Football Player Arrested for Killing His Girlfriend After Finding Out She Was Transgender

21 year old popular Texas college football player Carlton Ray Champion Jr. (left) has been charged with the murder of 24yr old transgender woman, Ty Underwood ()right, who was killed on Jan. 26th

Police first caught a break in the case when Ty’s roommate, Kedrick Darks, told police Underwood had been dating a man named “Carlton” for several weeks prior to her death. Police say they interviewed Champion, who confirmed that he had been communicating via a service called “Kik” with Underwood, who was going by “Tyra” on the service. They were able to search Champion’s tablet computer and allegedly discovered communications between Champion and Underwood dating back to January 19, 2015.

“After reading the text between Champion, Jr. and Underwood, it was clear that the two have had s*xual relations with each other,” one detective wrote. The investigation revealed a series of messages between Champion and Underwood on January 25 in which Underwood was angry with Champion for initially agreeing to meet in person that night and then backing out. Underwood sent a message saying she no longer wanted to see Champion, to which he allegedly responded: “That’s how it is now, I will make it up.”

After that, there was allegedly some additional conversation about where and how they would meet, and whether it would be at a Texas College or along a random street. The conversation makes it appear they were to meet on 25th street. The investigators also obtained surveillance video allegedly depicting Champion exiting his dorm early on the morning of January 26 following the Kik conversation.

They say Champion met up with Ty – and when he found out he was born a male, Champion allegedly killed him.

One of the detectives interviewed Champion’s father and wrote “[Champion’s father] stated that Carlton Jr. was meeting [Underwood] and thought [Underwood] was female. According to [Champion’s father], Carlton Jr. was supposed to get some type of s*xual favor from [Underwood] but realized [Underwood] was a male.”

Additionally, investigators say Champion’s jacket worn at the time of the murder tested positive for blood in a preliminary test that’s too basic to determine whose blood was sampled.