A New York grand jury this week indicted seven people for the torture-murder of a Minnesota trans man and for the first time revealed that one of the perpetrators of Sam Nordquist’s gruesome death forced two children to participate.
But prosecutors still declined to seek hate crime charges for the defendants, saying now that Nordquist’s murder was “so much bigger” than a hate crime after police initially claimed they couldn’t file hate crime charges because some of the defendants identified as gay.
The indictment against the seven adults includes first- and second-degree murder charges along with kidnapping, conspiracy, aggravated sexual abuse, concealment of a human corpse, and two counts of endangering the welfare of child against 38-year-old Precious Arzuaga, who has been identified as Nordquist’s girlfriend, the Democrat and Chronicle reported.
“We have a seven-year-old and a 12-year-old who are also victims,” Assistant District Attorney Kelly Wolford said at a news conference on Wednesday. “They may have been forced to participate, but their lives are forever changed by what they saw and endured. We are here, not just for Sam, but to seek justice for those two children as well.”
Investigators have not explained the relationship between Arzuaga and the two children.
Along with Arzuaga, Jennifer Quijano, 30; Kyle Sage, 33; Patrick Goodwin, 30; Emily Motyka, 19; Kimberly Sochia, 29; and Thomas Eaves, 19; were named in the indictment. Eaves was previosly identified as Arzuaga’s son, as CrimeOnline reported.
The charges focus on the time between January 1 and February 2, although Nordquist initially arrived in New York voluntarily in September. By January 1, Wolford said, he was no longer free to leave.
“They physically restrained him, treated him like a dog, covered his face with towels and fabric, used duct tape on him, and poured bleach on him,” she said.
The torture included physical and sexual assault, forcing Nordquist to ingest feces and urine, and forcing him to obey commands.
Wolford said the attackers carried out their torture because they enjoyed it and not because they were committing a hate crime.
“A hate crime would make this charge about Sam’s gender or race, but this case is so much bigger,” she said. “Sam deserves to have his story told in full. He was beaten, assaulted, sexually abused, starved, and held captive. We cannot reduce this to a hate crime charge alone.”
The defendants are expected in court soon for an arraignment. Wolford did not say where the two children victims were now.
