A Houston man was sentenced Wednesday to 36 years in prison in exchange for pleading guilty to murder for brutally stabbing his girlfriend in 2019, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced. 

"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."

Joshua Dominic Lege Bourgeois, a 29-year-old man who was homeless at the time of the murder, 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 on July 30, 2019.

Witnesses said the two had been arguing earlier in the day because Williams apparently wanted to break up with Bourgeois. Surveillance video of the incident shows the couple walking along the road, and then Bourgeois can be seen repeatedly stabbing Williams.

He then left her to die in the parking lot of an automotive shop and walked up to a McDonald’s drive-thru window and bought a drink. He asked several drivers in the drive-thru lane for a ride, which they denied. He then left the area.

Officers with the Houston Police Department responded to calls about Williams’ body and investigated the crime. They later arrested Bourgeois 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.”

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