NEW YORK – US prosecutors gave a graphic account Wednesday (Thursday in Manila) of the torture and murder of a transgender man whose case has highlighted the growing dangers faced by the trans community.
Sam Nordquist was abducted, beaten and sexually assaulted for weeks before his body was hidden, prosecutors said, announcing seven adults had been indicted for the Black 24-year-old’s murder.
Nordquist traveled from Minnesota to New York to meet an online contact who was among those indicted Wednesday.
Nordquist’s family had not heard from him since January and the last time he was seen was in early February.
The seven suspects had previously been indicted for lesser crimes, with the charge of first degree murder — the state’s most serious and carrying possible life imprisonment without parole — added Wednesday.
Two children were also allegedly involved in the beating of Nordquist, who was brutalized in a motel in Canandaigua, located in upstate New York.
“Sam was beaten, assaulted, sexually abused, starved, held captive, and we cannot make sense of that,” said Ontario County Assistant District Attorney Kelly Wolford at a briefing.
Wolford said hate crime charges had not been brought because “we cannot put that on his gender, and we cannot put that on his race.”
