SEATTLE — Christopher Leahy has been charged with first-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of University of Washington student Juniper Blessing inside a campus-area apartment complex laundry room, according to King County court documents filed Monday.
Investigators also believe Leahy, 31, may be connected to other prowling incidents near the university.
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Prosecutors allege Leahy killed 19-year-old Blessing on May 10 at the Nordheim Court student housing complex near the University of Washington campus. Charging documents accuse Leahy of acting “with premeditated intent” and say he was armed with “a knife or similarly shaped instrument.”
University of Washington police responded around 10:11 p.m. to reports of a stabbing inside a first-floor laundry room at Nordheim Court. Officers found Blessing unconscious and unresponsive on the floor, and Blessing was pronounced dead at the scene.
Blessing suffered more than 40 stab wounds, according to court documents.
Police released security footage of the suspect to the media and the public, which generated numerous tips. One tip came from Leahy’s brother, who identified him as the man in the video.
Authorities said Leahy later turned himself in at the Bellevue Police Department with his parents after an attorney contacted police on his behalf.
According to documents, Leahy was further connected to the scene through fingerprints allegedly recovered from what appeared to be blood smears on the exterior side of the laundry room door.
Investigators believe Leahy may also be linked to incidents involving someone entering or prowling through homes in Seattle’s Ravenna neighborhood and other buildings near campus, according to new information released in charging documents.
“Police indicate that there were attempts by the defendant to try to enter private homes in Ravenna in the days before the homicide,” Casey McNerthney with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office told KOMO News. “There was at least one other campus building that police say he attempted to get into before the death of Juniper on the 10th.”
According to court documents, “tracking apps and video recordings have placed [Leahy] 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.”
Authorities said evidence gathered so far suggests Blessing, who was transgender, was not specifically targeted because of gender identity, and investigators have not found evidence supporting a hate crime allegation.
The court documents say investigators believe Leahy had been inside the apartment complex earlier in the evening of Blessing’s murder, and allegedly followed another student into the same laundry room roughly 15 minutes before the killing. The student told police a man claiming to wait for laundry followed her into the room before eventually leaving.
“Right now, there is no evidence to prove a hate crime,” McNerthney said. “In order to prove a hate crime, you’ve got to show motivation, but what it appears is that this victim was picked at random.”
If convicted, Leahy faces a sentencing range of about 22 to 29 years in prison, including a deadly weapon enhancement, prosecutors said.
Upon the filing of the charges, Blessing’s family released the following statement:
We wish to thank the Seattle Police Department, their Victim Advocates, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, and the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, all of whom have worked so hard and been so supportive in responding to our recent tragedy.
Today and every day, we remain focused on our Juniper, whose loving spirit has no bounds. Juniper was a beautiful human being with a heart full of love, tolerance, talent, determination and intellectual curiosity that was a light in our world and to the world at large.
We also wish to thank the Seattle community, whose response to this tragedy has been overwhelming, the community of Santa Fe, and LGBTQIA2S+ communities and advocates across the country who are memorializing and keeping vigil for Juniper by saying her name with love, honor, and respect. Thank you for standing beside our family as we grieve the loss of our beloved Juniper. Every gesture of support is another candle lit and another flower which blooms in Juniper’s memory.
The case remains under investigation.
