Four charged in connection with transgender US teen's brutal murder
Four youths have been charged in connection with the murder of a 17-year-old transgender teen whose burnt bones were found dumped in a chicken coop.
Ally Lee Steinfeld's family reported her missing on September 14, saying the teen who earlier this year broached the subject of gender-reassignment surgery with them, had not contacted anyone for a couple weeks.
The 17-year-old's burnt remains were found last week near the mobile home of Briana Caldera, one of the accused, in the rural area of Cabool in the US state of Missouri.
The last people known to have been with Ally, also known as Joseph Steinfeld, were the three suspects, Andrew Vrba and Isis Schauer, both 18, and 24-year-old Briana Calderas, the News Leader reported.
The victim’s family told police they had spoken to the trio about Ally’s disappearance and they and believed them to be lying about her whereabouts, said a probable cause statement from a sheriff's deputy in Missouri's Texas County.
When questioned a week ago, Schauer initially told police she last saw Ally leaving a Cabool home after a fight with Vrba.
But a sheriff's deputy obtained permission to look at her phone and saw Facebook messages from Schauer ordering Vrba to "stick to the story" and "quit talking".
Case documents filed after the arrests showed Vrba later admitted to investigators he killed Ally, and Schauer admitted she knew of the murder and helped get rid of the body.
The court heard Calderas told detectives Ally was killed at her mobile home and she helped burn the body. She also led authorities to the knife used in the killing and to the victim’s mobile phone.
Vrba admitted to detectives the trio burned Ally’s body and placed some of the bones into a garbage bag, which was thrown in a chicken coop near the Cabool property.
Schauer, Vrba and Calderas fronted a Texas County courtroom Monday on charges including first-degree murder, armed criminal action and abandonment of a corpse.
A fourth person, James T Grigsby, 25, was also charged in connection to the teen’s death for abandonment of a corpse and tampering with evidence in a felony case.
The victim’s sister Ashleigh Boswell said Ally talked to her family earlier this year about being transgender and possibly having gender-reassignment surgery one day, the News Leader reported.
Asked if the family thought Ally’s gender identity might have motivated her killers, Ms Boswell said the family wasn’t sure.
"We honestly don't understand why they done it. It just don't make any sense."
She added that her sister was "a very loving, outgoing person" who "didn't like conflict whatsoever".
The four accused are being held in the Texas County Jail with no bond.
