r/news • u/GenericKittyKat • 1d ago
2 women sentenced to life without parole for murder of transgender man Sam Nordquist
https://abcnews.com/US/2-women-sentenced-life-parole-murder-transgender-man/story?id=1362779755.0k
u/summer_nights16 1d ago edited 1d ago
âWe all want to know why someone so good was taken so tragically," Karle said before handing down her sentence to Arzuaga. "Was it because Sam was everything you were not, and will never be? Did you look at him and hate him because of that kindness, compassion, empathy, hope?â
Judge saw right past through them
Edit: thank you for the awards â¤ď¸
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u/wufnu 1d ago
I've read many articles and comments professing more information but I've yet to understand why Sam's girlfriend Arzuaga decided to torture and kill her boyfriend. Was there anything there or was it entirely a plot to entice an easy mark that they could cruelly torture and kill?
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u/WeAlmostAlwaysAlmost 1d ago
I found an article that says Arzuaga had been controlling and violent to her ex, and also that Sam had contacted a social worker in December about wanting an escape plan because Arzuaga was controlling and isolating him.
I have nothing to back it up, but Iâm guessing she was furious he was trying to get away.
While torturing someone to death for that reason is incomprehensible, what I really canât understand is how a half dozen other people went along with it. What the actual fuck is that?
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u/lllyyyynnn 1d ago
as a trans person, a lot of people do not see us as full humans.
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u/Pancakefriday 23h ago
Itâs unfortunate, but Iâve found the same. Some view us as less than human.
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u/Sir-xer21 1d ago
A lot of what i saw was that one of the women was jealous of Sam because she was in love with Arzuaga, who also allegedly abused said woman. I also saw in an article that someone accused Sam of cheating, but i cant find anything about it now.
I could totally see how a false allegation of cheating, and jealousy from a rejected lover, could snowball into this. It's unthinkable to normal, well adjusted people...but these motives drive so much violence throughout human history.
That said, because they plead guilty, so much of the evidence and facts of the crime have never been revealed. And honestly, I'm ok with never knowing their motives. They don't deserve the mental energy.
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u/RocNewYolk 16h ago
That last paragraph... yeah.
This happened local to me so I have been following since the beginning. I will never forget the sort of shell-shocked look on the faces of the leaders who were giving the first press conference. Especially with all of them saying it's the worst case they have ever seen.
I am still shocked they got everyone to plead guilty.
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u/bicyclefortwo 1d ago
I don't have an answer, but I do know that statistically trans men are the demographic with the highest rate of domestic abuse victimisation among any gender category. So it's part of a wider epidemic
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u/Pantalaimon_II 1d ago
pure speculation, but I have a friend who is a trans woman who got pretty badly abused by her girlfriend not long after coming out (they broke up but had to live together a short while after.) My friend is very kindhearted, wouldnât hurt a fly.Â
Trans people unfortunately statistically face very high rates of intimate partner violence.Â
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u/Zrkkr 1d ago edited 1d ago
"murder"
"Arzuaga, 40, pled guilty to first-degree murder, kidnapping, aggravated sexual abuse, concealment of a human corpse, conspiracy, coercion and endangering the welfare of a child."
"Ontario County assistant district attorney Sara Van Strydonck called Quijano "the muscle" in the torture and killing of the 24-year-old Nordquist during the sentencing hearing. Van Strydonck said that Quijano was present for and participated in much of the beatings, sexual assaults, and mental torture of Nordquist. She also said Quijano assisted with the disposal of his corpse."
bro wtf
edit: it gets worse
"Prosecutors said Arzuaga and Quijano coerced Arzuaga's two children, then aged 7 and 12, into participating in the horrific beating."
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u/alexlp 1d ago
And they knew him, those little kids had a relationship with him too. These people lured him to his death and made children he knew and cared about beat him to death. I just canât fathom it.
