A Hate That Killed - The Life and Death of Blaze Bernstein

March 24, 2025

In this episode, Payton and Garrett explore the heartbreaking case of Blaze Bernstein. After vanishing during a visit to his family in Orange County, investigators race to retrace his final steps—only to uncover a disturbing truth that leaves the community reeling.

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AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

You're listening to an Oh No Media podcast.

Hey everyone, welcome back to the podcast! This is Murder with My Husband. I'm Payton Moreland.

And I'm Garrett Moreland.

And he's the husband.

I'm the husband.

Well, I'm going to be honest—I know I'm supposed to be recording right now, and I will be recording because I love all you guys. But there's a pretty important game on right now—Alabama versus Robert Morris—and Morris is hanging on. They're down by four points with four minutes left. So if you're on YouTube and you casually see me looking at my phone, that's why. But don't worry, Payton is going to be locked and loaded, ready to go, so there's nothing to worry about.

And just remember, before you're like, What? He hates this? He hates it—remember, I do it because I love you guys.

He's a full-blown hater. He still hates true crime and genuinely does not enjoy listening to these cases.

It's true.

It is true. But I'm here.

I'm ready to get into this case. I've just been watching March Madness.

Payton and I were in California for a few days. We're back in Utah, hanging out. That’s it. We got anything else, or is that about it for us?

Well, we drove—oh my gosh. We left at three. Can someone explain to me why there's not a high-speed train from California to Utah, Colorado, and so on? Vegas? I don't know, I just—I find it insane. Other countries have great transportation, and we're just like, Nah, we don't need that.

I'm complaining because we woke up at 3:30 to drive back from California to Utah. And the reason we woke up so early was to skip all the traffic. It was a journey, huh?

I'm honestly not quite sure how we're alive right now.

Yeah, I'm pretty tired. But ain't no rest for the wicked. Money doesn't grow on trees. I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed, ain't nothing in this world for free.

Name that song.

On that note, let's get into this case.

Our sources for this episode are:

Forward.com, CNN.com, thedp.com, Patch.com, ABCNewsGo.com, NBCLosAngeles.com, 6abc.com, Yahoo.com, BlazeBurnstein.org, and CBSNews.com.

You guys, hate is a very dangerous weapon. But it doesn't come from nowhere, right?

Oftentimes on this show, we see hate stem from things like jealousy, resentment, abuse, money, and revenge. But sometimes, hate is planted like a seed by other people—grown and watered with things like indoctrination, brainwashing, and being told that your way of life is superior to all the rest. That anyone who doesn’t think like you, look like you, or act like you is not worthy of a happy life—or, in extreme cases, a life at all.

And that might be the most dangerous kind of hate there is.

Because it’s one that lurks in the shadows. It doesn’t necessarily come from someone close to you—or even someone you know. And it will strike at the first opportunity, all as a way to make some sort of proclamation. Some sort of statement.

But as you’ll learn in today’s case—hate never wins in the end.

What do you think about my little intro things?

I love your intro things.

Yeah, I like them a lot. I sit there, I listen, I take it all in, and then I try to figure out what the case is going to be about.

Sometimes I feel like you're not taking it in because you'll be like, "Wait, I'm interested to see if she lives." And in the beginning, I would have said if the person—well, I guess it depends.

Sometimes I take it in, sometimes I don’t. You know what I’m saying?

Yeah, well, you know, I’m trying to do like a hook so people are ready for what today’s case is going to be about.

No, I like it. You’re doing great, babe.

I almost just called the listeners chat. I’ve been streaming on Twitch too much.

They’re definitely our listeners. Listeners, let me know what you think about my hooks.

Okay, so let’s head over to—um, I did see that someone said they don’t like the hooks when they spoil the cases.

Okay, which I guess makes sense.

Which—that’s why I said sometimes I feel like you don’t listen, because there will be times where I’ll say whether—

I would agree with that. I think I like the hooks when they don’t—when they make the story even more mysterious, you know what I’m saying?

