Two Wisconsin men have been arrested after authorities say a transgender woman was attacked, strangled, and sexually assaulted near the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus early Saturday morning.
UW-Madison Police Department officers responded to the Goodspeed Family Pier near Alumni Park at approximately 4:10 a.m. on August 29 after a bystander called police to report a disturbance. When officers arrived, investigators determined that a sexual assault had occurred and arrested two men at the scene.
Police identified the suspects as Yorfred H. Marcano Gutierrez, 31, and Arturo R. Santos Albujas, 27, both of Fitchburg.
The men were booked into the Dane County Jail on tentative charges of second-degree sexual assault with force, strangulation and suffocation, battery, and false imprisonment. Formal charges had not yet been announced as of the initial reports, and both men are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
According to police, the suspects and survivor are not affiliated with UW-Madison. Investigators initially said the three met at a bar earlier that night before walking to the pier. Police allege the woman was attacked and sexually assaulted when she attempted to leave.
A friend of the survivor, however, reportedly offered a somewhat different account, saying she encountered the men near the location of the attack and recalled them harassing other women beforehand. The friend also credited witnesses nearby with potentially preventing the assault from becoming even more serious.
The Wisconsin State Journal identified the survivor as a transgender woman. Police have not publicly said whether investigators believe her gender identity played a role in the alleged attack.
That distinction could matter under Wisconsin law.
Wisconsin’s hate crime penalty enhancement covers victims intentionally selected because of characteristics including race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, and ancestry. Gender identity and gender expression, however, are not explicitly included.
That means even if investigators ultimately concluded the survivor was targeted specifically because she is transgender, prosecutors would not have the same straightforward statutory option for pursuing a hate-crime enhancement based on gender identity.
It is a glaring omission in a state that became the first in the nation to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in 1982 but has yet to extend equivalent explicit statewide protections to transgender Wisconsinites.
The case also highlights something far simpler: somebody saw something happening and called for help.
Police say the initial call came from a concerned bystander. Officers arrived while the suspects were still at the location and made arrests.
For a community accustomed to stories in which violence against transgender people is discovered only after it is too late, that intervention matters.
The investigation remains ongoing.