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u/f-as-in-philip 1d ago
Holy fucking shit. I legitimately hate the world. Itâs so bleak. This man did not deserve this and those kids are going to be screwed up for life.
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u/PabloBablo 1d ago
Take solace in the fact that most people are not anything like this. Like the vast majority of people.
These two are just absolute monsters and pure evil.Â
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u/f-as-in-philip 1d ago
God though itâs so hard to see it that way when SO MANY people are so loudly anti-trans and champing at the bit to be violent towards them. I legitimately think there are more people willing to do this kind of monstrous shit that we realize.
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u/Tamination 1d ago
We are hairless apes with overactive brains and a propensity towards violence.
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u/TheShadowKick 1d ago
Even most transphobes wouldn't do this. This is monstrous far beyond the simple violence most transphobes want to inflict.
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u/OMGEntitlement 1d ago
the simple violence most transphobes want to inflict.
You really think they'd stick with "simple violence?"
Really???
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u/TheShadowKick 23h ago
Most violent transphobes just want an excuse to hurt someone they hate. They aren't going to torture someone over a month before killing them.
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u/Padreteiro 1d ago
Wtf was this case. To involve children in such a barbaric crime. Unimaginable
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u/cespinar 1d ago
Reminder that lynches in the south were a sort of party event. Kids were encouraged to go to the hanging corpses and pry off 'souveniers' like toenails.
Its how they keep the cycle of perpetual hate going.
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u/ragnaroksunset 1d ago
This is an extreme case of what anti-trans people try to do to their own children on a daily basis, and much of what they openly protest against is ultimately a limitation against their ability to bend the minds of children in this way.
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u/Hesitation-Marx 1d ago
I hope that those kids are going to have the care and therapy they need, because my Gd, that is unhinged.
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u/Squirrelman2712 1d ago
I just can't understand why people would do something this cruel for seemingly no reason.
Nordquist did literally nothing to these people to deserve any of this and they forced his kids to help beat him to death...
I realize people are bastards, but christ...
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u/HahaDixonClits 1d ago
Yeah Iâm confused about how so many people were involved in this.
It says that they believe the motive was jealousy but it also names 7 total people who have been charged in connection with this.
I can totally believe that him being trans could make him an easier victim to target but Iâm having trouble understanding how so many people were involved in the prolonged torture and killing of a person
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u/lelakat 1d ago
I think it gets into a groupthink and they just don't stop and question anything, kind of like with cults. Or they're just so hateful they're looking for an excuse to do something and this was it. Or some combination of both, where they always had the impulse to do awful things to another human being and this person facilitated them, and had they never met the main people they would have gone on in life without ever committing a crime.
Like sure they could claim they were afraid they would end up next but with the amount of ways they could have gotten away from them, or even made an anonymous report, I don't feel sorry for them.
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u/AntiqueLetter9875 1d ago
Thereâs been a lot of cases like that over the years. Really makes you wonder about people.
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u/half3clipse 1d ago
Organized gay bashing has been a thing for decades, often ignored (when not actively abetted by) the police. We're not that far out from many cities having lynching gangs who's sole uniting purpose was to lure to beat/maim/kill lgbtq people. If you look into "common suicide spots" in many major cities, very often you find the list includes places bodies were obviously being dumped. Many cities still have problems with this to some degree
This sort of thing is not actually that rare.
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u/SunshineCat 1d ago
Weren't the women a couple?
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u/HOMANDER1996 1d ago
Unfortunately, some gay folks can be as aggressively transphobic as anyone else. There are even organizations with the goal of excluding trans people from the rest of the community.
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u/SunshineCat 1d ago
But it said one of them dated the victim. Though with 7 or 8 adults involved, I imagine at least one might have participated as in a hate crime, in any case.
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u/Projectstfu 1d ago
Almost everyone in the entire story is part of the LGBTQ+ community. The main two women they are talking about are a lesbian couple. I think all the people saying the far right this and the homophobic that might have only read the headlines and are way off the mark here. There are other reason people commit murder. The prosecution says the motive was jealousy.
