“She made friends easily, she was very charismatic,” said Elysse Paige-Moore of her stepdaughter, Kayla Moore. “It was typical for her to call here five or six times a day, and talk with us. We cared for her dearly. We have no retirement money because we just did what we could for our child. And she loved us.”
Paige-Moore was understandably devastated when she heard that Moore, who was transgender and paranoid schizophrenic, died in Berkeley Police custody in her home on the night of February 12. How she died is still a mystery. “We understand the community’s concern over this incident, and the desire to have as much information about this incident as possible,” but “a thorough investigation takes time,” said Berkeley Police’s Public Information Officer, Jennifer Coats, via email in late February.
