Hi readers— my name is Dr. TJ Payne. I am a forensic psychology researcher and writer investigating the unsolved murder of Poe Black, a young trans artist whose body was found in a desert canal near Slab City in May 2021. Poe was 21 years old. He was creative, tender, searching for belonging, and building a life in a community of outsiders when he was killed.

His case is not an exception. It is part of a pattern. According to the Human Rights Campaign, hundreds of transgender people have been murdered in the U.S. in the last decade, and many of these cases remain unsolved. When trans people are harmed, especially those living on the margins, their stories are more likely to be mishandled by police, misreported by media, and quietly forgotten. Poe deserved better than that. They all do.

This project is about reopening the narrative, re-interviewing those who knew Poe, gathering records, documenting the community context, and telling his story with the care and depth it was never given.

How Funds Will Be Used:

To reopen this case, I need to go to where Poe lived, where he was last seen, and where people who knew him are now. This means traveling across state lines, conducting interviews in person, accessing records, documenting testimony, and working full-time on the investigation.

Your support will make that possible.

This fundraiser covers Phase Two of the investigation, which includes:

Travel to multiple states to meet with community members, witnesses, and those connected to Poe’s life and final days (California, Tennessee, Washington, and New Mexico).

Lodging and transportation for myself and a support person — a necessary safety measure when working in remote and high-risk environments.

On-the-ground interviews, including audio and transcription tools to document testimony accurately and ethically.

Public records requests, archival searches, and case documentation that require fees to access.

Interview honorariums to compensate community members and unhoused individuals for their time, emotional labor, and expertise.

A modest research stipend so I can dedicate full-time attention to this work over the next 2–3 months without income being a barrier.

This is not parachute journalism, and it’s not sensationalized true crime.

This is long-form, accountable, trauma-informed investigation that requires time, travel, and relationship-building.

Estimated Expense Cost:

Travel (CA → TN → WA → NM) for 2 people

$4,300

Lodging & transportation (3–4 weeks fieldwork total)

$3,100

Public records, archives, case documentation

$600

Interview honorariums & community compensation

$1,200

Audio + transcription + data storage tools

$750

Research stipend (8–12 weeks)

$3,500–$5,000

Total Phase Two Goal:
$13,500

Every dollar supports the work of bringing clarity, care, and visibility to a case that has gone overlooked for too long.

If you cannot donate, sharing this campaign is an enormous help.

Why This Matters:

Poe was not disposable. His life was not marginal. He was loved. He was part of a community. He was becoming. And when someone like Poe is harmed, the world does not pause. The news cycle doesn’t hold space. The legal system does not prioritize the loss. The story fades — not because it lacks meaning, but because our society has a hierarchy of whose stories are protected.

Cases involving LGBTQ+ people — especially those who are unhoused, transient, or living in alternative communities — are far more likely to go cold. Not because they are unsolvable, but because the systems responsible for solving them too often decide they are not worth solving.

Poe deserved a full investigation. He deserves one now, too.

This work is about making sure his name does not disappear into the long list of “unresolved tragedies” that the public forgets and institutions quietly abandon. It is about making visible the patterns of neglect that allow violence to continue. It is about honoring the people who live in places like Slab City — who are dismissed, misrepresented, or treated as scenery in someone else’s mythology.

This case is about Poe. But it is also about every trans person who has been harmed and misnamed.

Every queer person who has been told their story is “too complicated.”

Every community that has been written off as unworthy of care.

We are not accepting that.

We are moving, now.

Your support tells the story that Poe mattered.

And still matters.

How You Can Help:

If you are able, your contribution makes this work possible.

It funds the travel, time, safety, and documentation required to pursue this case with the care it should have received from the start.

If you cannot donate, sharing this fundraiser is equally powerful.

Visibility is pressure. Pressure is movement.

As leads are followed and the narrative develops, the findings will be shared publicly through reporting, documentation, and eventually, a full media series.

If you believe that every life deserves to be taken seriously,

if you believe that queer and trans people deserve justice,

if you believe that stories like Poe’s should not be buried —

Please support this work.

Thank you for standing with me, and with Poe.