Los Angeles Times

LGBTQ college student stabbed 20 times in 'act of rage,' but was it a hate crime?

SANTA ANA, Calif. - They both went to high school at the elite Orange County School of the Arts, but the classmates weren't particularly close.

Blaze Bernstein, home on winter break from the University of Pennsylvania, messaged with Samuel Woodward on Snapchat. On Jan. 2, Woodward drove over and picked him up.

Bernstein's family would never see him again.

The 19-year-old's body was found eight days later in a shallow grave in Orange County's Borrego Park. He had been stabbed at least 20 times.

Woodward would go on to tell detectives that Bernstein had kissed him,

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times4 min read
Project Roomkey: Lessons Learned From A Massive Program To Save The Lives Of Homeless People
LOS ANGELES — The state program that provided private hotel and motel rooms for homeless people during the COVID pandemic improved healthcare for thousands and provided valuable lessons for how shelters could better serve their clients, a two-year st
Los Angeles Times4 min read
Commentary: What A Quail Taught Me About Grief By Joining A Flock Of Turkeys
It’s dusk in spring, and the seven-year anniversary of my mother’s death from cancer is approaching, a death that marked the end of my biological family. I want to text my friend Margot, who lost her dad to AIDS in the spring years ago, and ask, “How
Los Angeles Times5 min read
Review: In The Sci-fi Thriller 'Dark Matter,' Joel Edgerton Battles Through Parallel Worlds
Blake Crouch has enjoyably adapted his own 2016 novel "Dark Matter" into a nine-episode series for Apple TV+, which aims to be your destination for classy sci-fi. It's got nothing to do with "dark matter" except as Shakespeare might have used the phr

Related Books & Audiobooks