MINNEAPOLIS — News of Liara Tsai's sudden, violent death sparked waves of shock and grief among those who knew the music producer and club DJ.
Tsai, a 35-year-old transgender woman, had already gained a following in the Twin Cities before moving here from Iowa City six weeks ago. She saw it as a chance to take her musical career to a higher level and live in a city with a larger trans community.
"I was so excited and so happy to see her move up to the Twin Cities. It was something she had been wanting to do for years, and her music was her life, her music was her soul," Olivia Anderson, a longtime friend of Tsai's in Iowa.
"If you met Liara, it's an experience you will remember and hold with you for the rest of your life," Anderson said. "She had a huge impact on my life and who I am."
Anderson shared an array of photographs of the smiling, red-haired woman, who was also a combat veteran, spoken word artist, and crisis counselor.
A 32-year-old Iowa woman and former acquaintance of Tsai's has been charged with murdering her in her apartment in the Elliot Park area of South Minneapolis.
The homicide first came to light when the suspect, Margot Lewis, crashed Tsai's car into a guardrail on I-90 Saturday morning. That led to the discovery of Tsai's body in the back seat.
The victim's friends Wednesday wanted to keep the focus on the woman they knew before her life abruptly ended.
"We had a beautiful relationship, and she's someone I loved very deeply," Mega Solga told KARE.
"She was the most fearless person I've ever met. She was the truest person I ever met. She knew exactly who she was, especially as a trans woman. She had no fear showing the world who she was."
April Lee knew Tsai for years in Iowa, and happened to be in Minneapolis with friends Wednesday, sharing memories of their lost loved one.
"She had an incredibly powerful energy that can't be communicated, that everyone who came into contact with her could feel," Lee said.
"She was a very spiritual person with a lot of spiritual energy. No one's ever seen anyone quite like her before. It may sound cliched, but it's true."
Dana Kazuko is also a Minneapolis DJ who was inspired by and helped by Liara Tsai.
"Liara was just this incredible artist who would come to my shows and listen to my mixes and give me feedback," Kazuko said.
"There was no jealousy. No 'This is yours and this is mine' kind of thing. She was always very uplifting."
She'd been scheduled to join Liara for a show Sunday night, but that never happened.
"Liara was also just profoundly curious about everybody else. She was herself. She had her beliefs, but she wanted to know what yours were. And then she'd engage and talk about it," Kazuko said.
"Just the way she presented herself was just without a mask, without trying to be who you wanted her to be. She was always going to be herself."
Liara had just been booked for a big show in Brooklyn, New York, which would've been her biggest gig ever.
"She was so excited about it. She was so excited about it," Anderson said. "She'd been working so hard at her music for so long, and she was finally starting to get the traction she'd been searching for and the community she'd be search for, for so long."
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