UW student Juniper Blessing, 19, remembered as ‘full of life'
Friends and classmates of Juniper Blessing, the 19-year-old transgender woman killed in her off-campus housing building, remembered her as a caring friend, a budding climate scientist and a talented singer with a voice that moved many people.
Blessing was found stabbed 40 times in the laundry room of Nordheim Court, her off-campus student housing complex, on Sunday night. A 31-year-old man turned himself in Wednesday in connection with the killing, and a King County judge found probable cause to hold him for investigation of premeditated first-degree murder.
Blessing, an atmospheric science major in her second year at the University of Washington, graduated in 2024 from the New Mexico School for the Arts. She was part of UW Chorale, an advanced undergraduate ensemble of music and nonmusic majors. Last year, Blessing was a soloist for the school's "Blue Planet" program.
Claudia Kahana, a UW student in the alto section of UW Chorale with Blessing, said her friend's legacy is one of kindness."
Blessing put her heart into everything she performed, Kahana said.
"She was so, so happy to be doing her craft," Kahana said.
Blessing had Pokémon plushies all over her bed - the cute ones only, Kahana said - and she loved her dog, a goldendoodle who lived back home in New Mexico.
When choosing her name, Blessing was inspired by Pokémon's Professor Juniper. She bore a slight resemblance to the character who was the first female professor in the Pokémon Main Series games, Kahana said. She collected old Nintendo DS games, which are hard to find, to play on the handheld console first released in 2004.
Last year, the two lived in the same building, sometimes running errands or getting groceries together. They would often do laundry on weekends, getting the tedious chore done between campus activities and studying for their respective STEM majors.
Before Kahana learned who had been killed on Sunday, she only knew a trans woman had been killed in the laundry room. She called Blessing five times the next day and heard nothing back. She felt anger at University of Washington administrators for a lack of communication about the killing.
In Seattle, Blessing hoped, as a trans woman, she would be safe.
The last time Kahana saw Blessing, Kahana was biking near Nordheim Court. She almost didn't stop, but Blessing, who had been smiling at her phone, spotted her friend. She looked up, shouted "Hi, Claudia!" and waved.
"I just remember how happy she looked," Kahana said, "and how full of life she was."
Prosecutors, in court documents, have not detailed much evidence about the 31-year-old's alleged motive behind the killing. Trans people are over four times more likely than cisgender people to be victims of violent crime, according to the UCLA Williams Institute.
Matthew Pfab, a fellow atmospheric science student who took a computer programming class with Blessing, said he "knew Juniper to be a kind person, dedicated to what they were involved in, and a good friend."
There aren't many atmospheric science majors, Pfab said. Losing Blessing came as a "huge shock to all of us."
Joel Thornton, interim dean of UW's College of the Environment, said in a statement that Blessing had recently become an atmospheric and climate science student.
"We are honored whenever a student chooses one of our majors and are deeply saddened by Juniper's death," Thornton said. "Our hearts go out to their family, friends, and mentors."
The Human Rights Alliance in Santa Fe shared a statement from Blessing's family, saying Blessing "was courageously living their life as who they were until it was cut tragically short."
Blessing, who was born in Princeton, N.J., and moved to Santa Fe in 2018, was continuing to study minors in music and philosophy at UW. Blessing had a "gifted voice" and worked as an usher at the Santa Fe Opera during summers, according to the family.
"Juniper was simply the most amazing human being we have ever known - highly intelligent, extremely talented, and deeply sensitive to the needs of others," the statement said. "Juniper's loss not only devastates us but diminishes the world."
The Santa Fe human rights group noted the family is "currently in a state of profound shock and heartbreak" but grateful for an "overwhelming outpouring of support, prayers and love coming from Seattle, New Mexico and beyond," including from the first responders, investigators and UW staff.
In a separate statement, the New Mexico School for the Arts described Blessing as an "extraordinary musician" whose "transcendent voice, gentle spirit and kindness touched the lives of countless people." The school shared a video of Blessing performing the Tom Petty song "Wildflowers," noting that her voice "moved so many people."
"You belong among the wildflowers," Blessing sang in the video, her voice soaring above notes on a piano. "You belong somewhere you feel free."
Savannah Rutherford, a UW voice teacher who met with Blessing weekly, said Blessing was caring and funny, with a dry sense of humor.
She could sing "pretty much anything," from Mozart to musical theater, and was dedicated to her music studies even while pursuing a scientific dream of researching hurricanes, Rutherford added.
Blessing could sing with a special technique called chiaroscuro, which in Italian means to blend light and dark, Rutherford said.
"You wouldn't expect," Blessing's teacher said, "such a huge voice to come out of a tiny body like that.
Seattle Times staff reporter Kai Uyehara contributed to this report.
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