A friend of mine who is currently living in Arizona scared up these bits of information from local sources.
23 year old Amancio Corrales was found dead in the Colorado River on May 6. He may have been killed for being a gay male cross-dresser and flirting with a Marine while dressed as a woman.
The Yuma Sun has few details. The site GayInYuma has details that don't appear in the newspaper article, which it claims were confirmed by Mr. Corrales' family.
More below, but it's not for the squeamish.
It appears that this was both a murder and a mutilation. GayInYuma gives these details:
Eyewitness reports state that 23-year-old Amancio Corrales, a Yuma native, who most recently lived in Phoenix, was dressed as a women on the night of May 7th at Ron's Place in Yuma. While dressed as a women, it is reported that Corrales flirted with a well known US Marine named "David." Eyewitnesses at the bar that night said "David" was furious when he found out Corrales was a man. Corrales was seen leaving the bar in a silver Honda with "David" and two other men whom appeared to be US Marines. "David" and the two other men took Corrales to Paradise Cove, where later that night Corrales was found dead and mutilated. Corrales' family who lives in Yuma, confirms Armancio's penis was cut off, his throat slashed and that Mr. Corrales suffered severe trauma to the head. The viewing was May 11th at Yuma Mortuary; the funeral was May 12th. Armancio is burried at Johnson's Mortuary in Yuma.
The Yuma Sun article is here. As I said above, it has few details, and none at all about Mr. Corrales' personal life:
A Yuma man was found murdered in the Colorado River Friday.
Amancio Corrales, 23, was found dead at 7 a.m. in the river about 500 yards west of Paradise Cove.
"We can't specifically release (what killed him), but it was from violent trauma," said Maj. Leon Wilmot, with the Yuma County Sheriff's Office. He said the murder likely occurred between midnight and early this morning.
Sheriff's Capt. Eben Bratcher said the agency had to be vague because the investigation was ongoing. He did not have any information further information about Corrales.
Are there Kossacks local to the area who can keep the pressure on the authorities to investigate this murder?
Is there any way to get this addressed as a hate crime?