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Blaze Bernstein May Have Been Sexually Pursing Friend When He Was Stabbed More Than 20 Times
Bernstein allegedly tried to kiss the suspect.
By Jaime Lutz
The 20-year-old man arrested on charges that he allegedly killed his friend Blaze Bernstein told investigators that Bernstein had made unwanted advances toward him before his disappearance, Fox News reported.
Samuel Lincoln Woodward, 20, was arrested on Friday in the death of Bernstein, a former high school classmate of Woodward’s, police said.
Woodward was reportedly the last person to see Bernstein alive late at night on January 2. Woodward told police he drove Bernstein to the park where Bernstein’s body was later found.
Woodward claimed that he waited for Bernstein to come back from the park for an hour before going to visit his girlfriend — but Woodward was unable to tell investigators his girlfriend’s last name or where she lived, the Orange County Register reported.
The Register reported that Bernstein was found dead of more than 20 stab wounds on January 9. Woodward was arrested after crime lab techs found Bernstein’s blood on a sleeping bag in Woodward’s possession, the Register said.
According to a search warrant affidavit obtained by the Orange County Register, Bernstein told two female friends in June that Woodward wanted to “hit on” him and that Bernstein promised Woodward “not to tell anyone.”
When Woodward was interviewed by investigators about Bernstein’s disappearance, Woodward told police that Bernstein had kissed him in the car before the trip to the park and that Woodward pushed Bernstein away.
“He wanted to tell Blaze to get off of him,” investigators recounted Woodward saying, adding that he clenched his jaw and fists during this part of the interrogation.
Woodward was known for being politically conservative, police said, and filled his social media pages with posts about the confederate flag, guns, the bible, and waterboarding.
When police saw that Woodward had dirt under his nails and scratches on his hands, Woodward told them that the suspicious marks had come from his membership in a “fight club.”
[Photo: Orange County Sheriff's Office]