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u/SunshineCat 1d ago
I think that is somehow fairly common in this kind of torture scenario.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Sylvia_Likens
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Junko_Furuta
Lots of times the mother or wife a serial killer just lets it happen and even helps, too.
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u/PumpkinBrain 1d ago
The kids were the attackerâs kids, not the victimâs. So⌠slightly less horrifying.
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u/xXTheGrapenatorXx 1d ago
Good correction, but damn those poor kids. I really hope they'll get the help they need because god were they given a bad start by their parents...
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u/shadedmagus 1d ago
Yeah, but the relative distance between those two is veeerrrrrry minute in terms of how wrong it is.
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u/everettescott 1d ago edited 1d ago
I can not be the person to hand this judgement down or hope to see it in action, but some people honestly don't belong here.
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u/Squirrelman2712 1d ago
I am against the Death Penalty in all cases because our justice system is imperfect. The state should not have the ability to kill you either extrajudicially or not, because the state is often wrong.
I understand why someone would want to though...
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u/IvoryFlyaway 1d ago
That's fine, I agree. These hateful fuckers can make my trans rights license plates over and over for the rest of their worthless lives.
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u/Lemonwizard 1d ago
I'm of the same opinion. I actually do think some people exist who are beyond redemption and trying to reform them is futile. However, the cost of paying for life imprisonment for psychopaths is a price worth paying to ensure the government never kills an innocent person.
The death penalty is not a power I trust the government to use responsibly.
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u/Indigoh 1d ago edited 1d ago
Radical gender ideologists: "I want to present myself differently"
Conservatives: "If you deviate from the two genders, you are a terrorist and I will kill you."
For every bit they accuse "radical gender ideologists" of being obsessed with gender, conservatives are a hundred times more obsessed with it.Â
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u/Carbonatite 1d ago
They think about genitals more than the average OB/GYN or urologist.
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u/Indigoh 1d ago
It's like they think they always had the right to know what's in other people's pants, and we're a threat because we've said it's none of their business.
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u/Duke_of_Moral_Hazard 1d ago
They thought they always knew, because they have always confidentally treated women and men very differently. The loss of confidence and control confuses them, and because they aren't smart, that pisses them off to no end.
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u/awry_lynx 1d ago
That's not what happened here, though you're right about conservatives, that's not really relevant to this specific case.
What happened here was a bunch of meth addicted abusers honing in on the most vulnerable victim they could torment and destroy. Half of them were convicted child abusers and they were all living in a derelict motel. These people would have happily killed a cis man or cis woman without more hesitation, as long as their victim was vulnerable. In my opinion.
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u/Li_liminal_spaces 1d ago edited 1d ago
no reason
What? You don't understand, in the current climate, why they would torture and execute a trans person? CPAC literally had a slogan "eliminate all transgender". Several major politicians, podcasters, and authors are perpetually spewing vile hatred on a tiny subsection of people and you don't understand why?
Seriously?
You can also look at the murder of Brianna Ghey⌠countless others I really don't want to look them up. Same reason.
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u/SunshineCat 1d ago
Reading the article, it sounds like it had more to do with accidentally/unwittingly getting involved with two dysfunctional psychos in an on-again-off-again relationship. It said the motive was jealousy. Did they leave something out?
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u/_ByAnyOther_Name 1d ago
I mean everything you say is true but.. they were a couple? And it implies one killer was jealous of the victim? So probably not conservatives.
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u/StevieOfPhoenix 1d ago
Rest in peace, Sam. Iâm glad justice was found for you.Â
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u/Critical_Success_936 1d ago
Justice was found for his family. Sadly, Sam will never know. I'm just glad this is a story we hear the end of - too many trans men go missing and are never seen again.
