Dominique Lucious, a 26-year-old Black transgender woman, was found deceased in her apartment on the 900 block of North Main Avenue in Springfield, Missouri, on the morning of April 8, 2021. Officers from the Springfield Police Department responded to reports of gunfire around 7:00 a.m., where they discovered Lucious inside her home suffering from a fatal gunshot wound to the chest.
Authorities pronounced her dead at the scene, launching a homicide investigation that quickly focused on digital evidence and witness accounts to piece together her final moments.
Investigators learned that Lucious had been communicating with a man she met on the dating website 'Plenty of Fish.' Text messages recovered from her phone revealed that she had arranged to meet an individual named Charles Nelson at her apartment that morning. A witness who had been present in the apartment stated that Lucious woke them up to say she was expecting a visitor and needed to get ready. The witness later fell back asleep but was abruptly awakened by the sound of gunshots. Upon entering the living room, the witness saw a man standing over Lucious before the intruder fled the scene, warning the witness not to look at him.
Detectives utilized the witness's description of the suspect and his vehicle, a black Ford Focus, alongside the digital trail left by the online correspondence to track down Charles Nelson. When police located Nelson later that day, they found physical evidence linking him to the crime, including blood on his shoes and a firearm inside his residence that matched the shell casing found at the murder scene. Although Nelson initially spoke with investigators, he stopped cooperating after being confronted with the evidence.
Charles Nelson, 28 at the time of the incident, was arrested and booked into the Greene County Jail on charges of second-degree murder and armed criminal action. The case moved through the legal system over the following years, culminating in a conviction. In July 2025, Nelson was sentenced to serve a total of 30 years in prison for his role in the death of Dominique Lucious.
