Sam Nordquist Murder: Charges, Sentencing, and Family Response

The Sam Nordquist murder case involves a 24-year-old Black transgender man from Oakdale, Minnesota, who was held captive and tortured to death at a roadside motel in upstate New York in early 2025. Seven people were charged with his killing. As of June 2026, two have pleaded guilty, including the alleged ringleader, Precious Arzuaga, who faces life in prison without parole.¹

Who Sam Nordquist Was

Nordquist was 24, Black, and transgender. He lived in Oakdale, Minnesota, with family who stayed close to him through phone calls and Snapchat. In August 2024 he began talking with Arzuaga, a 38-year-old mother of three, after meeting her over the phone and on TikTok. The two spoke constantly and posted videos together. Linda Nordquist, his mother, later described Arzuaga’s early behavior toward her son as “love-bombing.”²

How He Ended Up in New York

On September 28, 2024, Nordquist flew roughly 1,000 miles from Minnesota to the Finger Lakes region of New York to meet Arzuaga in person. He bought a round-trip ticket and planned to stay about two weeks. He never used the return flight.³

After he arrived, family and friends noticed the relationship tightening around him. A former coworker, Ashlee Youngs, said Arzuaga required Nordquist to keep his phone on a video call with her at all times, even while he slept or worked. If the battery died, she yelled at him for “hanging up.” His sister Kayla found him more withdrawn, and Arzuaga blocked her on Snapchat, cutting off the siblings’ main line of contact. Worried friends set up a code: “green apple” meant Nordquist needed help, “red apple” meant danger. He sent a “red apple” message before his communication channels were shut down.³

In December 2024, a social worker with the New York Department of Social Services emailed Linda Nordquist to say Sam had come into their office, that Arzuaga was controlling his phone and keeping him from his family, and that staff were working on an “escape plan” to return him to Minnesota. Police also conducted a wellness check at the Hopewell apartment where he was staying, but they interviewed him in Arzuaga’s presence. He told officers he was “fine.” His mother later said she wished she had asked the officers to separate them.³

What Happened at Patty’s Lodge

By January 2025, Nordquist was living at Patty’s Lodge, a roadside motel in Hopewell, New York, near Canandaigua. Prosecutors say that beginning on January 1, 2025, Arzuaga and six other people held him captive in Room 22 and tortured him daily for about a month.²

An 11-count indictment laid out the abuse. Nordquist was beaten with sticks, belts, bottles, canes, and wooden boards. He was kicked and punched, restrained with duct tape, starved, forced to consume feces, urine, and tobacco spit, doused with bleach, and sexually assaulted.⁴ Prosecutors said Arzuaga forced her two children, ages 7 and 12, to take part in the abuse.⁵

Nordquist died around February 2, 2025. Prosecutors said he “finally died of his injuries” after the sustained beatings. The defendants are alleged to have sprayed his body with bleach, wrapped it in black plastic bags, loaded it into an SUV, and dumped it in a vacant field in Benton, in Yates County.⁶

How His Body Was Found

Nordquist’s family requested a welfare check on February 9, 2025. The New York State Police at Canandaigua opened a missing person investigation and executed search warrants at Room 22 and other locations tied to the case, finding evidence of prolonged physical abuse.⁷⁸

On February 12, 2025, one of the defendants, Kyle Sage, led troopers to the dump site. Nordquist’s remains were recovered the next day, February 13, in a field off Payne Road in Yates County. The Monroe County medical examiner’s office conducted an autopsy, though a formal cause of death had not been publicly released in early reporting. One witness said Arzuaga’s daughter had told her Nordquist “died from losing too much blood.”⁶

The Seven People Charged

Seven people were arrested in February 2025 and charged with murder and kidnapping. All seven were arraigned on March 11, 2025, in Ontario County Court and pleaded not guilty.⁹ They are:

Precious Arzuaga, 38, of Geneva, charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, two counts of first-degree kidnapping, first-degree aggravated sexual abuse, second-degree conspiracy, two counts of first-degree coercion, two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, and concealment of a human corpse.
Emily Motyka, 19, of Rochester.
Jennifer Quijano, 30, of Geneva.
Kyle Sage, 33, of Hopewell.
Patrick Goodwin, 30, of Rochester.
Thomas Eaves, 21, of Geneva.
Kimberly Sochia, 29, of Canandaigua.