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u/Pleasant-Usual-7631 1d ago
Additionally, too many trans men go missing and are insisted to be vulnerable cis women. They are dead named in death and buried as women, their deaths labeled "femicide".Â
We deserve better.
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u/SatansCornflakes 1d ago
How many trans people are taken too soon and then only remembered by the wrong name breaks my fucking heart
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u/Pleasant-Usual-7631 1d ago
Yeah, I am right there with you. It scares the fuck out of me, because I don't have a lot of hope that I'll ever get my name legally changed despite being trans for a while now. I'm terrified that my obit will only have my deadname and that I will not be honored in my death, and that instead some girl is going to be mourned... Makes me fucking sickÂ
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u/Spire_Citron 1d ago
Maybe you could write a will and put it in there? Even if you don't have many belongings to actually disperse, it's a legal document that would have to be acknowledged.
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u/Pleasant-Usual-7631 1d ago
I sincerely appreciate the tip! I will look into this. Guess it's about time, being in my 30s and all.Â
Thank you so muchÂ
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u/DragonKit 1d ago
Ask a Mortician on YouTube has a guide for a Trans people and death prep
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u/Pleasant-Usual-7631 1d ago
Thank you so much for another great tip - I will have to look into this as well
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u/tiny-doe 1d ago
Ask a Mortician is a great youtube channel in general, but it's awesome of her to have made that video too.
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u/boojersey13 1d ago
If you REALLY wanna cry, I found a trans woman author who wrote some stories for an anthology about specifically trans based horror. There's one about attending a funeral for a friend who isn't honored in her death, and I was crying out of my own fear for the same within the first few paragraphs of her reading. If anyone is particularly interested I'll dig for it.
Didn't know horror could still terrify me until I discovered that specific subgenre of trans related fears. Shakes me to my fucking bones every time I consume it
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u/NobodyElseButMingus 1d ago
Sometimes I think about Brandon Teenaâs grave and my blood boils.
More people need to vandalize that shit. He deserves to be remembered as he was.
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u/quicksilver_chocobo 1d ago
This is exactly the reason I had told one of my friends that I want him in charge of my funeral arrangements if I pass before him. My parents are very Catholic. This friend works at a funeral home. I know he would 100% honor me the way I would have wanted.
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u/sidewayspostitnotes 1d ago
The world is despicable in so many ways, despite occasionally making progressive leaps. I didnât realize what youâre describing was such a common occurrence, and the extra disrespect to the persons legacy by misidentifying who they were. We all need to be better advocates for our fellow humans.
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u/SafeRecognition9435 1d ago
"Prosecutors said Arzuaga and Quijano coerced Arzuaga's two children, then aged 7 and 12, into participating in the horrific beating." Jesus christ that is evil holy shit
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u/ungranted_wish 1d ago
Holy shit I hope those kids are somewhere safe
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u/Aghast_Cornichon 1d ago
Before sentencing, the judge had Arzuaga sign protection orders barring her from seeing her children for the rest of her life.
Another defendant is her 22-year-old son, who I expect to be given the same sentencing condition.
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u/JUYED-AWK-YACC 1d ago
They ainât with mom, thatâs for sure. So thatâs an improvement.
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u/WalrusWithAKeyboard 1d ago
I hope these kids are not anywhere near any trans kids until they get some major fucking help. They are not safe, these kids were raised on this hatred.
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u/ungranted_wish 1d ago
Oh God I didnât think of any prejudices they may have had from this since⌠I can only imagine what they were told in order to hurt him.
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u/SunshineCat 1d ago edited 1d ago
Where are you getting that information? From what I can tell, the kids were also abuse victims of the mother, just like her dog was when she was charged with animal abuse and had it taken away.
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u/SunshineCat 1d ago
It said the lady had previously been charged with animal abuse and had her dog taken away from her. How can the government deem that an appropriate person for a child to be ruled by, a woman not even fit for a dog?
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u/Obrusnine 1d ago
No punishment could ever be enough for a crime this despicable. I only hope the years they spend in prison are the worst as they can be.