Okay, yeah, I agree.

Not that I’m criticizing or anything.

I’m just saying—there’s criticism, and then there’s just plain rude.

That’s not plain rude! That’s just criticism.

And then there’s hate, like Payton’s talking about.

And hate never wins.

Hate never wins.

He’s a jerk.

That was a good sentence. I felt like it was—it was good, baby.

Okay, we’re starting the case. We’re starting the Hate Never Wins case.

So let’s head over to Orange County, California, where Blaze Bernstein was born on April 27, 1998.

No way his name is Blaze.

His name is Blaze Bernstein.

I’m sorry—I promise we’re not those people usually, but I have to interrupt.

You know what it reminds me of?

What?

Have you seen Dodgeball?

No.

Taser. Laser. Blazer. I mean, they don’t say Blazer, but anyways, if you’ve watched Dodgeball, you’ll get the reference. If you haven’t, then ignore me. We’re going to keep going.

So Blaze comes from what sounds like a truly loving family.

He was born in 1998 and had two other siblings. His mom, Jeanne, is a former lawyer, and his father, Gideon, is a partner at a financial consulting firm. They really do seem like nurturing, supportive parents because they embraced the fact that Blaze was a bit of a quirky kid. He was a little unique and different growing up in the early 2000s.

Plus, he had a lot of interests, and they wanted to give him the opportunity to explore all of them—writing, cooking, participating at his local synagogue. Blaze did it all. And he was the kind of person who always took others into consideration. He was warm, thoughtful, respectful of everyone—the kind of kid you would instantly connect with, maybe even fall in love with.

In 2016, he made the trip east from California to attend the Ivy League school, the University of Pennsylvania.

Actually, I was born two years before him, so we’re kind of on the same timeline a little bit here.

So he’s in Ivy League, which I wasn’t, so—there.

Blaze chose to become a pre-med student with dreams of one day becoming a doctor. In the meantime, he found a place where his love for writing and food could intersect as he became a copy editor for the campus’s food-driven magazine, Penn Appétit.

That’s kind of smart.

Yeah.

Freshman into sophomore year, Blaze was really finding his stride. He embraced his sexuality—he was a gay Jewish man on campus—and he started to really find his circles. He was also finding his voice, using writing as a platform to support the issues he believed in most.

But Blaze never lost sight of his roots. Every school break, he made his way west to his family home in Orange County, California, to unwind and reconnect—see old friends, stop by the local synagogue, celebrate holidays and old traditions.

Which was exactly what 19-year-old Blaze was doing in the winter of 2017.

It was winter break, and like every year, Blaze celebrated Hanukkah with his family. The budding chef took to the kitchen to prepare them a lavish feast. As winter break sped by, the holidays turned into New Year's Eve, and before Blaze knew it, it was now January of 2018. But he still had another week or two before he was due back on campus for his next semester.

So Blaze made the most of it, seeing friends any opportunity he got.

But on the night of January 2, 2018, Blaze didn't seem to tell his parents what he was getting into. After all, he was a college student now—any restrictions he may have had in high school were probably no longer on the table. All they assumed was that Blaze had left the house sometime that evening to meet up with a friend.

The following morning, Blaze was scheduled for a dentist appointment. His mother, Jeanne, was actually planning to meet him there, but when she got to the waiting room and realized Blaze was a no-show, she sensed that something was wrong.

It was completely unlike Blaze to miss a responsibility like that, and now that he wasn’t answering his cell phone either, it sent a chill down his mother's spine. She rushed home, raced straight to Blaze’s bedroom, and that’s when it became undeniable to her that something was really wrong.

Blaze’s retainer, wallet, keys, and glasses were all still in his bedroom—as were his bags that he had brought home from college. That told Jeanne that Blaze wasn’t planning to stay out overnight.

It didn’t matter who he was with.

But not only was Blaze not answering his phone—his Find My Friends app, meaning the location services on his phone, had been turned off.

