There are some losses that fracture a community so deeply that language itself begins to feel insufficient. The loss of my beloved friend Luca is one of those losses.
This is not a post written out of spectacle, vengeance, or impulsivity. It is written out of grief, love, and an unwavering belief that every human being deserves dignity in both life and death. Luca was not a headline, a rumor, or a political talking point. He was a deeply loved person whose existence impacted countless people around him. He deserved safety. He deserved respect. He deserved the opportunity to continue growing into the future he envisioned for himself.
Instead, his life was taken.
As someone who has experienced profound personal loss throughout my own life, I understand that grief can either harden people into silence or propel them toward accountability and truth. I refuse to allow Luca’s memory to disappear quietly into fragmented narratives, institutional ambiguity, or public exhaustion. This space will serve as an ongoing archive of remembrance, documentation, transparency efforts, and community advocacy surrounding Luca’s death.
Centering Luca’s Humanity
Before discussing investigations, records, timelines, or systemic concerns, it is important to center Luca as a person.
Luca was loved deeply by friends, chosen family, and members of the broader queer and trans community. He was more than the circumstances surrounding his death. Those who knew him understood his warmth, humor, humanity, individuality, and presence. The violence of a person’s death should never eclipse the fullness of their life.
Too often, when marginalized individuals die under violent or suspicious circumstances, public conversations begin centering systems, perpetrators, speculation, or controversy before acknowledging the humanity of the person who was lost. I refuse to participate in that erasure.
This blog exists first and foremost to honor Luca’s life and legacy.
One of the memories I return to most often is a trip we took together to Washington back in 2017 — one of many adventures we shared throughout the years. Most of the people around us had paired off romantically during this season in life, including us, but Luca and I naturally drifted into our own little orbit of chaos, laughter, music, and imagination. We spent nights crowded around tables playing poker with Goldfish crackers instead of chips, cooking meals together, dancing through the house, singing loudly and unapologetically, and existing in the kind of carefree joy that only appears when people feel truly safe with one another.
At some point during that trip, we stumbled upon an old treasure chest filled with whimsical vintage clothing and flowing dresses. Naturally, Luca and I decided we were suddenly embodiments of Stevie Nicks herself. For the remainder of the trip, we floated around wrapped in scarves and layered fabrics, dancing dramatically, fully committed to the bit without a shred of embarrassment. That was Luca. Fearlessly expressive. Playful. Magnetic. Entirely himself.
When I remember him, that is who I see.
I see my beloved friend dancing freely without hesitation or shame. I see someone unwavering in his love and support for the people around him. I see a person who made others feel safe enough to become more fully themselves.
Time passed after that trip, as it inevitably does. Life became heavier. We both experienced loss, change, grief, and adulthood in ways neither of us could have predicted back then. But the love and care between us never frayed with distance or time.
One memory now feels especially sacred to me.
On October 15, 2025, at around 10 p.m. — long after that Washington trip and during one of the loneliest periods of my life following the death of my mother in July 2025 — Luca messaged me unexpectedly. At the time, I had no idea there were already plausible documented events unfolding surrounding the individuals now connected to his death. I only knew that my friend had reached out to tell me I deserved more love.
That message stays with me.
Especially now.
It felt almost as if some future version of Luca knew I was drowning in grief and wanted to remind me, one more time, that I mattered to him. That I was seen. That I was not alone.
There is an unbearable pain in revisiting those words now, but there is also clarity.
To fully honor Luca means honoring the values he lived by: integrity, compassion, courage, loyalty, passion, protectiveness, and love for others. Luca showed up for people. He protected people. He cared deeply about the safety and dignity of others, often even while navigating his own struggles.
And because of that, I feel a responsibility to continue speaking carefully, truthfully, and persistently.
Not out of vengeance.
But out of love.
Because people like Luca deserve to be remembered fully — not reduced to case files, rumors, headlines, or statistics. He was a living, breathing, radiant human being whose existence mattered profoundly to the people fortunate enough to know him.
And I refuse to let that be erased.
To Honor Luca is to Speak Out
In the aftermath of Luca’s death, many community members were left with overwhelming grief alongside serious unanswered questions regarding the circumstances surrounding his loss of life, investigative transparency, public reporting inconsistencies, and the broader social context in which the incident occurred.
As a queer person myself and as someone who cared deeply for Luca, I cannot ignore the reality that trans and gender-diverse individuals continue to face disproportionate rates of violence, harassment, discrimination, and dehumanization across the United States.
According to the Human Rights Campaign (2024), transgender and gender-expansive individuals — particularly transgender women and trans people of color — experience alarmingly high rates of fatal violence and systemic marginalization. The organization has repeatedly documented patterns of violence, underreporting, and failures in media or institutional treatment of trans victims.
