Transgender woman accused of murder says it was male self who did it

SPOKANE, Wash., March 19 (UPI) -- A transgender woman charged with killing three prostitutes before she changed genders is being held in Washington State on $1 million bail.

Donna Perry, 62, made a brief court appearance Tuesday, the (Spokane) Spokesman-Review reported. She refused to appear Monday.

Perry's lawyers said they had trouble meeting with her because officials had listed her name as "Douglas Perry."

Perry has acknowledged that Doug Perry killed Yolanda Sapp, Nickie Lowe and Kathleen Brisbois, ABC News reported Wednesday on "Good Morning America." Their naked bodies were found on the banks of the Spokane River in 1990.

But a police affidavit filed with the court suggests she does not hold herself responsible, ABC reported. She reportedly told police in 2012 "there's a great downturn in violence" in the male-to-female change and she underwent the transition "as a permanent way to control violence."

Perry said she had gender reassignment surgery in 2000 in Thailand.

Dr. Jack Drescher, a New York psychiatrist, told ABC many people describe themselves as being "a different person" after gender reassignment.

"It's a certain way that they use the metaphor when transitioning for those who were very unhappy before and now are happy," he said. "But it's different when a person makes a claim that somehow they have no linkage to the person they used to be –- that would be more of a disturbed presentation."