Attorney: Fort Worth suspect charged with killing Ole Miss student maintains his innocence
An attorney for a Fort Worth suspect accused of murdering a fellow Ole Miss student says his client maintains his innocence.
Attorneys for Brandon Theesfeld declined to elaborate on the relationship between him and Alexandria "Ally" Kostial.
Kostial's body was found riddled with bullets on July 20, not far from the University of Mississippi.
On Friday, the public visitation for Kostial was held near her home in the St. Louis area. She'll be laid to rest Saturday, exactly a week after the 21-year-old's body was found.
It's been a week filled with a lot of sadness, and lingering questions.
Kostial’s roommate, Lauren Riddick, got a call from police Saturday. A detective let her know Kostial was dead.
“He said, 'Your roommate Ally.' I was like, my roommate Ally's dead?” said Riddick. “I was at a red light and everything stopped for a minute, and I just beat my steering wheel. I was so angry.”
Kostial's body was found with multiple gunshot wounds, near a lake just a short drive from the Ole Miss campus. It came just hours after she was seen leaving a bar in Oxford Friday night.
By Monday, police had arrested fellow student Brandon Theesfeld, who is from Fort Worth. He was found at a Memphis gas station. Sources told the Memphis FOX affiliate that a weapon and bloody clothes were in his truck.
Theesfeld, who attended private schools in Fort Worth and San Marcos before going to Ole Miss, has a high-profile Mississippi law firm representing him. One of his attorneys said Theesfeld will plead not guilty.
“You know, it's a tough situation for him to be in,” attorney Tony Farese said. “He maintains his innocence in this matter, and we're in the preliminary stages of investigating this case to prepare our defense.”
Since the arrest, one of Theesfeld’s former neighbors has said he was disrespectful towards women. His attorneys responded to the claim.
“I do not believe that the information being disseminated about Brandon is correct in regards to his treatment of women,” Farese said. “We do not believe there's any history of violence in Brandon's background, and he's a good young man from a good family, and it's an unfortunate set of circumstances that he finds himself in.”
Pictures show Theesfeld and Kostial together in 2016. Mississippi investigators have not released anything about the history between the two.
Riddick says Kostial used to talk about a guy, but she didn't mention him by name...
“All she would say was like, ‘One day he says he loves me, and the next day he doesn't,’” Riddick recalled. “I see her being scared and I can just see her, I can see her face and I can see her crying and not knowing what to do. That is what breaks me down.”
Theesfeld remains behind bars, as there hasn't been a bond hearing yet. His attorney said they are still in the process of doing interviews and visiting scenes, and want to be buttoned up before moving forward.