Why the 2SLGBTQ+ community wants police to treat the brutal murder of a trans man as a hate crime

WARNING: This story contains mention of torture and violence.

The brutal murder of 24-year-old Sam Nordquist, a transgender man killed in New York state after being tortured for more than a month in a crime law enforcement have called “beyond depraved,” has sparked vigils across the U.S. and in Canada as the 2SLGBTQ+ community mourns.

Although the horrific details of the case have drawn scrutiny from officials and trans advocates, police are cautioning against speculation about the perpetrators’ motives, saying there’s no evidence at this stage that this was a hate crime — noting that the suspects and Nordquist knew one another and identify as 2SLGBTQ+.

But as the investigation unfolds against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s cuts to legal protections for trans people, trans advocates suggest it’s crucial that all motivations for the crime be examined at a time when members of their community are especially vulnerable.

Seven people have been charged with second-degree murder under the depraved indifference statute, including a woman believed to be the online girlfriend that Nordquist had gone to New York to see. 

Starting in early December, Nordquist was subjected to “repeated acts of violence and torture,” leading to his death, Kelly Swift, captain of the bureau of criminal investigation with the New York State police, said in a Feb. 14 press conference.

“In my 20-year law enforcement career, this is one of the most horrific crimes I have ever investigated,” Swift told reporters. 

Missing persons case becomes homicide case

Nordquist had originally travelled from his home state of Minnesota to New York in September 2024, and was last in contact with family members at the end of January 2025.

A few days after he was officially recorded as missing on Feb. 9, police searched a motel in Canandaigua, N.Y., where Nordquist had been staying with several other people, and later discovered his remains in a field in neighbouring Yates County. 

Nordquist had been subjected to “prolonged physical and psychological abuse at the hands of multiple individuals,” Swift said, and his body was moved in an attempt to disguise the crime. 

“The facts and circumstances of this crime are beyond depraved,” Ontario County District Attorney Jim Ritts stated in the press conference. “No human being should have to endure what Sam endured.”

Nordquist’s mother, Linda Nordquist, told NBC News that her son had gone to New York to see his former partner, 38-year-old Precious Arzuaga, who is one of the seven suspects in Nordquist’s death. 

Hate crime debate

In response to scrutiny from the public, New York State Police and the Ontario County District Attorney’s Office released a joint statement on Feb. 16, declaring that they currently have “no indication” that the murder was a hate crime. 

“To help alleviate the understandable concern his murder could be a hate crime, we are disclosing that Sam and his assailants were known to each other, identified as LGBTQ+, and at least one of the defendants lived with Sam in the time period leading up to” his death, the statement shared with CBC News reads. 

It added that police “share the community’s shock at such a heinous act of violence and understand the fear circulating amongst members of the LGBTQ+ community,” and will follow all leads on the motive behind what happened. 

The police statement, however, still leaves a lot of questions unanswered and echoes the “misperception” that hate crimes must be committed by strangers, said Barbara Perry, a hate crime expert and director of the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism at Ontario Tech University.

The alleged perpetrators being part of the 2SLGBTQ+ community also doesn’t eliminate the possibility that transphobia was a motivating factor in Nordquist’s murder, she said. 

“Even within that broad bundle of communities, there is anti-trans sentiment as well.”

Under New York state law, a hate crime is an offence committed “in whole or in substantial part” because of a belief or perception regarding race, gender, religion, gender identity or gender expression, among other categories.  

The need to prove that bias played a “substantial” part may add to the difficulty of clarifying it as a hate crime, Perry said. 

It’s unclear if it would provide a legal advantage in this case; a hate crime designation can elevate the seriousness of a lesser offence such as harassment or assault and trigger a harsher sentence, but in a murder case, prosecutors would already be seeking the maximum penalty, Perry said. 

Still, many members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community want more transparency around the decision to not investigate Nordquist’s death as a hate crime, Perry said, adding that it’s a “very important statement to the community that the ripple effects of this are acknowledged.”

“We’re seeing a lot of activity online complaining about the police response,” she said. 

“This has sort of created demands for change, I think, but it’s also created and exacerbated the fear that already exists.”

On Monday, people rallied outside the Ontario County Courthouse, calling for justice. PFLAG NYC and the Pride Agenda held a vigil of remembrance last Friday in the Manhattan neighbourhood of West Village, with hundreds packing into a church to lay flowers and mourn.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement on Feb. 16 that she has “directed state police to provide any and all support and resources to the district attorney as they continue their investigation, including into whether this was a hate crime.”

2SLGBTQ+ advocates have noted that, regardless of whether or not police consider Nordquist’s murder a hate crime, the case highlights the risk of violence that trans people face.

“About 30 per cent of trans homicides in the past year were committed by someone known to the victim —  including intimate partners,” The Anti-Violence Project said in a Feb. 16 press release. 

‘State sanctioned’

The murder comes amid a wave of legislative attacks on trans rights in the U.S. Since taking office in January, U.S. President Donald Trump has repealed executive orders combating discrimination against 2SLGBTQ+ people, declared that the U.S. would only recognize two sexes and signed orders barring transgender women from participating in women’s sports and ending gender-affirming care for people under 19, which was recently blocked by a federal judge.  

Court challenges have stalled a number of Trump’s executive orders, but it’s still “a really scary time” for trans people, Dean Spade, a professor at the Seattle University of Law, told CBC News. 

“In some ways, the private violence that happens now is state sanctioned, because there’s a narrative coming so directly from the government that our lives are worthless and that we’re disposable,” he said. 

But while it’s important to name anti-trans violence, hate crime convictions do little to prevent physical harm against trans people, he said, noting the criminal justice system is often one of the main culprits of said harm. A 2024 analysis by the American Civil Liberties Union found that more than one in four trans people surveyed reported experiencing physical force by police.

“If we really wanted to prevent violence against trans people, we would fight for increased housing, increased income support, access to health care and basic necessities,” he said. 

“The idea of hate crime laws relies on this image of a stranger to you who, if the police nabbed them, we’ll get them off the streets and then we’ll all be safer …. When in reality, it’s systemic. It’s throughout our entire society.”

If you’re affected by this news story, you can look for mental health support through resources in your province or territory.