That’s when Blaze’s parents began calling every friend they could think of to try and find their son. But not a single one of his friends seemed to know where Blaze was or what he had done the night before.

The next thing his parents did was call Verizon, just to see if they could tell them where Blaze had made any recent phone calls. Verizon confirmed that Blaze hadn’t made any phone calls since his parents had last seen him. And when they checked Blaze’s laptop, they didn’t find any text messages or Facebook messages that seemed alarming either.

Not only was there no sign of where 19-year-old Blaze had gone—it was also unclear who he had met up with the night before.

Which meant the next stop was the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

Blaze's mom says that at first, the Orange County Sheriff's Department did not seem too alarmed by Blaze’s disappearance. They actually tell her that 100% of the time when kids his age go missing, they are actually out on a "booty call."

100% is a crazy broad statement. We could have just gone with 99, you know what I mean?

While they do get a missing person’s report filed, it doesn’t seem like there’s a huge urgency for the police to begin an investigation that day. The Bernsteens feel like they’re on their own for now, which is when Jean and Gideon—his parents—get their 14-year-old daughter, Bow, to help them with another angle. Because we all know that any 14-year-old kid excels at social media, especially in 2018.

That’s when she tells them they should probably check Blaze’s Snapchat account.

The Bernsteens get lucky because Blaze’s username and password are saved in his iCloud Keychain on his laptop. So they don’t actually have to try to guess anything. But they would have to know his password for his computer—which I’m guessing they did. Or maybe he just didn’t have one.

They log into his Snapchat and see that Blaze sent his address to someone the night before he went missing. They don’t know who the user is, but they send them a DM asking if they can call. Then they just sort of pray that this person responds.

Shockingly, they do.

A short while later, they get a call from another kid in the area, someone Blaze had gone to high school with—a kid they’d never heard of—named Samuel Woodward.

They ask Sam if he saw Blaze last night, saying that he obviously found their DM and called them.

They tell him that Blaze hasn’t come home and that they’re looking for any help they can get—they just want to locate him.

Sam actually seems pretty cooperative with the family. He tells Gideon that he and Blaze did see each other last night. That it was super spur-of-the-moment—they were both in town and decided that since they hadn’t seen each other in a while, they should catch up.

Sam says that when they decided to hang out, he drove over to Blaze’s house and picked him up around 11 p.m.

Blaze then asked Sam to drive him to a place called Borrego Park, which was nearby, so they could meet up with another friend.

So, quick synopsis: According to Sam, Blaze Snapchats him, gives him his address, Sam goes to pick him up, and then while they’re driving, Blaze says they should go to the park to meet up with another friend. And Sam says he did what Blaze asked.

I just want to clarify here—we are in a very typically safe area of Orange County.

Yeah, I was looking up where that park is, and if it’s where I think it is, Orange County is—it’s like a bubble, right? It’s usually a very safe place, depending on where you’re at in Orange County.

Yeah, I’m curious. I’m curious what happened.

According to Sam, he and Blaze went to the park, got out of the car, and Sam asked who they were meeting.

Blaze said, "Oh, you’ll see soon."

Then Sam claimed he went over to the public restroom in the park, but when he came back, Blaze was nowhere to be found.

Sam wondered if he had wandered off. He strolled around the park for a bit, calling out for Blaze, but he didn’t see or hear anything. So Sam just got back in his car, wondering what to do. He headed home and never saw Blaze again after that.

Now, there were a few other messages they found between Blaze and Sam that actually seemed to corroborate this version of events. Sam sent Blaze a few Snapchats afterward that night, asking, "Hey, where did you go? I can't find you. What's going on?"

And before Sam hangs up on the phone with Blaze’s dad, Gideon, he says, "I'm sorry. I want to find Blaze as much as you do."

So he seems like he can be trusted.

But here’s where things get strange. When Blaze’s parents start calling around to his friends, asking if they knew Sam Woodward, his friends' reactions are not reassuring.

