An 18-year-old Highland Park man was charged with homicide and a hate crime Monday in connection with the brutal death of a transgender woman of color whose body was found behind a laundromat in Detroit.

Malique Javon Fails is accused of fatally assaulting Christina Hayes, 28, of Taylor, on June 21 before robbing her of cash and a cellphone. Police said her body was discovered later that day in an alley on the 17600 block of Woodward.

Hayes suffered severe injuries to her face and neck, police said.

A Detroit police investigation led to Fails’s arrest Friday. He was arraigned Monday in 36th District Court on charges of felony murder, larceny from a person, and a hate crime based on gender identity bias. He was ordered held without bond.

“This case represents a continuing pattern of vic

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