SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) A 19-year-old Missouri man accused of killing a transgender teenager in 2017 will be tried in Greene County.
Andrew Vrba was scheduled to be tried in Crawford County for first-degree murder in the death of 17-year-old Ally Steinfeld, who identified as a male-to-female transgender person.
Vrba was one of four people charged with killing or helping to dispose of Steinfeld’s body. Her remains were found in September in Cabool.
Investigators say she was stabbed several times, her eyes were gouged out and her body was set on fire. Authorities have insisted the killing was not a hate crime.
The Springfield News-Leader reports Texas County Prosecutor Parke Stevens Jr. intends to seek the death penalty.
The case was moved earlier this week because the Crawford County judge assigned to the case lost his re-election bid.
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