They start saying this isn’t a very good sign.

Blaze’s friends tell his parents that Sam Woodward is actually kind of a dangerous individual.

A little bit about 20-year-old Sam—he went to Orange County School of the Arts for high school alongside Blaze. A lot of the kids there said he was quiet, withdrawn, and definitely an introvert. He didn’t really have any one group of kids that he hung out with. Basically, he was the polar opposite of Blaze, who was very social, popular, and outgoing.

Maybe the only thing the two had in common was the fact that they both grew up in households where religion was a big part of their lives. For Blaze, it was Judaism. For Sam Woodward, it was strict Catholicism.

So strict that Sam’s mother wouldn’t allow them to read Harry Potter because it supported the idea that witchcraft and dark forces were fun and entertaining.

There are also some sources that say Sam Woodward showed signs of being neurodivergent from as early as preschool, but he was finally diagnosed with autism at age 18.

Here’s the thing, though—Sam’s parents pulled him out of Orange County School of the Arts his junior year because he had gotten in trouble multiple times for being homophobic toward the gay students there.

Which seemed to be a bit of an open secret at the school.

Because when a lot of kids heard that Sam and Blaze had connected on social media, this little detail rang in the back of their heads.

They thought, well, Sam’s a known homophobe.

As did all the other times Sam was caught drawing guns in his notebook during class.

And found himself saying something racist, sexist, homophobic—I mean, all of the above.

Blaze’s parents are learning all of this in real time. They talk to Sam, and he seems nice. But then they start talking to more of Blaze’s friends, telling them he was last seen with Sam, and these people are immediately raising red flags.

This is weird.

Sam is not a good person.

I wonder if Blaze knew that Sam was known as a homophobe.

That’s just what his parents are thinking—what would a kid like Sam want with Blaze?

To a lot of Blaze’s friends, there were only two viable options. Either Sam had always been closeted and had come out to Blaze and maybe wanted to meet up with him because of that, or Sam had much more nefarious intentions with Blaze Bernstein that night.

Luckily, Blaze’s parents had the foresight to record the conversation they had with Sam on the phone that afternoon, which was incredibly smart. This was the last person he had Snapchatted.

Smart of them to record that, just in case there were critical details they missed.

They share that conversation with the police, along with everything they had learned about Sam from Blaze’s friends. The police decide to bring Sam Woodward in for questioning on January 4th—two days after Blaze apparently went missing while hanging out with Sam.

But there, Sam gives the police the exact same story he told Blaze’s parents. He says he picked Blaze up, that Blaze asked to go to the park, that he drove him there, and then they got separated. He couldn’t find him.

And police have to take Sam at his word at this point. While he may have had some radical opinions about race, sexuality, and gender in the past, that’s not something you can arrest someone for. So Sam is sent home that night without any charges.

The following day, the search for Blaze Bernstein begins in earnest.

By now, news of Blaze’s disappearance had spread all over Southern California, and people came out in droves to try to find the missing 19-year-old. Hundreds of tips were called into the Orange County Sheriff’s Department within the first few days of the investigation. Meanwhile, police were still keeping a close eye on Sam, tracking his movements to see if there was anything suspicious—anything that might give him away.

At the same time, police looked into Blaze’s cell phone data to try and zero in on his final location.

Sure enough, it seemed that Blaze—or at least his cell phone—had never made it out of Borrego Park that night.

On the night of January 9th, seven days after Blaze was last seen, police conducted another search of the area. That evening, it was pouring rain—exactly what police needed.

The downpour helped them spot a body, one that had been covered in dirt and tree branches before but had since been partially uncovered by the rain.

Burying a body in a public park—how did he think it wouldn’t be found?

Especially when it was the same park he told police he last saw him at.

The body is later identified as the missing 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein, confirmed even further when police find his smashed cell phone less than a foot away.

When Blaze’s autopsy is performed, it reveals just how terrible the crime committed against him was.