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u/Pure-Swordfish6022 1d ago
Life without sounds perfect to me. I cannot support the death penalty, but I have always viewed that as giving prisoners a final out in any case. Life without makes sure that they live until their very end locked away.
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u/ScorpionTheInsect 1d ago
I firmly believe that death is the easy way out. Once youâre dead, thereâs no more feeling, no more suffering, nothing. They are a clear danger to society and while Iâm extremely skeptical that they are able to suffer from guilt, losing the abilities to live the rest of their lives on their own terms, doing whatever they want like theyâve been able to, should be enough punishment. Melt the fucking keys down and never let them taste freedom again.
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u/alldogsareincredible 1d ago
Plus new investigation tech, new ways to find DNA, and/or new confessions can come on out. You can release someone from prison if they are found not to be guilty and compensate them but you can't undo the death penalty.
(To be clear, these people have confessed to murdering this man. They 100% did it. Please don't take that as me saying they are innocent.)
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u/Distinct_Run9006 1d ago
This level of cruelty is unimaginable. To torture, sexually abuse, and beat this man for over a MONTH and to encourage your children to JOIN IN?!? I would call them animals, but that's an insult to animals. Monsters. How does a mother go on living after what happend to her son? So many lives ruined for no good reason.
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u/uhohthrowawayxxx 1d ago
rest in peace sam. its scary being a trans man in this world right now. i hope his family finds some closure in this.
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u/Sunstarch 1d ago
This case is unusually horrific, and Samâs death was brutal. These women are rightfully facing consequences, but for the court to reduce the motive to simply âjealousy,â while dropping the hate-crime charges early because the women themselves are LGBT, really undermines the reality that transgender people are not inherently safe, even within the broader LGBT community.
Personally, I donât think the evidence publicly available allows us to confidently rule out a hate component.
My condolences and prayers to Samâs family, and the children who were coerced into participating in his death.
*edit - typo
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u/nonlawyer 1d ago
 the court to reduce the motive to simply âjealousy,â while dropping the hate-crime charges early because the women themselves are LGBT
The quote about the motive being jealousy was from the prosecutor, not the court.
And hate crime charges are a sentence enhancer. The perpetrators got sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the existing charges. There is no higher sentence available, and thus no reason to charge a hate crimeâthen the prosecution has to prove the exact motive, rather than just the fact that the defendants tortured and murdered the victim.
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u/JenningsWigService 1d ago
It's also hard to differentiate a hate crime when it's also a domestic violence crime, because DV is never classified along those lines. This is the kind of case that demonstrates the limits of that framework. She was an abusive partner before she decided to kill him but he was also more vulnerable because he was trans. There's also the question of whether the jealous ex would have done the exact same thing to a cis woman. Such a depraved group of people.
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u/thecatinthewizardhat 1d ago
A hate crime charge would be a symbolic victory if the crime was motivated by hate for transgender people, but even if the crime itself was not motivated by transphobia, it doesn't take away from the fact that transgender people are especially vulnerable to these types of horrific violence. A lot of Navajo women go missing after attacks from suspected serial killers from outside the reservations. This doesn't represent a massive rise in anti-native hate, more so that native Americans and their reservations have been so systemically failed that their women end up as by far the easiest targets for predators and serial killers.
To be a bit frank, I feel that the narrative that murders of trans people are the result of solely the right-wing culture war turning people into monsters, ignores the life of the trans person up to that point and all the points in which society failed to protect them. The parents that kicked them out of their house, the landlords and hiring managers that wouldn't hire or lease to them, the women's shelters that wouldn't take them in. There's a lot of surrounding factors that lead up to a situation like this.
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u/Hopeful_Lack_8600 1d ago edited 1d ago
And hate crime charges are a sentence enhancer. The perpetrators got sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the existing charges. There is no higher sentence available, and thus no reason to charge a hate crimeâthen the prosecution has to prove the exact motive, rather than just the fact that the defendants tortured and murdered the victim.
