Authorities have arrested a University of Mississippi student from Texas, saying he killed a female student whose body was found last weekend not far from the Ole Miss campus.
Lafayette County Sheriff's Major Alan Wilburn said 22-year-old Brandon A. Theesfeld of Fort Worth has been charged with murder in the death of Alexandria "Ally" Kostial. The 21-year old woman from St. Louis was found dead Saturday night near a lake about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the university grounds.
Theesfeld was arrested Monday afternoon and booked into the county jail.
Brandon Theesfeld, left, is led from the Lafayette County Courthouse in Oxford, Miss., Tuesday, July 23, 2019, by Maj. Alan Wilburn, after being arraigned in connection with the death of 21-year-old University of Mississippi student Alexandria "Ally" Kostial. (Bruce NewmanThe Oxford Eagle via AP)
Authorities haven't said how Kostial died, but her death has shocked many in and around the Ole Miss community.
"We are not releasing details of the investigation as this is an ongoing investigation," Wilburn said.
Ole Miss spokesman Rod Guajardo said Theesfeld, a student of business administration, has been suspended from the university.
Brandon Theesfeld, left, is led from the Lafayette County Courthouse in Oxford, Miss., Tuesday, July 23, 2019, by Maj. Alan Wilburn, after being arraigned in connection with the death of 21-year-old University of Mississippi student Alexandria "Ally" Kostial. (Bruce NewmanThe Oxford Eagle via AP)
Kostial was studying for a bachelor's degree in marketing. The woman's father, Keith Kostial, posted on Facebook that his daughter had been attending summer school and teaching fitness classes at the university.
Theesfeld's father, Dr. Daniel Theesfeld told WMC-TV that his son didn't kill Kostial.
"I know my son is innocent," the father said. "And I have reasons to believe that I can't share anything now. But I would ask everybody to please give him the presumption of innocence until proven otherwise."
Lawyer Swayze Alford, who represented Theesfeld in an appearance Tuesday morning appearance before a judge, didn't return a phone call or email seeking comment.
Lafayette County Circuit Judge Andrew Howorth agreed to consider whether to set bail for Theesfeld at a later date.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn’t order the death of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny in February, according to an official familiar with the determination.
While U.S. officials believe Putin was ultimately responsible for the death of Navalny, who endured brutal conditions during his confinement, the intelligence community has found “no smoking gun” that Putin was aware of the timing of Navalny's death — which came soon before the Russian president's reelection — or directly ordered it, according to the official.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.
Soon after Navalny’s death, U.S. President Joe Biden said Putin was ultimately responsible but did not accuse the Russian president of directly ordering it.
At the time, Biden said the U.S. did not know exactly what had happened to Navalny but that “there is no doubt” that his death “was the consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.”
Navalny, 47, Russia’s best-known opposition politician and Putin’s most persistent foe, died Feb. 16 in a remote penal colony above the Arctic Circle while serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges that he rejected as politically motivated.
He had been behind bars since January 2021 after returning to Russia from Germany, where he had been recovering from nerve-agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.
Russian officials have said only that Navalny died of natural causes and have vehemently denied involvement both in the poisoning and in his death.
In March, a month after Navalny’s death, Putin won a landslide reelection for a fifth term, an outcome that was never in doubt.
The Wall Street Journal first reported about the U.S. intelligence determination.
FILE - Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny gestures while speaking during his interview to the Associated Press in Moscow, Russia on Dec. 18, 2017. U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn't order the death of Navalny, the imprisoned opposition leader, in February of 2024. An official says the U.S. intelligence community has found "no smoking gun" that Putin was aware of the timing of Navalny's death or directly ordered it. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