Blaze had been stabbed 19 times. In his neck. But investigators know he fought back. He had defensive wounds all over his hands.

This is no longer a missing person’s case. This isn’t even just a homicide. With everything police know, it appears to be a vicious hate crime. And the only suspect they have is Sam Woodward.

On January 12th, as Sam is pulling out of his driveway at his parents' Newport Beach home, police pull him over and arrest him on suspicion of murder.

I just have to say something, and I know a lot of you are going to disagree with this, and even Payton probably disagrees with this. I'm just a little more extreme than she is. She's probably scared of what I'm going to say right now, but dude, just stabbing someone 19 times, I feel like you should be stabbed 19 times back. You know what I'm saying? Eye for an eye. Anyways, on that note, let's keep going.

So they pull him over in front of his Newport Beach home, arrest him, and impound Sam's car as evidence. Inside of it, they find blood—blood that belongs to both Sam Woodward and Blaze Bernstein. But they also find a heck of a lot more evidence inside Sam Woodward's parents' home. You're going to say pants? Yeah, not only do they find the murder weapon, a folding knife that still has Blaze's blood on the blade, they also find a mask that's covered in blood. Not just any mask, though. This was an Atomwaffen mask, which is a far-right extremist neo-Nazi terrorist organization—one that primarily recruits people online and specifically targets members of the LGBTQIA+ community and Jewish people, which makes Blaze Bernstein a prime target.

Police also discover what they call a hate diary in Sam's bedroom, with entries that read things like, "Text is boring, murder isn't," next to hand-drawn images of knives and skulls.

What is wrong with people? I don't want to use the word “them," but it is embarrassing. It's like, it's embarrassing, and it's gross. What? It's awful. Get a life, or don't get a life. And he did—this is his life, hating people. I'm just like, what?

But apparently, Sam's involvement with the Atomwaffen wasn't confined to his bedroom. He had even made a trip to Colorado in the past to meet with a neo-Nazi leader, and then another trip to Texas, where he attended an Atomwaffen retreat. It was literally called a hate camp.

Are these not, like, on the radars of the FBI? I mean, not that I want to go down that rabbit hole, but you know what I'm saying?

Okay, but get what they learn at this hate camp, okay? Members of this group would go to this hate camp and get specialized training on how to commit a hate crime, how to become a violent extremist—basically how to become a violent member of this group.

It's terrifying to think that this exists in our world. Dude, that's so wild. To me, it's just like, you attend this group? Bye. Like, that has to be illegal. Is it?

Not, um, I don't think you're committing any crimes, so probably not, right? What crime are you committing? Freedom of speech, right? But yeah, I mean, you're not committing any crime. I mean, I'm not going to say it's the same thing, but I mean, you have, like, cults, stuff like that. I mean, they're not doing anything illegal, so I mean, I get it. Yeah, it feels like it should be, right? Right, I get it. I get it.

Apparently, Sam was so involved in this group, he was even the one designing the admissions test at one point for these guys. So this isn't just like a morbid curiosity. There is evidence that Sam was actively involved in this terrorist group.

Sorry, I guess to go back for a second, I guess it could be illegal if it was, like, conspiracy to commit XX and X, right? Like, you're known to do this, like, you know, terrorism, like conspiracy to commit—yeah, I guess they don't have to do the act first.

So it appears that this started back as early as middle school when Sam first took an interest in World War II Nazi history, and as he approached his teenage years, Sam began seeking out neo-fascist and neo-Nazi groups online and quickly became radicalized. And I can't believe that exists. Well, I know, if you're a fan of true crime, you also probably became heavily involved in World War II history, on the spectrum of thinking that the Nazis were absolutely horrific and what they did to Jewish people and minority groups was horrific. And to think that Sam also became heavily involved in World War II history but was idolizing the Nazis—I forgot that Blaze was Jewish as well, so duh, all this is making 100% sense.

