Boarding House Victim was Transgender Woman, Advocate, Friends Say

Friends of a slain New Brunswick resident are mourning the loss of a lively young person. 

On Tuesday night, police responded to a fatal stabbing at a boarding house on Baldwin Street.

A spokesman for the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office said the victim's legal name is Evan Morgan, but sources say Morgan was a transgender woman who went by the name Eyricka Morgan, and was a supportive figure in the community.

Morgan, 26, was "really loved by her community" said Gary Paul Wright, Co-Founder and Executive Director of African American Office of Gay Concerns (AAOGC) in Newark, a community-based organization that provides HIV counseling, testing and advocacy.

The AAOGC started off as an advocacy center for gay men of color in Newark, but expanded to include all walks of life, including transgender men and women who had little support available to them, Wright said.

"It's more than just being drag queens and walking the stroll...these are human beings," he said.

As a teenager, Morgan was one of the first young people to come to the office to hang around in a safe, supportive space.

"She blossomed in front of us (and) transformed into a young woman," Wright said.

Despite her young age of 26, Moore became a trusted, supportive figure for youth involved with the cause, assisted the organization in getting the word out about HIV prevention and testing and served as a peer advocate, Wright said.

At the 2011 "Queer Newark" conference at Rutgers Newark, Morgan said that her family did not support her lifestyle, causing her to set out on her own.

"I had to make a decision. Either I be myself or let others control me. So at 14 or 15, I packed up all my stuff and I left," Morgan said, in a Rutgers Today article.

Less than one day after Morgan's death, Devonte Scott, 21, was arrested and charged with murder, unlawful possession of a weapon, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.

Scott is currently jailed at the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center in North Brunswick on $1 million bail.