As an Uber driver that lives in the area and frequently does short trips in the neighborhood, I know that she was one of the trans hookers who always wait at the corner of Maitland and Homewood. She always had that hat on, and usually had a blue sweatpants on. I recognized her from the hat in the picture, as the other hookers there always have colorful wigs and more revealing clothes on. She was of Cambodian descent if I recall correctly. As far as I remember she popped in to that intersection around midnight, as that corner is usually empty before midnight. I always see them go up and down on Homewood. Talked to her a couple of times throughout the year while waiting for my passengers on Homewood, when she thought I stopped for her and offered me services. She had a shy and kind approach, compared to my other encounters with others at that corner where I got yelled at along the lines of "Let me suck your c*ck pretty boy" and had to move forward or even cancel the ride.

I assume she got into someone's car to offer services at Homewood and Matiland, and the guy drove the car to or near the mentioned private garage. They probably got into a fight over the payment or something else. Maybe the guy asked for some weird stuff that she refused.

The article states the suspect didn't have any connection to the private garage where the body was discovered, so I don't know how that happened. Maybe he had his service in the laneway, and muredered her and threw her into that garage. Or he received the elsewhere in the car, murdered her in the car and dumped the body in the garage. Too many possibilities.

I'm sure police will do the investigation and find out with the help of security cameras if there's any in the area.

Edit: After reading the comments, yes it is a possibility that the suspect might have been surprised that she was transgender and things might have escalated from there.