This is the place:

NEW MEXICO, 2001 - 18 YEAR OLD KILLS TRANSGENDERED 16 YEAR OLD WITH ROCK TO THE HEAD

Friday, February 08, 2002 - 9 a.m. - CORTEZ - A New Mexico teen-ager has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the beating death of a 16-year-old Cortez boy.

Shaun Murphy of Farmington, N.M., entered the plea Thursday in Montezuma County District Court. Charges of first-degree murder and attempted escape were dropped.

Murphy, 18, is accused of brutally beating Fred Martinez Jr., whose body was found June 21 south of Cortez.

Murphy will be sentenced May 16. He faces between four and 48 years in prison.

Gay-rights advocates have raised the question of whether Martinez was killed because of his sexual orientation. He sometimes dressed as a girl and was considered transgendered.

Authorities have declined to call his death a hate crime.

Martinez's mother said at the hearing that she believes Murphy deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison.

"My home is so quiet without Fred," she said. "I have nobody to laugh with. I just miss him so much." During a preliminary hearing in September, Murphy's lawyer, Pamela Brown, said Murphy was fighting in self defense the night of June 16 when he struck Martinez in the head with a rock.

 - Associated Press