We have another update on the story involving the University of Pennsylvania student who was found murdered and buried near his California home.
21-year-old Samuel Woodward pleaded not guilty during an Orange County Superior Court hearing on Friday for the first-degree murder of 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein.
Earlier, Woodward’s bail was set at $5 million, but Judge Kimberly Menninger altered it so Woodward is now being held without bail on the grounds that he’s a potential danger to the community if released, according to 6 ABC.
Woodward is currently on trial for allegedly stabbing and killing Bernstein while he was home for winter break in January.
Bernstein, who was gay and Jewish, went missing and his corpse was later found in a park in Lake Forest, California.
A police investigation later found out that Woodward and Bernstein, who went to the same high school, met up the night of Bernstein’s disappearance. At some point, a fight broke out and Woodward allegedly stabbed Bernstein 20 times in the face and neck.
DNA evidence has connected Woodward to the crime and his cellphone was found to have anti-gay and anti-Semitic content. On top of that, the authorities have collected propaganda found in Woodward’s home for a neo-Nazi group.
Woodward, is due to return to court on January 25, 2019. If convicted of the hate crime, he could be sentenced to a life in prison.
For more on this, visit CBS News and 48 Hours
Here are clips about people remembering Blaze and the 48 Hours report In The Name of Hate: Blaze Bernstein murder: Was an Ivy League student slain in the name of hate?
