Houston Man Sentenced to 36 Years in Prison for Murdering Girlfriend in 2019

A Houston man, Joshua Dominic Lege Bourgeois, aged 29, has been sentenced to 36 years in prison after pleading guilty to the murder of his girlfriend, Tracy Williams, in 2019. Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg made the announcement on Wednesday, highlighting the seriousness of intimate partner violence.

“Intimate partner violence affects every community, and far too often we see it escalate into murder,” Ogg said. “The most dangerous time for anyone in an abusive relationship is when they are trying to leave the situation, and that’s why we take every allegation of domestic violence so seriously.”

The incident occurred on July 30, 2019, when Bourgeois, who was homeless at the time, fatally stabbed Tracy Williams, a transgender woman, as the couple walked along the frontage road in the 11000 block of the Katy Freeway in the Memorial area. Witnesses reported that the two had been engaged in an argument earlier that day, with Williams expressing her intention to end the relationship.

Surveillance footage captured the gruesome attack as Bourgeois repeatedly stabbed Williams along the road. After leaving her to die in the parking lot of an automotive shop, Bourgeois shockingly proceeded to a McDonald’s drive-thru window to purchase a drink. He even approached several drivers in the drive-thru lane, seeking a ride, but was denied assistance. Subsequently, he left the area.

Upon receiving calls about Williams’ lifeless body, officers from the Houston Police Department initiated an investigation that led to Bourgeois’s arrest for murder.

Assistant District Attorney Stephany Abner, who is a chief in the DA’s Domestic Violence Division, prosecuted the case.

“They were in an on-and-off dating relationship, and it was a situation in which she was ready to leave an abusive relationship and was tragically murdered,” Abner said. “He was part of the homeless community and she was part of the transgender community, and this shows that no one is exempt from the dangers of intimate partner violence.”