by Gray Trammel
It has been nearly four months since 19-year-old University of Washington (UW) student Juniper Blessing was stabbed to death in her off-campus student housing laundry room. Her community has been seeking answers as Christopher Leahy, the man charged with her murder in the first degree, has been found incompetent to stand trial, with his next competency hearing scheduled for September 24.
On June 29, a King County Superior Court judge ordered Leahy, 31, to undergo competency-restoration treatment at Western State Hospital. According to charging documents, Leahy attempted to enter private homes and campus buildings in Ravenna leading up to his attack on Blessing. Prosecutors alleged that Leahy entered the Nordheim Court apartment complex after another resident held the door open, and later walked into the laundry room where Blessing was cleaning lint from a dryer— her final act of kindness and selflessness for her fellow neighbors
Surveillance footage released by the Seattle Police Department showed that Leahy entered and exited the laundry room multiple times before unplugging security cameras to commit harm. Concerns about Leahy’s ability to engage in the courts date back to May, when his attorney filed for a competency evaluation to determine whether he understood judicial proceedings and if he would be able to help his own defense.
Prosecutors have stated that they don’t have enough evidence to pursue a hate crime charge, as reported by KUOW. Investigators think Blessing was randomly targeted and there has been no evidence released to the public stating that Leahy knew Blessing personally, or that her Transgender identity played a role in the murder, despite her wearing shoes featuring rainbow pride at the time of the murder. The loss of Blessing on May 10, Mother’s Day, continues to shake Trans communities across the globe and many demand answers and accountability.
Blessing’s death sparked several memorials and vigils within the UW, Santa Fe, and LGBTQIA+ communities who were left mourning a young Transgender woman who had her full life ahead of her, bursting with dreams and aspirations in the fields of atmospheric sciences and music. Students also launched a petition and called for better security measures around the campus and student housing areas, including more lighting, cameras and police presence.
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