Brandon Theesfeld has first court appearance, charged with murder

Published 12:32 pm Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Brandon A. Theesfeld, 22, who was booked at 3:45 p.m. on Monday, has been charged in the murder of Ole Miss student Alexandria ‘Ally’ Kostial.

The Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations released a statement at 11:08 a.m. confirming Theesfeld’s involvement with the case.

At 11:30 a.m. Theesfeld, along with his attorney Swayze Alford, stood before Lafayette County Circuit Court Judge Andrew Howorth and was formally charged with murder. A bond hearing will take place at a later date.

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Kostial was found at 10:23 a.m. Saturday near the Buford Ridge area of Harmontown, approximately 20 miles from the Ole Miss campus. No further details have been released by the authorities regarding how Kostial died, though other reports claim she was shot multiple times.

The 21-year-old from St. Louis, Mo. was working toward her bachelor’s degree in the School of Business Administration and was taking summer school classes and teaching fitness classes at Ole Miss.

A spokesperson from the University of Mississippi confirmed that, like Kostial, Theesfeld was a student in the School of Business Administration. However, as of Tuesday morning, Theesfeld was suspended from the University.