Ruben Alvarado, a 24 year-old man from Mesquite, was given 37 years in prison for strangling a transgender woman.
A Dallas County jury sentenced Alvarado after convicting him of the 2019 killing, where Chynal Lindsey, 26, was identified as the victim.
Alvarado, who was charged with first-degree murder, disclosed to jurors that he had transported the woman to White Rock Lake. He was intending to have intercourse with her but soon discovered her biological sex.
Alvarado said he demanded that Lindsey get out of his truck. She then physically assaulted him, causing him to strangle her with a belt, in self-defense, he claimed. Afterwards, he disposed of her body in the water.
Prosecutors requested a 50 year prison sentence. He could have been given anywhere from 5 years to life in prison.
At the time, Lindsey’s murder was the second killing of a transgender woman to occur in Dallas in less than 30 days.
