North Carolina man in custody for killing two transgender women accused of third murder

A North Carolina man already behind bars in connection with the deaths of two transgender women in April is now accused of committing a third murder, police say.

Joshua Tramaine Allen, 33,was last seen alive on Jan. 23 and reported missing two days later, according to the Union County Sheriff’s Office.

Authorities recovered Brewer’s body on Feb.9, and the medical examiner determined he died from multiple gunshot wounds.

Law enforcement officials launched an investigation, executing search warrants, interviewing witnesses and pursuing leads before announcing charges against Joel Isaiah Brewer, 34.

“Investigators were able to successfully link Allen and Brewer together on the night of Allen’s disappearance and no evidence was found that Allen was alive after his encounter with Brewer,” the sheriff’s office said.

Brewer, who was already in custody at the Mecklenburg County jail, faces new charges of first-degree murder, possession of firearm by felon and felony concealment of death by secretly disposing of a human body.

As FrontPageDetectives previously reported, on April 16,Charlotte-Mecklenburg police announced the arrest of Brewer and another man for the deaths of two transgender women in two Charlotte hotel rooms.

Jaida Peterson, 29, was found fatally shot in a room at a Quality Inn near the Charlotte Douglas Airport on April 4.

On the morning of April 15, Remy Fennell was found dead at the Sleep Inn, a hotel about 20 minutes away from where Peterson died.

At the time, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police spokesman Rob Tufano noted the “consistent similarities” between the two cases.

“Both of those victims, transgender women. Both of them sex workers. Both of them shot to death in hotels,” Tufano said, adding that "naturally, the assumption would be these shootings have got to be connected, right?”