Killing of Nina Pop

Nina Pop was a Black transgender woman who lived in Sikeston, Missouri, a town of about 16,000 people located roughly 145 miles south of St. Louis. On May 3, 2020, she was found dead inside her own apartment on South New Madrid Street after being stabbed multiple times with a knife. She was 28 years old at the time of her death.

The Human Rights Campaign stated that Pop's death was at least the 10th violent death of an American transgender or gender non-conforming person recorded in 2020, a statistic that drew national attention to violence against transgender people, particularly Black transgender women.

On May 15, 2020, in Dexter, Missouri, Joseph B. Cannon of Poplar Bluff, Missouri, was arrested and accused of Pop's killing. He was charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action, pleaded not guilty, and requested a public defender. The investigation into Pop's death involved eleven crime labs, anti-violence organizations, and police departments, and authorities examined the case as a potential hate crime.

During the course of the investigation and reporting, the Sikeston Department of Public Safety and a local television network were noted to have initially misgendered Pop.

In October 2025, Cannon was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in connection with Pop's death and was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Pop's death spurred community responses centered on the safety and wellbeing of Black transgender people. The Okra Project, a grassroots organization that had initially focused on addressing food insecurity within the Black transgender community, committed $15,000 to establish the Nina Pop Mental Health Recovery Fund alongside the Tony McDade Mental Health Recovery Fund, aiming to provide free one-time mental health therapy sessions for Black transgender individuals.

On June 2, 2020, thousands of people gathered for a vigil and protest at the Stonewall Inn in New York City to honor the lives of Nina Pop and Tony McDade, another Black transgender person killed in 2020, and to protest police violence and transphobic violence against the Black transgender community.