All seven are accused of holding Nordquist captive between January 1 and his death on about February 2, 2025, and subjecting him to repeated violence. Arzuaga, Quijano, Sage, and Goodwin also face aggravated sexual abuse charges.² Ontario County Judge Kristina Karle ordered each defendant tried separately, partly because several had made self-incriminating statements that complicated a joint trial.¹⁰

Where the Case Stands Now

On June 2, 2026, Emily Motyka became the first defendant to plead guilty. She admitted to second-degree murder and second-degree kidnapping, acknowledging that she acted “with depraved indifference to human life.” She waived her right to appeal and faces a prison sentence ranging from 15 years to life up to 50 years to life. A sentencing date had not been set.¹¹

On June 26, 2026, Arzuaga pleaded guilty in Ontario County Court to all 11 charges against her. Ontario County District Attorney Jason MacBride had previously said no plea offer would be extended, so the plea was not a negotiated deal. She is scheduled to be sentenced on September 4, 2026, and faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.¹¹² At the plea hearing, Judge Karle noted that a separate federal investigation into the case is underway, though the federal agency was not identified.⁵

Five defendants still await trial. Jennifer Quijano is expected to go to trial in January or February 2027. Kyle Sage and Patrick Goodwin may be tried together starting March 4, 2027. Trial dates for Thomas Eaves and Kimberly Sochia have not been publicly confirmed. Each trial is estimated to last at least four weeks.¹³

Why Hate Crime Charges Weren’t Filed

Because Nordquist was Black and transgender, the killing raised immediate questions about hate crime charges. A February 2025 joint statement from the New York State Police and then-Ontario County District Attorney James Ritts said that “at this time we have no indication that Sam’s murder was a hate crime,” noting that the victim and his assailants knew each other and that at least one defendant also identified as LGBTQ+. Governor Kathy Hochul directed the State Police to keep examining whether the crime met the hate crime standard.¹⁴

Former First Assistant District Attorney Kelly Wolford said the case was “bigger than a hate crime” and that prosecutors could not tie the motive to Nordquist’s race or gender. The first-degree murder charge instead alleges the defendants tortured Nordquist to death and “did so because they enjoyed it.”¹⁵ The New York City Anti-Violence Project called the killing one that sat “at the intersection of transphobia, racism, intimate partner violence, and hate violence” and urged investigators to examine every factor.¹⁶

The Family’s Response

Linda and Kayla Nordquist have spoken publicly against domestic violence since Sam’s death. In March 2026 they drove 15 hours from Minnesota to the Finger Lakes to meet the new prosecution team and visit a memorial tree planted by community members on the shore of Canandaigua Lake. Linda Nordquist has said she plans to attend court every day when the remaining trials begin.¹⁷

In June 2025 the family held a dove release at Lakefront Park in Canandaigua for what would have been Sam’s 25th birthday. On June 26, 2025, his name was added to the Stonewall Wall of Honor at the Stonewall Inn in New York City, an installation recognizing LGBTQ community members killed by violence. His mother attended the ceremony.¹⁸ Kayla Nordquist has spoken at events organized by Violence Free Minnesota and at a rally at the Minnesota State Capitol, telling audiences that “violence rarely starts with fists. It starts with control designed as care, with isolation that looks like protection.”³

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13WHAM. Ringleader in Sam Nordquist’s Torture and Killing Pleads Guilty to All Charges
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NBC News. Sam Nordquist Killing Room 22
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MPR News. Sam Nordquist Family Saw Signs of Control Before He Was Killed
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NBC News. Disturbing Details Emerge Death Sam Nordquist
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WIVB. Nordquist Murder Suspect Pleads Guilty on All Counts
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Syracuse.com. Accused Finger Lakes Killers Left a Brazen Trail of Depravity and Red Flags
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New York State Police. Troop E Missing Person Investigation Two Additional Suspects Charged Murder
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The Guardian. Trans Man New York Five Charged Murder
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Spectrum News. Suspects Charged With Murder of Transgender Man in Ontario County Plead Not Guilty
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Democrat and Chronicle. Emily Motyka Pleads Guilty Sam Nordquist Murder Case
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13WHAM. Defendant Reaches Guilty Plea in Sam Nordquist Murder Case
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Democrat and Chronicle. Precious Arzuaga Court Hearing Sam Nordquist
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Spectrum News. First Trial Set in Sam Nordquist Case
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ABC News. 5 Arrested Upstate New York Torture Killing Transgender Man
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MPR News. Sam Nordquist’s Family Struggles to Make Sense of His Death
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Anti-Violence Project. Sam Nordquist
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Spectrum News. Nordquist’s Family Returns to NY
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WHEC. Sam Nordquist Will Be Honored at Stonewall Inn’s Wall of Honor