Seven Charged With Murder of Transgender Man
Police have arrested and charged seven individuals on murder charges for the torture and murder of 24-year-old transgender man Sam Nordquist.
Two more individuals have been arrested in connection with the brutal murder of Sam Nordquist, a 24-year-old transgender man, in western New York.
New York State Police announced the arrests of 29-year-old Kimberly Sochia, of Canandaigua, N.Y., and 21-year-old Thomas Eaves, of Geneva, N.Y. on February 21.
Police previously arrested five others in connection with Nordquist’s death: 38-year-old Precious Arzuaga of Canandaigua; 33-year-old Kyle Sage, of Rochester; 30-year-old Patrick Goodwin, of Canandaigua; 30-year-old Jennifer Quijano, of Geneva; and 19-year-old Emily Motyka, of Lima, N.Y.
The seven suspects have been charged with second-degree murder with depraved indifference.
If convicted, they could face sentences ranging from 15 years to life in prison.
Ontario County District Attorney Jim Ritts told Rochester-based ABC affiliate WHAM that Nordquist’s murder is the most horrific case his department has ever prosecuted.
According to police, there is evidence that Nordquist was subjected to physical torture for months before being murdered.
Ritts also told the news station that three of the suspects have previous criminal convictions.
Sage, who was on parole, was convicted of larceny and disseminating indecent material to a minor. Goodwin, who was also on parole, was convicted of a first-degree criminal sex act and sexual abuse involving a victim under the age of 11. Arzuaga has four misdemeanor convictions, including petty larcenies, criminal trespass, and the sale of an imitation controlled substance.
Nordquist, who hailed from Oakdale, Minnesota, was staying at Patty’s Lodge, a motel in Hopewell, N.Y., after traveling to western New York in September. Nordquist’s sister, Kayla, and mother, Linda, told the Rochester-based newspaper the Democrat & Chronicle that he had flown to New York to meet up with Arzuaga, whom he’d met online and chatted with on the phone daily.
Nordquist’s family said that he was supposed to fly back to Minnesota in October but never boarded his plane. Linda Nordquist requested that local police conduct a wellness check on her son after he failed to answer texts or phone calls.
Soon after, she received a call from her son and Arzuaga assuring her that Sam was okay and wanted to stay to work on the couple’s relationship.
Calls with Sam became increasingly more infrequent, leading Linda to believe that her son was being coached on what to say during the few occasions she did hear from him.
On December 4, she received an email from the Ontario County Department of Social Services stating that Sam had visited their offices, reporting that Arzuaga was controlling his cell phone use, that he wanted to return home to Minnesota, and that he was trying to come up with an “escape plan.”
He was scheduled to return to the department’s offices on December 19 but never showed up.
Linda Nordquist said that when she next spoke to her son over the phone, he told her he was “fine,” but she feared Arzuaga was listening to the call.
She next heard from Sam via a text message on January 31. But after almost two weeks of not hearing from him, she and her daughter requested that local police conduct another wellness check on February 9.
Police told Nordquist’s family that Arzuaga’s son answered the motel room’s door and claimed not to know who Nordquist was. The police went back to the hotel room and spoke to Arzuaga, who claimed that she and Nordquist had broken up and that he had left the area.
Nordquist’s family subsequently asked New York State Police to file a missing persons report — a request which they claim was initially denied, according to NBC News. At some point, state police launched an investigation into Nordquist’s whereabouts.
Police found Nordquist’s body in a field in Yates County on February 14.
Ritts, the district attorney for Ontario County, called Nordquist’s treatment and murder “beyond depraved,” but claimed that there’s no indication that it was a hate crime, as Nordquist allegedly knew his assailants, who were also part of the LGBTQ community.
Police have not publicly identified a motive behind the murder.
“The question about hate crimes is whether the hate was derived from Sam being a transgender person or if these are just evil people who hate and would have done this regardless of Sam’s situation,” Ritts told WHAM.
GLAAD pushed back against Ritts’ assertions.
“While we are encouraged to see law enforcement act swiftly to investigate this horrific act, we caution investigators from ruling out hate crime charges,” the LGBTQ organization said in a statement. “Anti-LGBTQ hate can be perpetuated by anyone, regardless of their relationship to the victim or their own gender identity or sexual orientation. Multiple studies have shown, for example, that transgender and gender non-conforming people are at increased risk of experiencing intimate partner violence.”
Support Metro Weekly’s Journalism
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
You must be logged in to post a comment.