Authorities have revealed disturbing new details about the alleged torture that Sam Nordquist, a 24-year-old Black transgender man who was found dead in upstate New York last month, was subjected to before his death.
Seven people have been charged with first-degree murder, battery and a slew of other charges, according to an indictment released by the Ontario County district attorney on Wednesday.
In the indictment, prosecutors allege that the defendants tortured Nordquist for one month before his death. Assistant DA Kelly Wolford said at a news conference that Nordquist was physically and sexually assaulted; denied proper nutrition and hydration; forced to consume feces, urine and tobacco juice; and had his face covered with fabric and bleached poured on him.
They treated him “like a dog,” Wolford said, alleging that the defendants physically restrained him and forced him to obey commands.
One of the suspects, Precious Arzuaga, is also accused of coercing a 7-year-old and a 12-year-old to participate in Nordquist’s alleged torture, prosecutors say.
The six others charged are Jennifer Quijano, 30; Kyle Sage, 33; Patrick Goodwin, 30; Emily Motyka, 19; Thomas G. Eaves, 21; and Kimberly Sochia, 29. The Office of the Ontario County Conflict Defender, which is representing the seven suspects, declined to comment on the indictment to NBC News.
The New York Times reports that two of the attorneys “said they learned of the indictment from news outlets; several said they were reviewing the new charges and expected their clients to be arraigned next week.” The Times spoke to a lawyer for Quijano who said: “It is important to let the legal process play out and to not rush to judgment.”
Nordquist’s family has said he traveled to New York in late September to meet Arzuaga, 38, with whom he had developed a relationship online. He had planned 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.
His remains were found in February in a field in Yates County, about 50 miles south of Rochester.
Nordquist was close to his family, especially to his mother, Linda. She has criticized the law enforcement response to her concerns about her son’s state in the weeks leading up to his death. Nordquist was buried on Monday near his family’s home outside St. Paul. LGBTQ advocates have questioned why prosecutors have not charged those arrested with hate crimes. Authorities previously said that they found no signs that Nordquist’s killing meets the criteria of a hate crime, saying the suspects had known Nordquist and that they self-identify as part of the LGBTQ community. On Wednesday, Wolford stressed that the first-degree murder charge is the “highest count that is available under New York state law.” The case, she said, is “bigger than a hate crime.” “A hate crime would make this charge about Sam’s gender or about Sam’s race, and it’s so much bigger. To limit us to a hate crime would be an injustice to Sam,” she added. “Sam was beaten, assaulted, sexually abused, starved, held captive. And we cannot make sense of that. We cannot put that on his gender, and we cannot put that on his race.”
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
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