“Fatal violence disproportionately impacts transgender and gender-expansive people” (Human Rights Campaign, 2024).
Human Rights Campaign. (2024). Fatal violence against the transgender and gender-expansive community in 2024. https://www.hrc.org/resources/fatal-violence-against-the-transgender-and-gender-expansive-community-in-2024
At this stage, I want to be intentional and responsible with my language.
I am not claiming facts that have not been legally established.
However, based on the information currently available to me, the documented circumstances surrounding Luca’s death, public reporting, community testimony, and the broader climate of anti-trans hostility that continues to escalate nationally, I have growing concerns that Luca’s death may have involved elements of targeted aggression and transphobia.
Those concerns deserve transparency, scrutiny, and accountability — not dismissal.
Honoring Luca’s Legacy: Commitment to Documentation and Accuracy
Since Luca’s death, I have begun formally gathering and organizing publicly available materials related to the case. This includes:
- Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA) requests
- Public statements and media reporting
- Court records and affidavits
- Community testimony
- Timeline documentation
- Archival preservation of publicly available information
- Investigative inconsistencies requiring clarification
This work is ongoing.
I believe deeply in remaining evidence-based, ethically grounded, and respectful to both Luca’s loved ones and the integrity of any legitimate investigative processes.
At the same time, transparency is not optional in a functioning democracy.
Under New Mexico’s Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA), citizens have the right to inspect many categories of government records in order to promote accountability and informed public participation (New Mexico Department of Justice, n.d.).
New Mexico Department of Justice. (n.d.). Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA). https://nmdoj.gov/get-help/inspection-of-public-records-act/
The purpose of seeking records is not harassment. It is civic accountability.
Families, loved ones, and communities impacted by violence deserve truthful information, procedural integrity, and transparency regarding investigative handling.
Luca and The Broader Context of Anti-Trans Violence
It would be dishonest to discuss Luca’s death without acknowledging the broader social climate currently impacting transgender people across the United States.
Over recent years, anti-trans rhetoric has become increasingly normalized within political discourse, online spaces, and public life. Researchers and advocacy organizations have repeatedly warned that dehumanizing rhetoric contributes to increased hostility and violence toward trans individuals.
The American Psychological Association (2024) has stated that stigma, discrimination, and systemic hostility toward transgender people contribute to significant psychological and social harm.
American Psychological Association. (2024). Answers to your questions about transgender people, gender identity, and gender expression. https://www.apa.org/topics/lgbtq/transgender-people-gender-identity-gender-expression
This context matters.
Recognizing broader systems of hostility is not the same as making unsupported accusations. It is acknowledging that violence does not occur in a vacuum.
Luca Redbeard: Grief, Community, and Collective Care
One of the few things that has sustained me throughout this process has been witnessing the immense outpouring of love from the community.
Friends, neighbors, queer community members, activists, artists, organizers, and complete strangers have continued showing up to honor Luca’s life and demand dignity for his memory.
That support matters.
Grief can isolate people, but community reminds us we do not have to carry these losses alone.
I have also come to believe something deeply throughout this process:
Grief does not absolve people of accountability, nor does it erase harm. What matters is how we choose to carry those we have lost forward through our actions, our character, and our willingness to fight for truth with integrity.
I want this work to remain rooted in compassion, accuracy, and humanity.
Moving Forward
This blog will continue serving as a living archive dedicated to:
- Honoring Luca’s life and legacy
- Documenting verified developments
- Tracking transparency efforts
- Preserving records and timelines
- Supporting community advocacy
- Encouraging ethical public accountability
- Creating space for remembrance and truth
I understand that public advocacy can be emotionally difficult and legally sensitive. Because of that, I intend to approach future updates carefully, responsibly, and with continued respect for factual accuracy.
I ask readers to do the same.
Please avoid harassment, threats, speculation presented as fact, or misinformation. Accountability must remain grounded in truth.
Above all else, I hope people remember Luca not solely through the violence of his death, but through the humanity of his life.
He mattered.
He was loved.
And he deserves to be remembered with dignity.
Please sign on to this petition to have investigators look into the possibility of a hate crime here: https://www.change.org/p/investigate-lucas-knapp-s-murder-as-a-hate-crime-in-new-mexico/feed
References
American Psychological Association. (2024). Answers to your questions about transgender people, gender identity, and gender expression. https://www.apa.org/topics/lgbtq/transgender-people-gender-identity-gender-expression
Human Rights Campaign. (2024). Fatal violence against the transgender and gender-expansive community in 2024. https://www.hrc.org/resources/fatal-violence-against-the-transgender-and-gender-expansive-community-in-2024
New Mexico Department of Justice. (n.d.). Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA). https://nmdoj.gov/get-help/inspection-of-public-records-act/