You're using the outcome to retroactively dismiss what would have been a decision made before charging them. The DA could not have known the judge would give them the maximum possible sentence, and in a scenario where the judge had not done so, the hate crime charges would have mattered. This is not solid rationale.
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u/warpedaeroplane 1d ago
I donât disagree but I think making the charges stick here is the most important thing. Motive is critical and without presentable evidence of the hate component it could be hard to bring a conviction.
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u/H0vis 1d ago
Am inclined to agree. They got the 1st degree murder and a full life term. That's the W. Maybe the hate crime is a more correct sentence, but maybe it's a risk, and what matters is that they die in jail.
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u/Revlis-TK421 1d ago
In New York, as far as I understand it, hate crimes are sentencing enhancements, not a separate charge. They raise the offense by one level. e.g. Class D felony becomes a Class C.
Felony murder is already a class A-1 felony. Life without parole is already the maximum sentence. Since there is no Class A+ felony, and no higher punishment available, it was pointless to pursue the enhancement and potentially put the case at risk.
Had Sam been rescued alive, then there would have been a point because it would have elevated the various violent assault B felonies up to A.
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u/Aghast_Cornichon 1d ago
Evidently four defendants (including Arzuana and Quijano, who were sentenced this week) have plead guilty and three are awaiting trial. They plead guilty without a plea agreement, evidently gambling on mitigation arguments that failed.
The fact that reporting about the torture is so detailed when there hasn't been a trial means that the information is largely derived from confessions.
These prosecutors aren't hicks or bigots. Sara Van Strydonck in particular ran the SVU department in a neighboring county. I'm not going to criticize how they obtained four guilty pleas for murder while respecting and honoring the victim and not reducing him to his gender identity as part of the intense public interest.
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u/barbieq68 1d ago
A legal verdict isn't the same as a moral one, it sounds like the charges were adjusted to make sure the conviction stuck. Morally it absolutely was a hate crime and no legal charges can change that
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u/Merle8888 1d ago
The "jealousy" thing doesn't quite make sense when 7 adults were involved? Were they all jealous? What exactly was going on here.
It sounds like the ringleader was keeping the victim in an abusive relationship, and he was trying to get away. She was limiting his access to money and other people. Abusers are definitely most dangerous when the victim is trying to leave. If it was just her involved, it might not be a hate crime because she was romantically involved with this guy after all, it was about whatever cocktail of power, control and insecurity causes people to abuse. But that doesn't explain the other 6 adults' involvement.
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u/Aghast_Cornichon 1d ago
But that doesn't explain the other 6 adults' involvement.
- A derelict rural motel where the County houses homeless people
- A social group that is about half convicted child molesters
- Meth
And a remarkably manipulative sadist in the center.
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u/Indigo-Saint-Jude 1d ago
Sam was more vulnerable to abuse because of his transgender status, regardless of his assailants' identities.
trans people are more desperate for love and acceptance, less experienced in healthy relationships, and less likely to go to law enforcement if they are being abused. being black also contributes to these vulnerabilities.
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u/AspieAsshole 1d ago
Good, that was exactly the punishment they deserve. Death is far too easy. I hope they have a very, very rough time in there.
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u/DinkleMutz 1d ago
And we're supposed to be worried about drag queens reading books to kids?
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u/fat_kaiju 1d ago edited 1d ago
What the fuck.
He was just trying to live his life...
Why? Why are people like this? This poor man. ):
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u/ih-shah-may-ehl 1d ago
It doesn't help there is a party constantly demonizing trans people and making it socially acceptable to egg each other on in their hate. So they make people mad and angry and hateful and then when this happens they're suddenly 'well we don't condone violence'.
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u/Merle8888 1d ago
Who are all these people to each other? We've got the abusive partner and her jealous ex but why were the other 5 involved??
