St. Paul Vigil remembers himself Nordquist himself, calling for justice after his murder in New York – MPR News

Five people in New York are against charges of murder in the murder of a transsexual man from Minnesota. To mourn his loss, a group of about 100 people gathered at zero temperatures on Monday in the steps of State Capitol in St. Paul.

Participants said they wanted justice for Sam Nordquist, a 24-year-old from Oukdale, who traveled to New York State in September to meet an online girlfriend.

Susan Montgomery handed out pink paper hearts and warming hand as she cried, “Justice for Sam.” People wore signs with pictures of their friend.

Authorities in New York have started looking for Nordquist after he was reported to disappear on February 9th. They found that they remained identified as his in the field last week. A statement on Sunday by the State Police in New York and the Ontario District Prosecutor’s Office said that Nordquist has suffered acts of violence and torture for more than a month by many people. After he was killed, they allegedly dumped his body to another county.

Authorities said they did not address the case as a crime of hatred at the time, but the investigation was ongoing.

Prosecutors accused five people, all of whom lived in or south of Rochester, in the Finger Lakes area in New York: Precious Arzuaga, 38, Patrick Goodwin, 30, Kyle Sage, 19, Jennifer Quijano 30 S

“To help relieve understandable concern, his murder may be a crime of hatred, we reveal that his own attackers were known to each other, identified as LGBTQ+and at least one of the defendants lived with Sam,” State Police and district’s lawyer’s announcement is said.

Matt Partlow works with Nordquist in a group home and called him a beautiful human being. He said Nordquist loved Puma Tracles and Tiktok.

“We really went together, he was such an incredible friend, full of life,” Partlow said, becoming emotional. “There is no one like him and he did not deserve any of that. All he wanted was love. That’s all he wanted. “

Partlow said he sent text messages to Nordquist while he was in New York. He remembered the two shared a love of cooking and compared recipes.

“I actually have a text message that I watched the other day that he sent me because he told me he had a dream of a certain meal and he told me we had to do it. In the end, we did it. “

Rose Ryan said he was close to the family for 28 years.

“I still cannot understand the cruelty we have in the world we live in,” she said. “It breaks my heart that people can be so evil. I just want justice for him. “