Murder case solved after two years; 'misogynistic' ex admits guilt to avoid death penalty

The case of Ole Miss student Ally Kostial's death was finally closed after two years, when her ex-classmate Brandon Theesfeld admitted to the crime to escape the death penalty hovering over him.

Alexandria "Ally" Kostial, a native of St. Louis, Missouri, was found dead near a lake in Harmontown, about 20 miles from her college campus on July 18, 2019. The 21-year-old was a popular sorority member studying marketing at the university's School of Business Administration and was also teaching fitness classes.

Brandon Theesfeld from Texas, a fellow student at the University of Mississippi who met her while attending the college, was accused of fatally shooting her. According to police reports, the victim had told the then 22-year-old in April that year that she was concerned she might be pregnant. Two days later, she reportedly sent him a photo of an inconclusive home pregnancy test and kept convincing him to meet her for months, but he refused.

A few days before the murder, the accused texted Kostial saying he did not want to see her and she should just terminate the possible pregnancy. However, on the day of the crime, he texted her asking to get together.

Detectives used cell phone records to link Theesfeld to Kostial's killing, and arrested him days later in Tennessee. They also reportedly found a two-page letter he had addressed to his family after the killing, talking about having "terrible thoughts" in his head.

"I'm not a good person. It is not your fault. Something in me just doesn't work. I've always had terrible thoughts. I've always had these feelings. I just kind of felt off. I think this is the end for me. I'm either going to prison or going to die. I know I'm going to get caught," it read.

However, the suspect refused to plead guilty to the crime until now. During a hearing on Friday, the 24-year-old confessed that he drove Kostial to Sardis Lake in Oxford on July 20, 2019, before shooting her several times, reports People.

Directly addressing the victim's family, he said, "I am sincerely sorry for the pain I've caused while taking Ally from you. My actions have forever changed your lives and my family's lives. I wish I could take it all back but I can't. There is no excuse for my actions and I have asked God for forgiveness. I hope one day that you will find it in your heart to forgive me."

However, he refused to confirm his motive behind the crime, while his defence attorney told reporters the young woman was not pregnant when she was killed.

Theesfeld was initially charged with capital murder, but under the terms of last week's plea deal, he no longer faces a possible death sentence and will be able to spend the rest of his life in prison. A statement from the victim's mother Cindy Kostial, read aloud in the court, read, "I wish I could have kept her away from this evil, callous, scheming, ungrateful, sinister and violent and corrupt monster...Brandon, you belong in jail each day for the rest of your life for the heinous act you committed to such a sweet soul in Ally. Every time your cell door slams shut may it be a reminder for what you did and the life you took from us."

The victim's friends, who described her as an eternal optimist who always saw the best in everyone, had previously spoken to the outlet in 2019 about the "complicated" relationship she shared with her murderer. "All she wanted was to be enough for him and for him to want her, and he quite literally was the death of her," a friend had said.

The friend called Theesfeld a "super misogynistic" man, saying, "He was like the type of guy that, if you didn't gibe with him, he'd be rude, he'd use his money to get things, he'd have six girls around the table and he'd sit back and laugh at them like a pig."