Brandon Theesfeld, a 22-year-old graduate from San Marcos Academy, is facing a murder charge in connection to the death of University of Mississippi student Alexandria “Ally” Kostial.
Kostial, 21 years old, was found at a lake 30 miles outside of Oxford and the Ole Miss campus with eight gunshot wounds. Her specific cause of death has not yet been released.
Theesfeld is from Fort Worth and attended San Marcos Academy for two years and graduated in 2016 before attending Ole Miss and its School of Business Administration. The university has responded to his charges by suspending him from the school.
Kostial was attending Ole Miss and in the School of Business Administration. She was taking summer courses and teaching fitness classes on campus.
According to Fox 13 Memphis, investigators were able to track Theesfeld by his cell phone and credit card transactions to a gas station in south Memphis. According to eyewitnesses of the arrest, his clothes appeared to have blood on them and Lafayette County deputies found a weapon in his pickup truck before he was taken into custody.
Daniel Theesfeld, father of the accused, released a statement following his son’s arrest and maintains his son is innocent and should be treated as such until proven guilty.
“I know my son is innocent and I have reasons to believe that I can’t share anything now,” Daniel Theesfeld said. “I would like to ask everybody to please give him the presumption of innocence until proven otherwise.”
In a statement, University of Mississippi interim Chancellor Larry Sparks expressed condolences to the campus community and Kostial’s family and friends.
“We are truly saddened by the death of Alexandria Kostial,” Sparks stated. “Ally was a valued member of our campus community. We extend our deepest sympathy to her family, friends, and classmates and stand ready to support them during this time. We appreciate the work of the Lafayette County Sherriff’s Department and Coroner as they conduct their investigation.”
The investigation is still ongoing and this article will be updated when more information is made available. A GoFundMe has been created to help the Kostial family cover funeral expenses.