California man convicted of 2018 murder of gay University of Pennsylvania student

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California man has been convicted of murder in the 2018 hate crime stabbing death of a gay University of Pennsylvania student.

Samuel Woodward, 26, was convicted of first-degree murder with a hate crime aggravation for the killing of Blaze Bernstein.

Bernstein, a gay Jewish sophomore, was visiting family in Southern California over winter break when he disappeared. Authorities combed the area for him and found his body a week later in a shallow grave in a nearby park.

The question that arose during the months-long trial was not whether Woodward killed Bernstein, but why and under what circumstances it happened.

Woodward and Bernstein had attended the same high school in Orange County and had met through a dating app in the months before the attack, according to testimony at trial. Woodward said he picked up Bernstein and drove to a nearby park, where he stabbed Bernstein multiple times after he tried to grab a cellphone he feared had been used to photograph him.

Prosecutors said Woodward joined a violent, homophobic and anti-Semitic group known as the Atomwaffen Division and repeatedly targeted gay men online by contacting them and then abruptly cutting off contact while keeping a journal of his actions filled with hate and profanity. They said Woodward had shown an interest in violent acts in the weeks leading up to the killing and had contacted Bernstein online.

Ken Morrison, Woodward’s attorney, told jurors that his client did not intend to kill anyone and did not hate Bernstein. He said Woodward had struggled in his personal relationships because of a long-undiagnosed autism spectrum disorder and was confused about his sexuality after growing up in a politically conservative and devoutly Catholic family where his father was openly critical of homosexuality.

The case took years to come to trial after questions arose about Woodward's mental state and after multiple changes in defense attorneys. Woodward was found competent to stand trial in late 2022.

Bernstein disappeared in January 2018 after going out with Woodward at a park in Lake Forest, about 45 miles southeast of Los Angeles. After Bernstein missed a dentist appointment the next day, his parents found his glasses, wallet and credit cards in his room and tried to reach him, but he did not respond to texts or calls.

Authorities launched an exhaustive search and said Bernstein's family went through his social media and found that he had communicated with Woodward on Snapchat. Authorities said Woodward told the family that Bernstein had gone to meet a friend in the park that night and had not returned.

A few days later, Bernstein's body was found in a shallow grave. He had been stabbed multiple times in the face and neck.

Authorities said they searched Woodward’s family home in Newport Beach and found a folding knife with a bloodstained blade in his bedroom. They also found a black Atomwaffen mask with blood stains and a slew of anti-gay, anti-Semitic and hate literature, prosecutors said.

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Ding reported from Los Angeles.