The body of 21-year-old Ole Miss student Ally Kostial was discovered by police on Saturday, and she was reportedly shot eight times. Here’s what we know so far regarding her death.
1. Ally Kostial
Ally Kostial was taking summer courses and teaching fitness classes at the time of her death and staying on Ole Miss’s campus over the summer. While few details outside of the bullet wounds Kostial sustained have come to light, authorities said it was clear that “foul play was involved” when they discovered her body on Saturday. Kostial was discovered by Saris Lake, in Buford Ridge, about 20 miles from the Ole Miss campus.
2. Brandon Theesfeld
22-year-old Texas man Brandon Theesfeld was arrested on Monday in connection with Kostial’s death and was booked in the Lafayette County Detention Center. He was also reportedly a student enrolled at Ole Miss, but has been suspended from the university. Theesfeld made his first court appearance on Tuesday.
He has been charged with murder.
Theesfeld’s father, Daniel Theesfeld released a statement Tuesday saying, “I know my son is innocent. And I have reasons to believe that I can’t share anything now. But I would ask everybody to please give him the presumption of innocence until proven otherwise.”
3. Before the Alleged Murder
Surveillance footage reportedly showed Kostial stopping at the door of a bar in Oxford Square, but she didn’t go inside. Her roommates said she returned home around midnight but then left the house again at some point. As of now, it’s unclear how she ended up in Buford Ridge. Police have deemed the death a homicide and are investigating it as such.
[Photos via Facebook, the Lafayette Police Department, and Bruce Newman/Getty Images Respectively]