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u/jmacd2918 1d ago
I live in the area and this case has been all over the news for a while, the group has been talked about a bunch.
They were all friends and may have all lived in that motel together. At least one, but I believe multiple, are registered sex offenders. Pretty scummy crew, but I guess that much is obvious.
RIP Sam, you deserved better
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u/notArandomName1 1d ago
As someone who literally just finished researching this case yesterday, they were a mixture of exes and "friends" who all lived in the same motel, along with 2 children under the age of 13 (and were also forced to torture Sam at some points). And as the other comment said, multiple of them were registered sex offenders, so you can only imagine the horrors those children were also experiencing, outside of being forced to torture other people.
Basically Sam met her online and wasn't aware of her criminal history. He found her through TikTok, which she was making tons of (and they were as god awful and stupid as you can imagine). And then they started talking.
Tragically, Sam was one of those people that were too nice and pure for this world. He was by all accounts the friendliest and kindest person you would ever meet, making the entire thing so much more tragic that he stumbled into a den of evil that was all too happy to torture him.
He was forced to make a lot of TikToks with her as well, and each one has those "there's a gun off screen" vibes 100%. It's just.. really fuckin' sad. One of those cases that just makes you lay down and contemplate reality for a while.
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u/ShlugLove 1d ago
Did they convince Sam to visit them with the intent of killing him?
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u/msfinch87 1d ago
I donât know for certain, but having followed this case since it first came into the news, I personally believe so. I think Sam was lured precisely for all this.
It fitted with a lot of the information about how Sam ended up with them, there were signs that Sam was scared and in danger from very early on, and Sam was immediately isolated from contacting family. The history of this entire group of people suggests they are the type.
I honestly canât think of a more likely explanation, either.
This case has given me the shakes since I first read about it. It definitely falls into the most horrific, worst of the worst category. And while I am not a fan of using the word evil, I think it is applicable here.
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u/ShlugLove 1d ago
What absolute monsters. It does seem like they had mal intent from the beginning. Glad they got life sentences.
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u/LemonberryTea 1d ago
Holy fuck thatâs an ugly bunch
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u/Brock_Lobstweiler 1d ago
Jesus christ, the dude on the bottom left is giving off amish meth cult vibes.
I would avoid every single one of these people in public.
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u/wowlock_taylan 1d ago
Jesus, they all look exactly how you expect them to look. No a shred of humanity in those eyes.
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u/croagunk 1d ago edited 1d ago
I regret reading his wiki entry. There is no punishment that fits this crime. I hope these monsters suffer til their last breaths.Â
âAccording to police reports, the suspects raped Nordquist with a table leg and broomstick, beat him with sticks, dog toys, ropes, and belts, denied him proper nutrition and hydration, forced him to consume urine, feces, and tobacco juice, and poured bleach over him before he succumbed to his injuries.  The abuse reportedly went on from early December 2024 to February 2025âŚ.  Arzuaga was also charged with coercing two children, aged 7 and 12, to take part in the tortureâ
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u/ShareEvening5856 1d ago
I remember this case from a few weeks ago and I am glad to hear Justice was served
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u/re_Claire 1d ago
Oh my god I hadn't heard about this case and I just looked up the details. Unthinkably horrific. I cannot even fathom what causes some people to be so unimaginably cruel and depraved.
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u/VerdantPathfinder 1d ago
Right wing extremism. He was the intentional victim of the stochastic terrorism campaign the right has been running for decades. This is what anyone who votes R votes for or are at least OK with.
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u/BinJLG 1d ago
Is it, though? The main perpetrator was the victim's girlfriend. Based on the details I could find about this case (which, admittedly, I haven't been able to find any motives listed anywhere), this just seems like a case of extreme domestic abuse. /gen
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u/Varaskana 1d ago
When the people in power actively and constantly frame a population as inhuman, it has the effect of lessening sympathy towards that population and makes it easier for some to justify doing horrendous things to the dehumanized population. Now I am not saying that the only thing stopping there perpetrator from killing Sam, but we live in a country (specifically the US) where more than one state has accepted the "Trans Panic" defense to lessen the severity of murdering a trans person because the perpetrator found out their victim was trans.