Which is a whole other scary thing—to think that teenage children could be seeking these hate groups out on the internet and are getting indoctrinated without parents even being aware, because that's what he did. He became fascinated with the Nazis and then got online and searched to see if there were any other people out there who were fans of this behavior.

So what police come to discover was that Blaze Bernstein was being targeted by Sam months before they actually met up in December.

See that? I mean, I'm pretty sure that's illegal.

In fact, Sam had created a Tinder account the prior summer, so 2017, probably looking for the perfect target to prove his loyalty. And that's when he came across a profile he recognized—Blaze from high school. And he began planting the seed. The two began talking over the following months. Blaze confided in Sam about his GPA dropping and the idea of taking a semester off. A flirtation even started between the two, Blaze telling Sam that he was attracted to him, and Sam seemingly returned the sentiment in these messages.

When Blaze's friends were asked why he might have even entertained a connection with Sam, they said Blaze might have been intrigued by the idea of a once very conservative classmate finally coming out of his shell and just accepting his sexuality—that he was probably, you know, against gay people because he was actually gay. And so, there was something about projection, basically. Yeah, and that, so there was something for Blaze about, you know, finally helping someone accept this. Chances were, Blaze, being the kind and thoughtful person he was, saw an opportunity to support someone who needed a confidant, and he chose to play that role for Sam.

But I guess their conversation sort of fizzled out over the following months. That was until the two matched again in January of 2018. It was actually that night, that's when Blaze decided to give Sam his address and see where the conversation went in person.

So, they finally meet up. Of course, he had no idea that Sam had become this radicalized member of a terrorist organization and that he was literally walking into a lion's den. So, the police feel pretty confident that Sam acted on his own here, at least when it came to the actual murder. But when they go through his computer and the forums that he visited after committing the murder, it does seem like he told other members of his community about the murder and was praised for it.

Which is why, seven months after Sam's arrest, prosecutors actually upgrade his charges from murder in the first degree to murder in the first degree with a hate crime. The difference is actually the possibility of parole. If Sam was found guilty of a hate crime, no parole. It would take that possibility off the table, which would mean Sam would die behind bars.

Now, of course, Sam Woodward pleaded not guilty to all of his charges.

That surprises me. Sorry, sorry to interrupt you, but it surprises me that he pleaded not guilty. You’d think his defense probably doesn’t know he did it, wink wink, but you would think his defense would be like, "Take the plea deal, plead to first-degree without the hate crime, 'cause then you might be able to get parole."

Yeah, well, I don’t think Sam believes he did anything wrong. I don’t think he thinks he is guilty. Probably not. In his ideology, this was the right thing to do.

So, he had a pre-trial hearing in January of 2019, a year after the murder. Like we see in a lot of cases, Sam's official trial was delayed because of the pandemic, and after a long series of postponements, Sam actually got his day in court in April of 2024.

This murder happened in 2018, and the trial doesn't happen until 2024?

You have to think about this. That is six years of the family's life that they just have to sit and wait and see.

Oh my gosh, that's horrible. You know what? There will be justice. Make me a judge, I'll go through these cases really fast.

That's also six years of stress, lawyer fees, time, sleepless nights wondering if the person who murdered your son is going to stay behind bars. That's way too long in my opinion for anyone to wait for justice, especially because the stakes are really high in this case. In a way, it's not just about getting justice for Blaze, it's also about getting justice for a hate crime. When someone is a target of a hate crime, it feels like an attack on that entire community—the community that was targeted—and finally just standing up and facing evil and hatred as a whole.

And when Sam Woodward walked through the doors into that courtroom that day, he really did look like the embodiment of evil. His matted hair was dangling in his face; he was a spitting image of Charles Manson. But for the members of the jury, the question wasn't going to be a matter of "Did Sam kill Blaze Bernstein?" It’s going to be, "Is this a hate crime?" And the defense was armed and ready with their own version of events, mainly surrounding Sam's own struggles with his sexuality. So, this is the defense that they come up with.

