SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A trial is set to start for a man charged in the 2017 killing of a transgender teen whose eyes were gouged out and whose body was set on fire in southwest Missouri.
Twenty-one-year-old Andrew Vrba is charged with first-degree murder, armed criminal action and abandonment of a corpse in the death of 17-year-old Ally Steinfeld. Three others have pleaded guilty and are in prison for their roles in Steinfeld’s death.
Vrba had been missing for weeks when her burned remains were found in September 2017 in Cabool, about 70 miles east of Springfield. Authorities say the crime wasn’t motivated by Steinfeld’s gender identity.
