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Authorities in New York have charged five people with murder in the death of Sam Nordquist, a 24-year-old transgender man from Minnesota whose body was found in New York’s Finger Lakes region last week. As the investigation continues, law enforcement officials said that they have found no signs that the killing was a hate crime.
The Ontario County district attorney and the New York State Police said in a joint statement Sunday that the suspects had known Nordquist and that they self-identified as part of the LBGTQ community. At least one of the suspects lived with Nordquist “in the time period leading up to the instant offense,” they said.
“We urge the community not to speculate on the motive behind the murder as we work to find justice for Sam,” the statement said, adding that investigators are still in the early stages. “At this time we have no indication that Sam’s murder was a hate crime.”
Under New York state law, a hate crime is defined in part as an offense “committed or intended to be committed in whole or in substantial part because of a belief or perception regarding the race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, gender identity or expression, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation of a person, regardless of whether the belief or perception is correct.” A hate crime charge is known to be hard to prosecute, given the high burden of proof that a crime was carried out due to bias.
Nordquist’s mother, Linda Nordquist, told KARE 11, a Minneapolis news station, that her son had traveled to New York in late September to meet an online girlfriend. He had plans to return to Minnesota two weeks later, and his mother requested a welfare check when he did not return. His family last heard from him in January, according to the missing persons report.
Nordquist’s remains were found Thursday in a field in Yates County, approximately 50 miles south of Rochester. At a news conference Saturday, New York State Police Capt. Kelly Swift said Nordquist had been subjected to “prolonged physical and psychological abuse at the hands of multiple individuals,” which resulted in his death.
Swift said it was “one of the most horrific crimes I have ever investigated” in her two decades in law enforcement.
The five suspects, who have all been charged with second-degree murder with depraved indifference, are Precious Arzuaga, 38; Jennifer A. Quijano, 30; Kyle Sage, 33; Patrick A. Goodwin, 30; and Emily Motyka, 19. NBC News reported that it wasn’t immediately clear whether any of them had legal representation.
Nordquist’s murder has led to an outpouring of grief and shock among the LGBTQ community. His mother told KARE 11 that he “had a heart of gold and wouldn’t hurt anybody.”
Data has long shown that trans people, especially trans people of color and Black trans women, face disproportionately high rates of fatal violence. According to the Human Rights Campaign, at least 32 transgender and gender-nonconforming people were violently killed in 2024 in the U.S.