Man arrested after transgender woman found beaten to death outside Miami City Ballet building

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – A man has been arrested after a homeless transgender woman was beaten to death Tuesday morning while sleeping outside of the Miami City Ballet building in Miami Beach, authorities confirmed.

According to the suspect’s arrest report, an employee of the ballet company spotted what he believed to be someone sleeping outside of the building at 2200 Liberty Ave. and tried to wake her up.

But Miami Beach police said the victim didn’t respond, and the man then noticed blood around her body, at which time he called 911.

According to the report, officers and Miami Beach Fire Rescue personnel responded to the scene and rolled the victim to a supine position, at which time they saw trauma and blood to her face and head, which was partially covered with a sweater.

She was pronounced dead at the scene at 6:56 a.m.

According to the report, detectives obtained surveillance video from the area, which showed the victim laying down outside of the building around midnight.

Police said later on in the morning, a man, eventually identified as Gregory Fitzgerald Gibert, 53, was seen in the video looking around the area, including at the victim, before picking up a metal pipe from the ground and sitting on a nearby bench.

Police said he then walked over to where the victim was sleeping and began striking her with the pipe on her head and face.

According to the report, the video shows Gibert standing over her and then “manipulating her body” before discarding the pipe in a nearby trashcan.

As authorities were inspecting the victim’s body, they saw that two wooden sticks had been lodged into her nostrils, one of which exited over her right eye.

“A puncture wound was also located on the victim’s chest,” the arrest report stated.

Police said the murder weapon was recovered from the trashcan and a Be On The Lookout (BOLO) was issued for Gibert.

He was located early Wednesday morning in the 1500 block of Northwest First Street and was wearing the same unique basketball shoes that were seen in the surveillance video, police said.

According to his arrest report, Gibert invoked his right to not speak with detectives.

Police said the victim legally changed her name and sex in October 2023. It’s unclear at this time, however, whether this was a hate crime or if there was another motive for the killing.

As of Wednesday morning, Gibert was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a second-degree murder charge. His bond has not yet been set.

Jail records show Gibert was on probation at the time of his arrest for attempted armed robbery, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The victim’s identity has not yet been released.