UPDATE: Theesfeld arrested for murder of Alexandria Kostial

Published 11:19 am Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Brandon A. Theesfeld, 22, who was booked at 3:45 p.m. on Monday, has been arrested for 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 the time of booking, next to Theesfeld’s name, “hold” was written under the charge line in the jail docket. However, the word was crossed out Tuesday morning, and written above it in bold letters was the word “murder.”

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Further details are not being released at this time, according to a statement from LCSO Chief Investigator Alan Wilburn.

“As stated in the earlier press release, we are not releasing details of the Investigation as this is an ongoing investigation,” Wilburn said in the statement. “We will release when it is appropriate and not before. We want to thank the family (of) Alexandria for their patience and their trust in The Lafayette County Sheriff’s Dept. Brandon is in the Lafayette County Detention Center and a booking photo will be available sometime this afternoon.”

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.

Theesfeld will appear in circuit court this morning, according to a release from the Sheriff’s Department. This is a developing story.

UPDATE: 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.