Editor’s note: Police have released more details in the Sam Nordquist case. Click here for the latest update on Feb. 17.
Five people have been arrested and charged with murder in connection with the death of a missing man who New York authorities said was tortured for more than a month.
The victim, Sam Nordquist, was a 24-year-old transgender man who had traveled from Minnesota to meet people in upstate New York who he had met on social media. Nordquist arrived in Canandaigua near the Finger Lakes region of New York in September and was reported missing months later on Feb. 9 after New York State Police said he lost contact with loved ones.
Nordquist’s body, which was found Thursday discarded in a field in upstate New York, showed signs that he had been “subjected to ongoing physical abuse” that began in December, police said in a media release.
James Ritts, the district attorney of Ontario County, New York, said in a Friday media briefing that the facts of the case were “beyond depraved.”
Those arrested include Precious Arzuaga, 38, and Patrick Goodwin, 30, of Canandaigua, New York; Kyle Sage, 33, of Rochester, New York; Jennifer Quijano, 30, of Geneva, New York; and Emily Motyka, 19, of Lima, New York. All five were charged with second-degree murder and were denied bail after making an initial court appearance for an arraignment hearing, Ritts said.
What happened to Sam Nordquist?
Nordquist’s family told the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, part of the USA TODAY Network, that he had bought a round-trip plane ticket from Minnesota to New York in September after he met a woman online in July. Nordquist was due to fly back in October, but never got on the plane, his family said.
Nordquist’s sister, Kayla, said the family reported him missing Feb. 9 after they were unable to get ahold of him and it appeared his phone was off.
Detectives with the state police who began investigating Nordquist’s disappearance eventually uncovered evidence indicating that the man was “subjected to prolonged physical and psychological abuse.” Nordquist’s remains were then found last week in Benton, located less than 20 miles south of Canandaigua.
The five people suspected in connection with Nordquist’s death were arrested this week after police searched the Patty’s Lodge motel in Canandaigua, the last place Nordquist was known to be staying. Investigators also seized evidence, including electronic devices, clothing and other personal items that will be forensically analyzed, police said.
“Our investigation has revealed a deeply disturbing pattern of abuse that ultimately resulted in Sam’s tragic death,” Capt. Kelly Swift of the state police’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation said at the meeting briefing. “In my 20-year law enforcement career, this is one of the most horrific crimes I have ever investigated.”
An autopsy will be conducted on Nordquist’s remains by the Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office, police said.
Hate crime not ruled out in Nordquist’s death
Because Nordquist is a transgender man, his family, including his mother Linda, told the Democrat & Chronicle earlier this week they fear that the violence he endured before his death was a hate crime.
Swift said police hadn’t ruled out that the death could be a hate crime, but stressed that the investigation is ongoing. Among the question detectives still have yet to answer, at least publicly, is the nature of Nordquist’s relationship with the suspects.
If convicted of second-degree murder, the five suspects could face life in prison.
Madison Scott reports for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle; Eric Lagatta reports for USA TODAY.
