Trans Teen's Suspected Slayer Gets $750,000 Bail; Hate Crimes Charge Added

A 25-year-old Vancouver, Washington man suspected in the death of a trans teenager faces an additional charge now that prosecutors have added a hate crimes rap to the case. But David Bogdanov also received an unexpectedly low bail amount from a judge who referenced the fact that the suspect did not have a prior criminal record.

Prosecutors had asked for bail either not to be granted, or else for bail to be set at $6 million, CBS News reported. Washington State LGBTQ advocates expressed displeasure at the bail amount, which the judge set at $750,000, CBS noted.

Local newspaper the Columbian reports that the suspect initially did not face any hate crimes charges, but that changed because of the timing of the alleged crime, which took place after an existing state law was amended to provide protection to transgender individuals.

Authorities believe that 17-year-old Nikki Kuhnhausen, also of Vancouver, Washington, was strangled to death.

As EDGE reported in mid-December, after Bogdanov's arrest, police determined that the victim and the suspect had been in contact via Snapchat just before she vanished.

Bogdanov had told police that he and Kuhnhausen had been together around the time of Kuhnhausen's disappearance. His story was that when he found out Kuhnhausen was trans, he ordered her out of his van, reported ABC affiliate KATU news.

Vancouver police officer Lt. Tom Ryan told the media that the suspect "stated that [Kuhnhausen being transgender] was offensive to his culture and he asked her to get out of his van."

Bogdanov told authorities that the last he saw of Kuhnhausen. But records of Bogdanov's phone location on the day in question pinpoint him in the area of Larch Mountain, a remote location in Clark County, Washington where Kuhnhausen's remains were discovered.

Media reports said that the remains were found on Dec. 7. Kuhnhausen disappeared June 6; Police had been investigating since October.

That long lag between Kuhnhausen's disappearance and the discovery of her remains was part of the reason for the local community's anger over the bail, noted the Columbian.

The suspect "chose to kill her and then not [do] anything about it for six months," said Michelle Bart, the co-founder and head of the National Women's Coalition Against Violence & Exploitation. "He doesn't deserve to be out on the street. And the judge was wrong. The judge was wrong in this particular case."

A crowd of supporters showed up in solidarity with the victim and her family on January 2, the day of Bogdanov's bail review hearing, the article said. People in the crowd wore pink to induce their support. Kuhnhausen's mother, Lisa Woods, addressed the court, pleading not just for justice for Nikki but for the safety of all LGBTQ people.

"I want to stress that the LGBTQ community is not safe with this monster on the streets," Woods said.

Bogdanov has pled not guilty to the charges. His trial will begin in July.