So, yes, right wing extremism is definitely a factor, if not in this specific case definitely in most.
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u/BinJLG 1d ago
I understand the systemic issues and everything. But I was talking about this specific case. Which I thought would have been obvious considering the topic of the thread. I really severely doubt any trans panic defense would be applicable here since the main perpetrator and the victim were already dating and due to the duration of the violence.
more than one state has accepted the "Trans Panic" defense to lessen the severity of murdering a trans person
I think you're mistaken. The trans panic defense has only occurred 4 times in US history according to Wikipedia (because it's 5 am and I cba to do a deep dive rn). 3 of those instances did not result in reduced sentencing, and the 4th one came with a lesser penalty because the perpetrator pled guilty. And there are quite a few states that have outlawed the defense altogether.
Now if we want to talk about the burden of proof for intent being too high to qualify a violent crime as a hate crime, sure, there's an argument to be made there. But that's not specific to trans people, and tbh probably doesn't belong in this thread.
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u/lifeisthebeautiful 1d ago
This story has broken my heart. Mom of a transgender kid. Its too much to know such cruelty. His poor family. This poor kid.
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u/zo0ombot 1d ago
This is why long distance online relationships freak me out honestly. How was he supposed to know they were awful murderers who engaged in literal torture
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u/Distinct-Nature4233 1d ago
Rest in peace Sam. It sounds like he was such a lovely person at just the start of a great life. It breaks my heart to see my brothers go through such horrors.
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u/Consistent-Leek4986 1d ago
the dead look in both their eyes, showing no remorse at all. 4 more people awaiting trial deserve the same fate.
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u/UFOsAreAGIs 1d ago
It's not fun walking outside knowing a significant portion of the population think what they did was OK and the rest of the trans population should be eliminated from society.
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u/DarkGodCthUwU 12h ago
Damn, a judge taking the murder of a trans person seriously, I hate that I'm surprised by this.
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u/SolarFazes 1d ago
Some people are saying they hope these demons get shanked in prison. Not me though. I'm just repeating what I read
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u/bunkSauce 1d ago edited 1d ago
Strange how so many people who hate LGBT and commit crimes against them, commit sexual crimes against them...
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u/eb12se4nt-z13ow-97g0 1d ago
LGBTQ arent safe in America
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u/Projectstfu 1d ago
Almost everyone in the entire story is part of the LGBTQ+ community. The main two women they are talking about are a lesbian couple. I think all the people saying the far right this and the homophobic that might have only read the headlines and are way off the mark here. There are other reasons people commit murder. The prosecution says the motive was jealousy.
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u/lilsmudge 1d ago
The really scary thing is that weâre as safe or safer here than most of the rest of the world. And weâre still not safe here.Â
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u/HeavyMetalPootis 1d ago
Yeah.... frankly the crimes described would've gotten (or should've) those involved a needle with a big dose of potassium chloride had they been caught and convicted decades ago. They killed this man over the course of weeks and got children involved... Life without parole I imagine is far easier to bear than literally getting tortured to death.
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u/thebarkbarkwoof 7h ago
I truly don't understand why anybody cares, if he was a she. Torturing someone to death is beyond reprehensible, and I'm glad they got the maximum sentence. But why even target him? It doesn't affect their lives.
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u/thescarlettflame 1d ago
What especially pisses me off is their statement to the family about how they "wish they could take their actions back and do things differently" and "I know I won't ever get forgiveness from them, but I do hope they find peace". This piece of shit kidnapped, tortured him for a whole month, and then killed him in a slow and brutal way. She doesn't get to say she wishes she could've done differently, she's just sad she was caught. Ugh đĄ