Trucker arrested 28 years after slaying of trans woman with ‘whole life ahead of her’
After 28 years — the age of the victim herself — police in California connected a truck driver living in Utah to the 1994 murder of a trans woman.
The victim, Terrie Ladwig, was murdered in her apartment in Concord, California, on Dec. 2, 1994, and the case had “remained unsolved until recently,” Concord police said in a news release posted to Facebook on Monday, Jan. 30.
Concord Police said “recent developments” led them to identify 55-year-old James William Grimsley as a suspect in the killing.
Lt. Sean Donnelly told news outlets there was “forensic evidence” at the scene.
Police say they’re investigating Grimsley’s ties to the Bay Area and told the Bay Area News Group he could have passed through the Contra Costa County area as a truck driver in the 1990s. He would have been about 26 at the time.
The Contra Costa Times reported in 2004 that Ladwig had called her husband, who was a U.S. Navy sailor, to tell him someone was trying to break into their home, according to the outlet. Her husband rushed home from a base in Bangor, Washington, and discovered her body after she had been beaten and strangled.
Her murder publicized their marriage, and the U.S. Navy gave her husband an “other than honorable” discharge, the San Francisco Examiner reported at the time, according to the Bay Area News Group.
“This victim, Terrie, was only 28 at the time,” Donnelly told Bay Area News Group. “She was young and had her whole life ahead of her. Hopefully there will be some justice after all these years.”
A friend of Ladwig’s told ABC 7 she was relieved to see her friend’s case finally solved.
“She was a great woman, she had a great personality, she made people laugh,” Brittany Shoras told the station. “She would brighten my day when she came in. We talked about transgender issues and the laws that we didn’t have back in those days that we have today.”
After an extradition hearing in Utah, Grimsley will be extradited to California to face the murder charge, Donnelly told McClatchy News in an email. He’s being held on a $1 million fugitive bond, ABC 7 reported.
Police ask anyone with information to contact Concord PD Detective James Cartwright at 925952-603-5829.
This story was originally published January 31, 2023 at 4:07 PM with the headline "Trucker arrested 28 years after slaying of trans woman with ‘whole life ahead of her’."
