All week, I’ve been trying to find the words for what happened to a transgender University of Washington student in off-campus student housing Sunday night, and hoping it was not what it looked like.
We don’t know all the details. But from court documents and reporting from various newspapers and TV stations, we know that a 31-year-old Bellevue man allegedly stabbed 19-year-old Juniper Blessing in a laundry room more than 40 times until she died. The suspect’s motive is unknown at this time. King County District Judge Matthew York found probable cause to hold the suspect for investigation and set bail at $10 million. A charging decision is expected Monday, and The Stranger doesn’t name suspects before they are charged with a crime.
Allegedly, the suspect stalked the building before the stabbing; a security camera inside the laundry room was found unplugged. It’s unclear if the attack was captured on camera, but footage recovered from the memory card shows the suspect entering the laundry room while Blessing was cleaning lint from a dryer. He looked directly into the camera, according to court documents.
It’s horrific. It makes me want to vomit. As for the words, the trans writer Emily St. James already said them.
Before Juniper’s life and death are subsumed by politics, I’d like to acknowledge that a real person is dead. She is not a symbol, she loved music, singing, and video games, and her family thought she was “simply the most amazing human being we have ever known—highly intelligent, extremely talented, and deeply sensitive to the needs of others,” according to a statement provided to the Santa Fe New Mexican. Blessing was a recent graduate of the New Mexico School for the Arts.
As for the facts, Blessing was found stabbed at Nordheim Court near U-Village around 10:10 p.m. Sunday. After Campus police blocked off the scene, SPD took control of the investigation; homicide detectives and crime scene investigators soon arrived, police say.
At 10:40 p.m., the University sent the first in a series of campus safety alerts, informing students and staff of the homicide investigation. Residents of Nordheim Court were being asked to remain inside, even after police had completed their search. At 12:46 a.m., an alert provided links and telephone numbers for counseling and support services. Police shared a vague description of a Black, bearded man, about 5 ‘6 to 5 ’8 inches in height, seen wearing a vest, button-up shirt, and blue jeans.
Monday morning, the university and its president, Robert J. Jones, released statements of sympathy and support.
On Wednesday, the Seattle Police Department released photos of the suspect. At 10:30 p.m. that evening, he turned himself into Bellevue police accompanied by his parents. He was taken to Seattle Police headquarters, then booked in King County Jail. According to court documents, a relative and a school friend had recognized the suspect and provided his name to police.
Before the suspect had turned himself in, Nordheim Court residents spoke to The Daily, UW’s student paper, about shoddy maintenance potentially causing a security risk at the building. One resident told the paper the Bluetooth-controlled lock to a laundry room door that opened to the garage had been broken since April. Multiple residents said someone could easily enter the garage by following a car inside. According to court documents, the suspect had snuck into the laundry room.
FOX 13 spoke to three residents who said a man matching the suspect’s description tried breaking into her apartment on April 25. The students said police found a knife. Before FOX 13 reported this, the story had been posted on Reddit. It is unclear whether there is any connection.
The Daily also spoke to one of Blessing’s roommates about an “astounding” lack of communication from the police, university and apartment complex after her killing. After UW sent the alert about Blessing’s homicide, roommates began spam calling her to confirm that she was safe. At around 1 a.m., one of the roommates flagged down an officer outside the building to help find Blessing. According to The Daily, the officer looked around their apartment and took photos of Blessing’s room, asking questions about her “political affiliation, her gender, and whether someone wanted to cause her harm.”
“He said to us, ‘I can’t confirm that your roommate was the victim, but I’m not going to deny it, and you should expect to hear from us if you don’t hear from the press first,’” the roommate told The Daily. The student said when Husky Assist, the university’s rapid mental health response unit, contacted Blessing’s roommates, the counselor did not address her killing—“the mental health professional seemed to assume the roommate already knew,” the Daily wrote.
This Saturday, Trans Collective at UW and Gender Justice League are hosting a community grief and healing event.
To ensure their privacy, the family has asked the media not to attend. The event is for the people most affected by Blessing’s killing. The Stranger will not be attending, and I suggest other media organizations do the same.
