Warning: This story contains mention of torture and violence.
The brutal murder of 24-year-old Sam Nordquist, a transgender man killed in the state of New York, who was tortured in a crime in a crime, described “Beyond Decrad” in the USA and Canada as “Beyond Decrad”.
Although the terrible details of the case of civil servants and trans defenders were examined, the police warn of speculation about the motifs of the perpetrators and said that there was no evidence at that time that this was a hate crime – and found that the suspects and Nordquist identify themselves as 2LGBTQ+.
However, since the investigation unfolds against the Rumps of the Trump administration against legal protection for trans people, transfocates indicate that it is crucial that all motivations for the crime are examined at a time in which members of their community are particularly susceptible.
Seven people were charged with murdered second degree according to the spoiled industrial law, including a woman from whom the online friend is, the Nordquist had gone to New York to see her.
From the beginning of December, Nordquist “repeated violence and torture” was suspended, which led to his death, said Kelly Swift, captain of the office for criminal investigations with the New York State Police, in a press conference on February 14.
“In my 20-year career as a law enforcement, this is one of the most terrible crimes I’ve ever examined,” Swift told reporters.
Failure fall becomes a murder case
Nordquist originally traveled from his home state of Minnesota to New York in September 2024 and had recently contacted family members at the end of January 2025.
A few days after he was officially accepted on February 9, the police in Canandaigua, Ny, a motel in which north quist had remained with several other people, and later discovered his remains in a field in the neighboring circle in Yates.
Nordquist was “exposed to extended physical and psychological abuse by several individuals,” said Swift, and his body was moved to disguise the crime.
“The facts and circumstances of this crime are exceeded,” said Jim Ritts, district prosecutor of Ontario, in the press conference. “No one should have to endure what Sam has endured.”
Nordquist’s mother, Linda Nordquist, told NBC News That her son had gone to New York to see his former partner, the 38-year-old Edelmut Arzuaga, who is one of the seven suspects in Northern Quist’s death.
Hate criminal debate
In response to the public’s examination, the New York state police and the public prosecutor’s office in Ontario published a joint explanation on February 16, in which she explains that you are currently “no indication” that the murder was a hate crime.
“In order to relieve the understandable concern that his murder could be a hate crime, we openly state that Sam and his attackers were mutually known, who were identified as LGBTQ+, and at least one of the accused lived in the time when he lived with Sam until death.
It added that the police “shares the shock of the community about such a hideous act of violence and understands the fear that circulates among the members of the LGBTQ+ community”, and will follow all references to the motive behind what has happened.
However, the police declaration still leaves many questions unanswered and repeats the “bad perception” that hate crimes of strangers have to be committed, said Barbara Perry, an expert in hate crime and director of the Center for Hate, bias and extremism at Ontario Tech University.
The alleged perpetrators, which are part of the 2SLGBTQ+ -do not remove the possibility that transthobia was a motivating factor for Nordquist’s murder.
“There is also an anti-Trans atmosphere in this broad bundle of communities.”
According to the law of New York, a hate crime is a crime that is “completely or essentially part”, because it, among other things, faith or perception in relation to breed, gender, religion, gender identity or gender expression.
The need to prove that a “extensive” role can contribute to clarifying it as a hate crime, said Perry.
It is unclear whether it would offer a legal advantage in this case. A name for hate crimes can increase the severity of a lower crime such as harassment or assault and trigger a harder punishment, but in a murder case, the prosecutors would seek after the maximum punishment, said Perry.
Nevertheless, many members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community want more transparency about the decision not to examine the death of Nordquist as hate crimes, Perry said and added that it is a “very important statement for the community that the wave effects are recognized”.
“We see many activities online that complain about the police’s answer,” she said.
“I think that has created a kind of requirements for changes, but the already existing fear has also been created and tightened.”
On Monday, the people gathered in front of the Ontario County courthouse and demanded justice. Pflag NYC and the Pride Agenda had a reminder of the memory in the district of Manhattan in West Village last Friday, with hundreds being packed in a church to put flowers and mourn.
People gathered on Friday evening in the levels of Manitoba legislation to pray candles for three people who have recently died in the United States. The organizers say that people on both sides of the border are damaged by rising transphobic rhetoric and violence.
New York governor Kathy Hochul said in a statement On February 16, she “instructed the state police to provide the district lawyer all support and resources while continuing their investigations, including the question of whether this was a hate crime”.
2SLGBTQ+ supporters have found that regardless of whether the police see Nordquist Murder as hate crimes or not, in this case, the risk of violence with which trans people are confronted.
“About 30 percent of the transmurders last year were committed by someone who is known to the victim-an intimate partner” Press release.
“State sanctioned”
The murder takes place in the middle of a wave of legislative attacks on transit rights in the United States since taking office in January, US President Donald Trump has lifted the executive commands, fighting discrimination against 2SLGBBTQ+ People, explaining that the USA only recognized two genders and signed proper instructions that were recently participated in the division of dividing. The situation was to designate care for the guests care that were for the care of people under 19-year-olds.
The judicial challenges have set a number of Trump’s executive orders, but it is still “a really scary time” for trans people, Dean Spade, professor at Seattle University of Law, told CBC News.
“In a way, the private violence that is now taking place is sanctioned by the state because a narrative comes from the government so directly that our life is worthless and that we are available,” he said.
Although it is important to name violence against trans, convicts of hate crimes do little to prevent physical damage to trans people, and found that the criminal justice system is often one of the main ludios of the above damage. A 2024 analysis From the American Civil Liberties Union, it found that more than one of four trans -people surveyed reported on physical violence by the police.
“If we really wanted to prevent violence against trans people, we would fight for increased living space, increased income support, access to health care and basic needs,” he said.
“The idea of the hate crimes law depends on this image of a stranger, which, when the police grabbed it, get it off the street, and then we will all be safer … In reality it is systemic. It is in our entire society.”
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