Christopher Leahy charged with first-degree murder of trans UW student, cops say crime not ‘motivated by hate’

Christopher Michael Leahy, 31, turned himself in to authorities in Bellevue, Washington days after the killing took place at Nordheim Court, a privately-managed student housing complex. The victim, transgender 19-year-old Michael "Juniper" Blessing, was found stabbed to death inside the complex’s laundry room on May 10.

Leahy has been hit with a deadly weapon enhancement on the murder charge. He remains in jail on $10 million bail. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said that at the current point in the investigation, "there is not evidence to show the crime was motivated by hate." The sentencing range for first-degree murder with a deadly weapon enhancement ranges between 22 years and around 29 years.

A court document from Senior Deput Prosecuting Attorney Donald Raz said that Leahy had "inflicted over 40 stab wounds to a 19 year old University of Washington student who was innocently doing their laundry," and that during the same evening, "the defendant stalked another UW student across a multi-building complex eventually following this second student into the same building and same room where he would visciously murder Juniper Blessing."

In seeking the high bail amount of $10 million, Raz wrote, "although not a student at the university and not a resident of Seattle, tracking apps and video recordings have placed the defendant in campus buildings and attempting to enter private homes in Ravenna prior to the murder and back near the murder scene two days after the murder. Alone, this behavior is foreboding and ominous. Combined with the uncontrolled rage evidenced by horrific injuries he inflicted on Juniper Blessing, the defendant is an extreme danger for violent attack upon individuals not only associated with the University of Washington but the public at large."

A probable cause statement from Seattle Police Detective Patricia Hayden stated that a surveillance camera located in the corner of the laundry room where Blessing was found had been unplugged when detectives examined it. The last video that had been uploaded to the cloud had been from the afternoon of May 10.

A video specialist was able to recover additional video, including one time stamped at around 10 pm. The video captured images of a light-skinned black male that had matched the descriptions given by witnesses. Video captured seconds after 10 pm showed Blessing in the laundry room with another resident, and the light-skinned black male came into the laundry room. He was captured staring directly at the camera, and "appears to follow the path of the power cord with his eyes and head from the camera around the wall above the doorway." He then exits the room. Blessing was found in the same clothing the student was seen wearing in the video. Fingerprints left in what appeared to be blood on the exterior of the door leading to the laundry room were identified as belonging to Leahy.

The probable cause statement said that among the tips generated from posting the surveillance camera images was one from Patrick Leahy, who said he was Christopher Leahy’s brother, and recognized the clothing the suspect had been in as the same ones worn by Christopher Leahy on an earlier occasion.

The Bellevue Police Department received a phone call from an attorney representing Christopher Leahy at 10:27 on May 13, stating that Leahy was turning himself in. He arrived at the police station with his parents.

Leahy Charging Docs by Hannah Nightingale