The mother of a Minnesota transgender man who was tortured and killed in upstate New York suggested that his death was preventable if local authorities had “done their jobs.”
Five people were arrested last week and charged with second-degree murder with depraved indifference in connection with death of the man, Sam Nordquist. Police said in a statement that they found evidence suggesting Nordquist “was subjected to ongoing physical abuse” between December and February.
Months before his remains were discovered last week, his family requested two wellness checks with police in Canandaigua, New York, his mother, Linda Nordquist, told NBC News in a phone call.
She added that her son expressed that he was in danger to local social services and she questioned if more could have been done to intervene before his killing.
“Sam may be alive today if they would have done their jobs,” she said through tears.
The Canandaigua Police Department’s chief of police, Mathew Nielsen, said in a phone call that none of his roughly 30 officers spoke with the family prior to Sam’s death. He suggested that the family is confused about which law enforcement agency they called to perform the wellness checks.
The phone number the family said they called matched the number of CPD’s office. The family also shared a screenshot of their call log with NBC News.
The Ontario County Department of Social Services did not immediately return requests for comment.
‘He didn’t sound like himself’
Linda Nordquist said her son left her home in Oakdale, Minnesota, in September to visit his former partner Precious Arzuaga. Arzuaga lived at Patty’s Lodge, a motel in Canandaigua, New York, in Ontario County. The pair met online several month’s earlier, she recalled, and spoke on the phone daily.
“They were on the phone 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” she said. “They both appeared very happy.”
Arzuaga, 38, is now one of five suspects in Nordquist’s homicide case.
Nordquist booked a flight to be home in Minnesota in early October, Linda Nordquist said. When he didn’t come home or answer texts or phone calls, she requested a wellness check with police.
Soon after, she received a call from her son and Arzuaga assuring her Sam was fine and that he wanted to stay to work on the pair’s relationship. In the months since, Linda Nordquist said her calls with her son became infrequent.
“He didn’t sound like himself,” she said. “It’s like he was being coached what to say.”
Plans to escape, a missed appointment
Then on Dec. 4, she received a distressing email from Ontario County Department of Social Services.
“I’m working with your son Sam. He wanted me to reach you,” the email reads, according to a screenshot of the exchange. “If you can please contact me as soon as your get this email.”
Linda Nordquist recalled that the DSS agent said her son recently visited their offices and confirmed her worries. He expressed that Arzuaga was controlling his cell phone use, that he wanted to come home and was trying to come up with an “escape plan,” the DSS said, according to Linda.
He was supposed to return to the DSS office on Dec. 19, but never showed up, Linda Nordquist said.
“My problem is that if Sam said this, lock the doors and call the police. All these offices have doors on it. Lock the door, call the police and leave Sam there,” she said.
A wellness check and conflicting stories
When she next spoke to her son over the phone, he told her he was “fine,” but she said she feared Arzuaga was listening to the call. The last time she heard from her son was by text on Jan. 31. After days went by without hearing from him, Linda Nordquist and her daughter Kayla Nordquist requested another wellness check with police on Feb. 9.
Police told the family that Arzuaga’s son answered the motel room’s door and claimed to not know who Nordquist was, Linda Nordquist said. The police went back to the motel to speak with Arzuaga the same day, who claimed she and Nordquist broke up and that he left a few weeks ago, Linda Nordquist added.
Unconvinced, Linda and Kayla Nordquist asked New York State Police Troop E to file a missing person’s report. They said a state trooper declined.
“She said I need to stop watching so much TV, something about it not being a true crime episode,” Kayla said. “I need to stop watching so much TV and that they don’t pass out missing people flyers.”
Trooper Lynnea N. Crane, a spokesperson for Troop E, said in a statement Thursday that the “New York State Police extend our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of Sam Nordquist during this difficult time” and “understand the family’s grief and frustration.”
“In this case, the New York State Police did not decline to file a missing persons report,” she said. “Upon receiving concerns about Mr. Nordquist’s whereabouts, we took appropriate investigative steps.”
‘Mom’s here. Mom’s looking.’
The mother and daughter then went to their local police in Oakdale, Minnesota, to file a national missing person’s report, they said. That prompted police to investigate, they said.
They wondered if his identity as a trans person played a role in law enforcement’s response.
“When I called, I said ‘my transgender brother,’ they knew that. So either they didn’t conduct this wellness check because of him being transgender,” Kayla Nordquist said. “Or I’m thinking because he’s transgender people are like, ‘Oh, he’s transgender, which makes him a man so he should man up.’”
At a news conference last week, New York State Police Capt. Kelly Swift called Sam’s homicide “one of the most horrific crimes I have ever investigated” in her 20-year career in law enforcement.
“Sam was subjected to repeated acts of violence and torture in a manner that ultimately led to his death,” Swift said at the news conference. “His body was then transported in an attempt to conceal the crime.”
Despite not hearing from him, Linda Nordquist said she had no indication that her son might be dead. Before receiving the news, she was waiting for her next paycheck to travel to Canandaigua and find him.
“We were going to get blow horns and drive up and down the streets. I made 300 copies of fliers. We were going to put a flier on every door, every business, go door to door if we had to,” she said through tears. “Because if something was happening or if Sam was to a point where he couldn’t go home or whatever, at least Sam could possibly hear my voice and know: ‘Mom’s here. Mom’s looking.’”
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