Medical examiner names UW student killed in Sunday stabbing as 19-year-old Juniper Blessing

The King County Medical Examiner's Office has identified the University of Washington student who was killed on Sunday as Juniper Blessing, 19.

Blessing, a transgender woman, was found fatally stabbed in a laundry room at Nordheim Court on Sunday night. A suspect is in custody. He turned himself in to the Bellevue Police Department on Wednesday night, after photos of him taken from security camera footage were released to the public.

Officials have not said what led up to the killing, or whether Blessing was targeted because of their identity.

In a statement released through the Santa Fe Human Rights Alliance, Blessing's family described a devastating loss. "Our family has been shattered by the loss of our child, Juniper Blessing, to an act of unspeakable violence near the University of Washington campus in Seattle," they said. They called Blessing "highly intelligent, extremely talented, and deeply sensitive to the needs of others."

The statement said Blessing was born in Princeton, New Jersey, and attended Littlebrook School and Princeton Middle School before the family moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2018. From 2020 to 2024, Blessing attended the New Mexico School for the Arts and sang in the choir.

Blessing had loved weather since early childhood, the family said, and planned to study atmospheric science at UW while continuing voice training and pursuing minors in music and philosophy. During summers, Blessing worked as an usher at the Santa Fe Opera. "Perhaps most importantly, Juniper was courageously living their life as who they were until it was cut tragically short," the family said. They asked for privacy while the community mourns.

The killing has shaken the local LGBTQ community. In a statement shared on social media earlier this week, the Trans Collective at UW said trans women, particularly trans women of color, are among the populations most vulnerable to violent crime. The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law has found that transgender people are more than four times as likely as cisgender people to be victims of violent crime.

The Trans Collective and the Gender Justice League will host a community healing event on May 16 at 4 p.m. in Sylvan Grove on the university's Seattle campus. In an Instagram post, the group said the community is "still grieving deeply" and that the gathering will offer a place to process those emotions. Because the group wants to respect the victim's privacy and the family's wishes, the event is geared toward those most affected by the news. Transgender and gender-expansive people and allied community members are welcome.

Attendees are asked not to film or take photos, and the family has requested that media not attend.