Black Trans Man Sam Nordquist Murdered in New York
Members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community across the country mourn Sam Nordquist, a Black trans man from Minnesota who went missing and was later found dead in New York. He was 24 years old and appeared to be a victim of several months of physical abuse. Law enforcement still hasn’t labeled it as a hate crime, but seven suspects have been charged in connection with the murder. Linda Nordquist, Sam’s mother, said of her son, “The last thing Sam said is, ‘I love you, and I’ll call you tomorrow.’ Tomorrow came, and I never heard a word.”
Nordquist’s body was found in Yates County, NY on February 13, less than a week after his family opened a missing persons report with the New York State Police on February 9. He had traveled to New York on September 28 of last year to visit his online girlfriend,38-year-old Precious Arzuaga, who is one of the seven people charged in connection to Nordquist’s murder. He was set to return two weeks later, but prolonged his stay, residing at Patty’s Lodge in Hopewell, NY. Ontario County District Attorney James Ritts said in a Valentine’s Day press conference that “(N)o human being should have to endure what Sam endured,” referring to the roughly three months of abuse evident from Nordquist’s body.
The suspects in custody so far include a group of seven people—Precious Arzuaga, 38; Jennifer A. Quijano, 30; Kyle Sage, 33; Patrick A. Goodwin, 30; Emily Motyka, 19; Kimberly L. Sochia, 29; and Thomas G. Eaves, 21. They’ve all been charged with second-degree murder with depraved indifference, which essentially means that the death was likely not entirely purposeful, but was also not completely an accident, and there was still malicious intent present behind the murder. Depraved indifference murder, also known as depraved heart murder, refers to actions that abandon all respect and care for human life and lead to the death of an individual.
Many are understandably upset about the hesitancy to label the murder as a hate crime. A statement released by New York State police and Ritts on February 16 states: “To help alleviate the understandable concern his murder could be a hate crime, we are disclosing that Sam and his assailants were known to each other, identified as LGBTQ+, and at least one of the defendants lived with Sam.” However, in a statement released later that day by the New York City Anti-Violence Project (AVP), the public was reminded that despite the legal classification of a hate crime, anti-trans violence is often intersectional with racial violence, hate violence, and intimate partner violence, all three of which were reasonably present in this case. Roughly 30% of trans homicides committed in the last year were by someone the victim knew personally, such as in the case of Brianna Ghey last January.”
Photo courtesy of social media