They paint this picture: Sam Woodward was someone who had been battling autism, specifically a form of it called Asperger syndrome, and obsessive-compulsive disorder for much of his life. This played into his inability to maintain personal relationships and basically build trust, which also caused problems when Sam began questioning his sexual identity. Of course, they said it didn't help that Sam had been brought up in a very politically conservative and strictly religious Catholic household, one that spoke openly against the acceptance of homosexuality.

So, the defense claimed the events of that fateful night played out like this: Sam had connected with Blae out of sexual interest. It was real. He picked Blaze up that night, went to the park, smoked a joint on a bench, and then Sam blacked out. This is the defense. He wakes up, his pants were unbuckled, and he claimed Blae was groping him and taking a video of him. Not only is Blae dead, but now they’re trying to pin it on him. Sam, at court, says Blae not only took the video but was planning to out him, basically, to everyone. And so Sam snapped. He claimed that in the moment, all he could think about was how his parents would react if they knew that he had done it. So, he grabbed a knife and began stabbing Blaze. Blah blah blah. This is the defense.

And actually, the murder weapon, that knife that he brought with him, was actually from his Boy Scout years. He had got that knife and then stabbed someone. I have so many problems, obviously, with this version of events. Not only does it contradict all of the evidence—the hate diary, the terrorist ties, everything he did afterward—it’s the fact that there is actually no evidence that this photo or video existed on Blaz's phone.

Yeah, I guess they could claim that it was filmed on Snapchat. Yeah, I guess. And then you press the X and there’s nothing. That’d be the only way you could claim it. If not, you can see deleted videos. You can see deleted photos.

As Blaz’s family, there would be nothing more disgusting and hurtful than to go in court and try to seek justice for your son, who was killed because of a hate crime, for being nothing other than who he was, and then to hear the defense paint your son as the perpetrator—your son as the bad person—your son who was sexually assaulting and videoing someone and threatening to out them. That would be insanely hurtful to hear as a family.

Oh, I have so many issues with this. I know there’s a lot of... We have a couple... I feel like we have a couple defense attorneys that listen to this, people in law school, people that have their law degrees in general. And the reason I have a problem with this is because the defense team is defending him, right? Yes, they know he did it. Like, don’t get me wrong, don’t even try to come at me in my DMs right now and be like, "No, they have no idea." No, we all know he did it. The evidence is obvious. They know. They’re just trying to get him out of the hate crime.

It just sucks, as like, I guess it's just part of the game, but it sucks, as like, the defense team knows that it was probably a hate crime. They're just trying to get around it, but they're still willing to drag Blaz's name through the mud and do this to the family. And so it's just like, you're like, how do you go home and sleep at night?

Yeah, morally, how do you go home and you're like, "Yeah, that's fine. It's just because I was defending my client and I was trying to give them a, um, right to a speedy trial, and they're obligated to give them the best defense possible."

No, 100%, and it's just frustrating, though, because it's just revictimizing people. Morally, it seems extremely wrong. I get the game. I understand it. I understand it. Um, I don't know, maybe defense attorneys are just a different breed and they just don’t care, or they just look at it as a job, but it's... I just think it's pretty messed up. Like, I just think it's pretty messed up, but that's just my two cents on that. And we'll go back into the case.

Okay, so what I do want to talk about, there's actually another part to this case that comes out at trial. Okay, police searched all of Sam's media, phone, and computer. They find a good deal of gay porn sites on Sam's computer.

Interesting. So maybe he really was closeted, as well as these neo-Nazi forums. You know what I mean?

He was heavily involved in both, and they also find witnesses that say, "Oh, um, Sam actually has been hiding his sexuality or trying to repress it." In high school, Sam would not talk to this kid, but then at night would send him nude photos of himself. So, he like, would avoid him and not talk to him at school, but then at night, over the phone, would send naked photos.

