26 Yr Old Sentenced to Life/No Parole in The Sex Motivating Killing of Gay Student

Samuel L. Woodward

Update at adamfoxie blog

This Posting is the conclusion of the case I first reported a few years ago. Convicted in trial and sentencing now.

By Thao Nguyen

A California man who was convicted in the death of his former high school classmate in what authorities described as a hate-motivated murder was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, prosecutors said.

The sentencing comes more than four months after Samuel Lincoln Woodward, 26, of Newport Beach, California, was convicted of first-degree murder along with a hate crime enhancement and personal use of a knife, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office. Prosecutors said Woodward killed Blaze Bernstein, 19, after reconnecting with him on a dating app for men seeking men in 2018.

Bernstein — who was a gay, Jewish student at the University of Pennsylvania — was home from winter break visiting his parents when he disappeared on the night of Jan. 2, 2018, according to prosecutors. Authorities found his body a week later at a park in Lake Forest, California.

An investigation revealed that Bernstein had been stabbed 28 times before he was buried in a makeshift grave at the park, prosecutors said. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department arrested Woodward on Jan. 12, 2018, at his home in Newport Beach.

The trial was delayed for several years due to questions about Woodward's mental health until he was found competent to stand trial in late 2022, The Los Angeles Times reported at the time. During the sentencing Friday, Judge Kimberly Menninger said Woodward was fueled by "pure hate and rage due to (Bernstein’s) sexual orientation and religious beliefs," according to the Times.

"With every hateful stab of his knife, Samuel Woodward stabbed at the very heart of our entire community," Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement. “To hate someone simply for who they are is a hate like no other. It targets our identity and our self-worth in an attempt to render us worthless. But every one of us has worth and meaning — and every one of us brings value to our collective table of who we all are and who we want to be as acommunity."

 

What happened to Blaze Bernstein?

Prosecutors said Bernstein had made dinner with his family on Jan. 2, 2018, before Woodward picked him up a "few doors down from his parent’s home just after 11 p.m., leaving his glasses, keys, and wallet behind."

At the time of the incident, authorities said Woodward initially drove Bernstein to a shopping center parking lot before heading to a park in Lake Forest. Prosecutors said Bernstein believed that he was going on a romantic encounter with Woodward at the park.

Less than two hours after Woodward picked up Bernstein, he was buried in a shallow grave at the park after having been stabbed 28 times, according to prosecutors. After he killed and buried Bernstein, Woodward cleaned up the scene and sent a text to a friend that read "Hey man, life is good," prosecutors said.

When Bernstein missed a dentist appointment the next day, prosecutors said his parents reported him missing. Bernstein's sudden disappearance sparked an eight-day investigation, which included local community members, a team of 25 search and rescue deputies, police K-9 dogs, multiple helicopter searches, and drones.

Bernstein's body was discovered on Jan. 9, 2018, in a shallow grave at the park, after heavy rains had washed away some of the dirt covering the grave, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors: Samuel Woodward had ties to a neo-Nazi, homophobic group

While Bernstein was missing, prosecutors said his parents went through his online activity and discovered that the last person he had communicated with was Woodward. Bernstein and Woodward were former classmates at Orange County School of the Arts, a middle school and high school in Santa Ana, California.

"Woodward told the Bernsteins that he had met up with their son but that he had walked off into the park with anunknown person and he never saw Blaze again," according to prosecutors.

Authorities later found Bernstein's blood on a knife belonging to Woodward that had his father’s name engraved on it, prosecutors said. Blood was also found on a skull mask that prosecutors argued Woodward wore to show his allegiance to the Atomwaffen Division.

The Atomwaffen Division is a neo-Nazi and homophobic group that emerged in 2016 and was created by members of Iron March, a now-defunct white supremacist discussion forum, according to prosecutors and the Anti-Defamation League.

Prosecutors said Woodward had traveled to Texas to train with the Atomwaffen Division after studying theirteachings. Woodward also continued to draw pictures related to the Atomwaffen Division and their beliefs following his arrest for Bernstein’s murder, according to prosecutors.

"Investigators also discovered what prosecutors called a 'hate diary,' which detailed Woodward’s online activities to lure gay men and boys into believing he was 'bi-curious,' and then unfriending them," the Orange County District Attorney's Office said in a news release. "The diary contained numerous slurs referring to gay men."

According to the Times, Menninger said Bernstein and Woodward had been at "opposite ends of a culture war." Bernstein was openly gay, Jewish, and had a large circle of friends, while Woodward had grown up in a conservative family and struggled with his sexuality, the Times and Orange County Register reported.