Second Defendant in Transgender Homicide Indicted

Alrashim Chambers, 24, of Newark was charged today with the September 12, 2010 murder of according to Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray. 

In addition to murder, Chambers was indicted on one count of bias intimidation and two weapons offenses arising from his unlawful use of a handgun. Investigators believe that White’s gender identification was a factor in her murder. White was a post-operative transgender female having undergone sex reassignment surgery.

Another man accused of the Maplewood native's murder,  of North Plainfield, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in May. On May 12, Foster pleaded to hindering the apprehension of Chambers. Foster will appear for sentencing on July 22.

Last year, and charged with in the murder of Victoria Carmen White, who was shot to death in Maplewood after meeting the two men in an Irvington nightclub and returning with them to her cousin's apartment at Jacoby Street and Boyden Avenue.

Chambers will be arraigned on July 12, 2011 before the Honorable Judge Peter J. Vazquez. If convicted of the charges, Chamber faces life in prison.

Both Foster and Chambers remain in custody in the Essex County Correctional Facility on $1 million bail.

White, who attended Columbia High School as James White, had undergone sex reassignment surgery several years ago and was working as a model in New York. Her death spurred an outpouring of grief from friends and former classmates.