There was another connection they found on Sam's Tinder, where he was sending naked pictures to other boys. Maybe you could argue this was just a way for him to lure victims that he hated so much, but that really wouldn't be necessary. This, to me, reads more like Sam really was struggling with his sexuality. He felt like he wasn't allowed to embrace it and still be accepted by his parents. So, instead, he took his frustrations out on someone who was openly gay and accepted by his parents in a way. Blae was living the life Sam seemed to want, and that was unacceptable for him, which still makes this murder against Blae an undeniable hate crime.

He was doing it. It's still a hate crime because you're doing it because the other person is gay. But is there a lot of projection going on here? Sam hated himself so much that he would get on these forums and talk about people who were exactly like him, and then ended up killing someone. You know what I mean?

By July of 2024, Sam's trial had concluded. After six years of uncertainty, the family would finally have their resolution when the jurors returned with the verdict: "We, the jury, find the defendant Samuel Woodward guilty of the crime of first-degree murder." And there was another piece of paper, one that said, "We, the jury, find it to be true that the defendant Samuel Woodward committed a hate crime, first degree."

I love when the jury gets things right. Love it.

There was a packed courthouse this day, full of people who loved Blae, and when it was read that there was a hate crime, cheers actually erupted in the courtroom. So, later that year, Sam Woodward was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Sheesh, imagine just being like, "I'm glad, but there is absolutely no way you will get out. I'm never getting out."

As for the hate group that Sam was a part of, that online presence has pretty much dissolved entirely today. This group doesn't really exist, but this threat absolutely still exists, as there are other factions and hate groups that try to recruit vulnerable people online every single day. Still, Blaz's case has brought this world one step closer to snuffing out that sort of hate.

In a statement to the court, his mother Jean said this: "To lose my firstborn child, my dream for the future, my partner in fun, is the single worst thing that has ever happened to me. He accomplished more than most people do in a full life, and for that, we are grateful. Blae, we did the best we could for you. We figured out who did this, we brought him to justice, and we have worked to make this world better," which is why Blaz's case is proof that love will always win in the end.

And that is the case of Blae Bernstein. We talk about it so much just... I mean, just killing people for no reason. Like, there's no reason. I mean, yeah, I guess hate. I guess the person who commits the act of killing someone might think they have a reason, but at the end of the day, there's never a reason to kill somebody. I don't know, horrible. That's so sad.

It's crazy because, um, I know all the areas where this happened. I had no idea this case was even out there. I think, you know, sometimes it can feel like, "Oh, it's just hate on this minority group," but technically, every single school shooter falls into this category of killing for hatred. Killing for hatred, killing innocent random people, whoever happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And it's just like, bro, can we just stop killing people? So sad. Like, it's so sad to just take somebody's life, like willingly just take somebody's life.

Well, and I also just think the fact that, like, messed up Blaze was completely lured in thinking this was going to be... Yeah, that part. I just can't even think. It just gets me. He did nothing.

This is why, I'm sorry, this is why I hate it. It just infuriates me. No, you know? That's why I was like, "Sorry Sam, we're stabbing you 19 times." Like, I'm just like, "No." Like, I'm not okay with this, you know?

There have been times, like, during the podcast where I have struggled immensely with the fact that there is just so much ugly in this world. Yeah, yeah, so much ugly. But, and that is a really easy place to live in because it's true. It is the reality. But when we get to that point, I think it's important to remember that you, you individually, you listening to this, me sitting here, Garrett sitting here, we can be beautiful. We can be good, and it will spread. If you are light and you are good, it will spread. And that's all we can do, really.

And, I mean, to be honest, and, um, the majority of people are good. The majority, majority of people aren't killers. Majority of people have good morals and are looking to do good things for other people and treat others nicely. Obviously, the cases we do are the anomaly when it comes to that. It's hard 'cause sometimes it makes it feel like, "Geez, there's just so many bad people out there." And there are, but I personally would dare to say the majority of people are good. They want the best for other people.

Yeah, yeah. Alright, you guys, we love you so much, and that was our case for this week. We'll see you next time with another episode. I love it,

And I hate it.

Goodbye.

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