Student’s Research Project Among Prostitutes Deadly Drifter Who She Had Met Through Escort Service Charged In Killing

A student who descended into the underworld of prostitution for a research project was found slain, and a drifter she had met through an escort service was charged Thursday with her murder.

The Oakland Press of Pontiac quoted unidentified detectives as saying that the victim, Tina Biggar, the 23-year-old daughter of a Coast Guard commander, had been working as a prostitute.

At his arraignment, Kenneth Tranchida, 42, declared, “I’m guilty.” But no plea was entered, and Judge Stephen Cooper urged him to speak to a lawyer. Tranchida, who was arrested Monday, was jailed without bail.

Police said they had found Biggar’s car in Tranchida’s possession, and tests found her blood in the trunk.

Biggar, an undergraduate psychology student at Oakland University, was working on a research project on prostitutes and AIDS, funded by the government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, when she disappeared Aug. 23.

Her body was found Sept. 21 in the Detroit suburb of Southfield, behind a house where one of Tranchida’s relatives once lived, police said. An autopsy showed she died of blows to the head and neck.

Police said Biggar had interviewed prostitutes in prison and on the streets for the project and had gone to work for an escort service, where she met Tranchida, who was a customer.

William Dwyer, the police chief in Farmington Hills, where Biggar lived, wouldn’t say what Biggar did at the service or elaborate on the nature of her relationship with Tranchida.

Tranchida, who has served time for breaking and entering and as a habitual criminal, could get life in prison without parole if convicted.

Asked about a motive, Assistant Prosecutor Gary Tunis said: “The one reason he gave was that she was complaining about her financial woes. She needed money, so he wanted to put her out of her misery.”

Biggar was last seen on the university’s Rochester campus. Authorities believe she was killed the day she disappeared.

Biggar had transferred to Oakland University from South Dakota State University to be closer to her parents. Her father is commander of the Coast Guard’s Traverse City station.

At a funeral service Wednesday, the Rev. Edwin A. Thome noted that Jesus had spent time with prostitutes and sinners.

“And he, too, suffered the consequences,” the minister said. “The self-righteous did not understand. Eventually, they put him to death. Tina had that spirit of adventure, which took her into uncharted waters. And she died for something she believed in.”

Biggar will be buried Saturday after another service in Elkton, S.D., her parents’ hometown.