Missouri
Charges	Second-degree murder and armed criminal action

On May 3, 2020, a 28-year-old black transgender woman named Nina Pop was found dead with multiple stab wounds after being stabbed with a knife inside her apartment on South New Madrid Street in Sikeston, Missouri.

Nina Pop

Pop was a black transgender woman. She lived 145 miles south of St. Louis in Sikeston, Missouri, a small town of 16,000 people.

Aftermath

On May 15, 2020 in Dexter, Missouri, Joseph B. Cannon from Poplar Bluff, Missouri, was accused of Pop's murder and arrested for second-degree murder and armed criminal action. He pleaded not guilty, requested a public defender, and awaits trial. 11 crime labs, anti-violence organizations, and police departments contributed to the investigation.

Sikeston Department of Public Safety and a local TV network initially misgendered Pop during their investigation and reporting, respectively.

The Human Rights Campaign stated that her death is at least the 10th violent death of an American transgender person or gender non-conforming person in 2020.

Community response

The Okra Project, a grassroots organization initially focused on addressing food insecurity in the black transgender community, dedicated $15,000 to form the Nina Pop Mental Health Recovery Fund and the Tony McDade Mental Health Recovery Fund in to raise money for free one-time mental health therapy sessions for black transgender individuals.

On June 2, 2020 thousands of people came together for a vigil and protest at the Stonewall Inn in New York City to honor the lives of Nina Pop and Tony McDade and protest police violence and transphobic violence against the black transgender community.