SEATTLE (TCN) — A 31-year-old man has been booked into jail and is being held on $10 million bail in connection with the fatal stabbing of a University of Washington student.
The Seattle Times reports that on May 10, a resident at a university housing complex dialed 911 after finding a student on the floor of the laundry room. Responding officers found Juniper Blessing, 19, unresponsive and suffering from stab wounds. An autopsy later determined that she had been stabbed 40 times in the head, neck, shoulders, hands, and arms. Her cause of death was blood loss.
According to the Seattle Times, a witness told police that she was followed into the laundry room by a man who claimed that he was waiting for his laundry. The witness left, and Blessing was reportedly found on the floor about 10 minutes later.
Police obtained surveillance footage that showed the man entering the laundry room and looking directly at the camera while Blessing was cleaning the lint trap of a dryer. KCPQ reports that when police obtained the footage, some of it was missing because the cord had been pulled; in the footage, the suspect allegedly appeared to look at the cord. A video specialist later pulled more of the video from the SD card associated with the device. The Seattle Times reports that it is not clear whether Blessing’s death was captured on the footage.
Police posted the surveillance image, and a relative and friend of the suspect both called in tips. According to court documents obtained by WHAM, the suspect, Christopher Michael Leahy, turned himself into police in Bellevue, Washington, on May 12 and he was then transferred to Seattle detectives.
The Seattle Times reports that an anonymous classmate described Leahy as popular and friendly before going through a personality shift in 10th grade. He would exhibit erratic behaviors, according to those who knew him. Court records obtained by the Times state that Leahy’s family pulled him from his private school and sued the school due to bullying and harassment Leahy reportedly received; they later settled.
According to the Leahy family’s lawyers, Leahy “went from being a socially active teenager who attended school functions, to being a withdrawn young man who became an outcast that was excluded from social circles.”
The Seattle Times reports that Blessing was a trans student involved in the school’s music program. She graduated from New Mexico School for the Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2024. She was studying music, philosophy, and atmospheric science at the time of her death. Her family said, “Juniper was simply the most amazing human being we have ever known — highly intelligent, extremely talented, and deeply sensitive to the needs of others. Juniper’s loss not only devastates us but diminishes the world.”
At his first court appearance on May 14, a judge found probable cause for first-degree murder and set Leahy’s bail at $10 million, according to WHAM. During the hearing, Leahy’s defense argued that he should be charged with second-degree murder, but the prosecutors argued that first-degree murder charges were warranted due to the severity of Blessing’s Injuries.
Them reports Seattle Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck said, “Seattle must serve as a refuge for our trans neighbors who are fleeing regions trying to erase their existence, which is why today’s news is so devastating and horrific.”
WHAM reports that Leahy is scheduled to appear again in court on May 18.
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