LAKEWOOD, Colo. – Police in Lakewood are calling the death of a transgender Denver hairstylist “suspicious” after her body was discovered in an alley nearly two months after she was first reported missing.
Friends and family of 34-year-old Jax Gratton started searching for her after she was last seen on April 15. According to friends, Gratton's roommate said she had told him she was heading out that night and would be gone for about three hours but never returned.
Over the weekend, however, Gratton's mother confirmed to Denver7 that her daughter's body had been found in Lakewood.
While she had not been positively identified then, her mother said a detective told her he visually identified Gratton through her tattoos.
Denver
Community honors Jax Gratton, a 'beautiful human being who should still be here'
On Tuesday, the Jefferson County Coroner positively identified the victim found in the alley as Gratton, but a spokesperson with the Lakewood Police Department said a cause of death has not yet been identified.
“This case is being treated as a suspicious death, and we are working with our partners at the Denver Police Department on this case,” the spokesperson wrote in a news release.
- Denver7 has been following this story closely since the woman’s disappearance in April, and our cameras were there Monday when the community honored Gratton during a celebration of life. You can see that story in the video player below:
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