Aug. 29 (UPI) — A jury has found a man guilty for the 2019 murder of a Washington transgender teen.
The jury convicted David Bogdanov, 27, Friday, of second-degree murder of Nikki Kuhnhausen, 17, in December 2019, and malicious harassment of her under the state’s hate crime statute, according to Clark County Superior Court records, CNN reported.
Kuhnhausen went missing in June 2019 and her remains were found six months later in a heavily wooded area of Larch Mountain near Vancouver, Wash., KGW8 reported.
Police tracked down Bogdanov, who had been messaging with Kuhnhausen on Snapchat the day of her disappearance, through social media and phone records.
Bogdnaov became enraged after he found out Kuhnhausen was biologically male and killer her, prosecutors said.
Bogdanov was the only person to testify in his defense, and he argued he strangled Kuhnhausen with a cord of cellphone charger but it was in self-defense after she reached for a gun.
He also testified that he would be ashamed if his family found out he had been with a transgender woman.
Sentencing is slated for Sept. 9.
Outrage over Kuhnhausen’s murder led to the passage of the Nikki Kuhnhausen Act, which limits a legal strategy known as LGBTQ+ “panic defense” based on victim identity such as disclosure of gender identity or sexual orientation in a romantic or sexual relationship.
