The Woman Who Used to be a Man Dies Revealing Secrets, Lies
Lisa Livermore
DesMoinesRegister.com, IA
_____________________
Kansas City (US):
A secret sex change operation, a missing boyfriend from Saudi Arabia, and a woman found under a locust tree, a pistol with no bullets beneath her — these are elements of the mystery of Kaaseem Juanda.
She is the 60-year-old Kansas City woman who used to be a man who was found face down and dead at an Interstate Highway 29 northbound rest area in Mills County.
Friends and relatives of the retired postal worker who loved to travel said her death — which law enforcement officers in Iowa have not determined was suicide or murder — has unfolded the secrets she kept from loved ones.
Derrick Juanda, 37, is trying to unravel the case. Kaaseem Juanda was his father."I just found out my father had a sex change, just to find out my father has died," he said. "To find out the last five or six years he's been living a separate life."Derrick Juanda, a Colorado resident, said his father had told him he had been living in Saudi Arabia. In truth, Kaaseem Juanda had been living in Kansas City and was a woman, friends said.
Many of Kaaseem Juanda's loved ones said the most shocking revelations about her gender reassignment surgery came after her death. Those lies have hurt the credibility of some of the things she told them while she was alive, family said.
Transgender activists in Kansas City said they don't believe Juanda, who appeared to be a happy person, killed herself. Her death will be a focal point of services Sunday during Transgender Day of Remembrance, an event that memorializes transgender people who were killed because of hatred or prejudice.
Lisa Livermore
DesMoinesRegister.com, IA
_____________________
Kansas City (US):
A secret sex change operation, a missing boyfriend from Saudi Arabia, and a woman found under a locust tree, a pistol with no bullets beneath her — these are elements of the mystery of Kaaseem Juanda.
She is the 60-year-old Kansas City woman who used to be a man who was found face down and dead at an Interstate Highway 29 northbound rest area in Mills County.
Friends and relatives of the retired postal worker who loved to travel said her death — which law enforcement officers in Iowa have not determined was suicide or murder — has unfolded the secrets she kept from loved ones.
Derrick Juanda, 37, is trying to unravel the case. Kaaseem Juanda was his father."I just found out my father had a sex change, just to find out my father has died," he said. "To find out the last five or six years he's been living a separate life."Derrick Juanda, a Colorado resident, said his father had told him he had been living in Saudi Arabia. In truth, Kaaseem Juanda had been living in Kansas City and was a woman, friends said.
Many of Kaaseem Juanda's loved ones said the most shocking revelations about her gender reassignment surgery came after her death. Those lies have hurt the credibility of some of the things she told them while she was alive, family said.
Transgender activists in Kansas City said they don't believe Juanda, who appeared to be a happy person, killed herself. Her death will be a focal point of services Sunday during Transgender Day of Remembrance, an event that memorializes transgender people who were killed because of hatred or prejudice.
