19-year-old Blaze Bernstein, a student at the University of Pennsylvania, went missing after going to a park to hang out with a friend over winter break in Orange County, California. Image by Courtesy

(JTA) — The man accused of killing Blaze Bernstein will face a hate crime charge for targeting the college student because of his sexual orientation.

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office in California announced the new charge against Samuel Woodward, 20, on Thursday. Bernstein was Jewish and gay.

Bernstein’s body was found in January after the 19-year-old University of Pennsylvania student had gone missing from his parents’ Southern California home. Four days later Woodward, a former classmate of Bernstein, was named as a murder suspect. Later that month, ProPublica reported that Woodward was a member of Atomwaffen Division, an extremist neo-Nazi group.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Woodward has pleaded not guilty to killing Bernstein.

According to a January affidavit, Woodward told investigators that Bernstein had kissed him the night he went missing as the two sat in a parked car. Woodward said he rebuffed the move and Bernstein then left the car.

The Anti-Defamation League praised the district attorney office’s decision in a statement that noted Woodward’s ties to the neo-Nazi group.

“This case is a stark reminder of how white supremacist organizations sweep up young recruits into their violent and hateful culture, with potentially deadly consequences,” said the ADL’s national director, Jonathan Greenblatt. “The hate crime enhancement sends a strong message that there are severe penalties for violent crimes motivated by hate.”

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount