Crime 'It's Absolutely an Epidemic': Texas Transgender Woman Was Killed in 2020, Suspect Just Arrested So far in 2022, at least 31 transgender people have been killed, according to the Human Rights Campaign By Chris Harris Chris Harris Twitter Chris Harris has been a senior true crime reporter for PEOPLE since late 2015. An award-winning journalist who has worked for Rolling Stone and MTV News, Chris enjoys prog rock, cycling, Marvel movies, IPAs, and roller coasters. People Editorial Guidelines Published on October 7, 2022 12:58 PM Share Tweet Pin Email Asia Jynaé Foster. Photo: Asia Jynaé Foster/Instagram Since 2020, the family of Asia Jynaé Foster has sought justice after the Black transgender woman was found fatally shot in the middle of the road near the Houston Galleria. On Tuesday, 32-year-old Jermal Richards was arrested and charged with one count of murder in connection with Foster's death, according to a statement from Houston Police. Richards is being held without bond, and has yet to appear before a judge to enter a plea. Information on whether he has a lawyer was not available Friday. Foster was last seen entering a car that wasn't her own the night she was killed. Murdered for Being Transgender: She Faced Online Threats Before Her Murder, Which Remains Unsolved According to the statement, on Nov. 20, 2020, "officers were dispatched to a person down call in the roadway" along East Greenridge Drive — near the Houston Galleria — "and found Ms. Foster with at least one gunshot wound," reads the Houston Police statement on Richards' arrest. Paramedics responded to the scene, where Foster, 22, was pronounced dead. "Further investigation identified Richards as a suspect in this case," the statement continues. Wisconsin Man Arrested and Charged With Killing Transgender Woman KTRK in Houston reports that Foster met up with Richards at his apartment complex near the Galleria on the evening she was killed. Bird Foster, Asia's mother, told KTRK she wants the perpetrator "to do time. I want to see him wake up every day behind bars. He has to see it every day, the rest of this life." She called the alarming number of murders of transgender people "absolutely an epidemic." A Black Transgender Woman Was Murdered in Milwaukee 3 Weeks Ago. Her Killer Is Still at Large Jermal Tyrelle Richards. Houston Police/Twitter Bird said she'd always accepted Asia for who she was, and does not understand why people are being targeted in America for their gender identity. "Why?," she asked. "The hate you have for someone is someone else living some other way. Not your life. They just want to live their life some sort of way." Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. So far in 2022, at least 31 transgender people have been killed, according to the Human Rights Campaign. In 2021, the agency tracked 50 homicides of transgender and gender non-conforming people. At least 37 transgender and gender non-conforming persons were killed in 2020.