Transgender teen Ally Steinfeld was tortured and murdered earlier this month in Texas County, Missouri.
Four people have been arrested and charged in connection with the brutal murder of a 17-year-old transgender girl earlier this month in Texas County, Missouri, according to KansasCity.com
Ally Steinfeld, who had identified herself as transgender on social media, is the 21st transgender person murdered this year. According to Texas County Sheriff’s Office officials, she was stabbed to death at a residence in Cabool, Mo., and then her body was mutilated and burned before being hidden nearby. Steinfeld was reported as missing by her family on Sept. 1, and police believe she was murdered two days after she was reported missing.
Andrew Vrba, Briana Calderas, Isis Schauer and James Grigsby have all been arrested and charged in connection with the murder of Ally Steinfeld.
Andrew Vrba, 18, has admitted to stabbing Steinfeld in the living room at the home of 24-year-old Briana Calderas. Calderas and Isis Schauer, 18, were there at the time of the murder, and they helped Vrba burn Steinfeld’s body, according to Vrba’s statements to police. Calderas then contacted James Grigsby, 25, and recruited him to help move and hide Steinfeld’s body, according to Grigsby’s statements to police.
Vrba reportedly told police that he initially tried to poison Steinfeld, but when she didn’t drink the poisoned liquid he gave her, he instead stabbed her repeatedly in her genital area and then gouged out her eyes. Vrba told police he had bragged about the murder to friends, going into gory details of how he tortured and killed her.
Vrba, Calderas and Schauer have all been charged with first-degree murder, abandonment of a corpse and armed criminal action. Grigsby has been charged with abandonment of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence, both felonies. All four are being held without bond.
So far, neither the sheriff’s office officials nor prosecutors have said anything to indicate they are treating this as an anti-transgender hate crime.
