Capital murders: two transgendered teenagers are gunned down in Washington, D.C., leaving their families reeling and police searching for clues. (Crime).

Stephanie Thomas may have been born a male, but she always acted like a lady. Named Wilbur at birth, the child was fond of mom's handbags and shoes and at age 14 began dressing as a girl, adopting the name of a pretty cousin, Stephanie. "On the school bus kids tormented her, so she got off and walked a couple miles to the school," Stephanie's mother, Queen Washington, recalls. "She dressed like a lady. She had class. She was raised that way. My kid was like any other kid--she wanted to do things in life."

That life was cut short August 12, when Thomas, 19, and her friend Ukea Davis, 18, were gunned down in a drug-ridden Washington, D.C., neighborhood. A witness reports seeing a man firing into Thomas's new Toyota Camry, where the teenagers were later found to have more than 10 bullet wounds each. "It has not been classified as a hate crime," Brett Parson, commander of the District of Columbia police department's gay and lesbian liaison unit, said at press time. "There are no suspects, and we are still trying to determine the motive."

Still, Thomas's mother has no doubt in her mind that Stephanie's and Ukea's murders were motivated by hate. "Everybody in this area knew Stephanie and knew that she was transgendered," Washington says. "I know it's someone in this neighborhood [who killed them]."

The outgoing and garrulous Thomas befriended the reserved Davis, who also was transgendered, several years ago at a social services center for transgendered youth. And according to family members, the two were inseparable. They needed each other for support, especially when classmates--and even teachers--harassed them about their gender identity. "Once a teacher called [Stephanie] `gay,'" Washington remembers. "So I went down there with a girlfriend and we read her. You can bet [the teacher] never did that again."

At first, Ukea--who was named Deon at birth and who began identifying as a girl at age 15--did not find as much acceptance at home: The godmother who raised her often tried to persuade Ukea to dress like a boy. "They didn't understand at first, but it didn't come as a shock; then we came to accept; it," explains Ukea's 17-year-old sister, Rochelle Davis. "[Ukea] said regardless how he looked on the outside, he would always be my big brother."

Although both teens eventually dropped out of school, "Stephanie was very determined," according to Earline Budd, coordinator of Transgender Health Empowerment, where the girls met. "She was very vocal about who she was. Ukea was a very quiet and private girl. She decided this was her lifestyle. She wasn't the social one. She didn't have a clique--like the other transgendered girls. She was a beautiful young woman."

Both youths attended educational and community programs sponsored by the city's Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League, and they hoped to secure jobs. Washington recently bought Stephanie a new car--the one she and Ukea were found dead in--because Stephanie had said that she didn't like walking around her dangerous southeast D.C. neighborhood.

Today, Washington wonders if there was anything that could have protected her child. "Stephanie always left something with you," she says. "They stole my angel. I miss her voice, I miss her laughter. She would always say `I love you.' And before this happened she came down and told me, `I love you.'"