The Life and Death of Blaze Bernstein

Like many things in life, the facts of this case are not simple. They're not black and white.

It's easy to forget how symbolic this trial was of a greater problem in the world.

You will hear strong, compelling evidence that explains the real reason for this very sad and tragic killing. It's been six years. Is it still hard to believe that Blaze is gone? It took a while for it to set in. But I'm at peace with it. Maybe that's all that we were supposed to have.

(SINGING) Happy birthday, dear Blaze There were 19 years with so many moments of brilliance and beauty. [APPLAUSE, CHEERING]

Yay, Blaze is 17. Yay.

Blaze was very creative definitely when we were little kids. Did you want cheese? Sure.

We were attached at the hip. I think of him as somebody who's potential for life was completely obliterated.

Blaze Bernstein was gay, and his killer was a member of a neo-Nazi group.

Undercover officers made their move on Sam Woodward.

What have you learned about neo-Nazis? They're everywhere. Race war now! [GUNSHOTS]

They're all over the internet. They're here in Orange County.

I believe that this was a hate crime. REPORTER 1: The 26-year-old's appearance has changed dramatically from the time of his arrest back in 2018. REPORTER 2: At the trial, Sam looked like a spitting image of Charlie Manson. It was absolutely terrifying to look at.

The evidence will show you that the defendant killed Blaze Bernstein because he was gay. He was gay and Jewish.

Hate crime or crime of passion? The difference is the possibility of parole.

Blaze Bernstein was found with 28 stab wounds.

The prosecution has a bit of a higher bar here because they also have to show that Sam murdered Blaze because of his gay identity.

He had developed his long-standing beliefs against Jewish people and gay people.

What happened that night was not a hate crime.

We knew that he was going to present some story of what happened that night.

Not the targeting of someone because of his sexual orientation.

What kind of story could he come up with?

Sam Woodward never planned to kill Blaze Bernstein.

Homophobia? Sexual repression? Hook-up culture? It almost never ends the way that this story ends. We don't have any control over what the outcome is. He could be innocent. We'll let the jury decide. [DRAMATIC MUSIC BUILDING] [THEME MUSIC] [SOMBER MUSIC]

The why is the single most important issue, you will need to decide, not who is responsible for the death of a young man, but exactly why he was killed six years ago. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): For Jeanne Pepper and her husband, Gideon Bernstein, those six years were painfully marked by COVID delays, shifting lawyers, and legal strategies. Slow justice is no justice. It's not fair to victims, and it's not fair to the deceased. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Finally came April of 2024. Jeanne and Gideon were more than ready for their day in court. We're impatient. We want to get on with our lives. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): But not before telling the story of their firstborn child, Blaze Bernstein, how he lived and why they believe he died, murdered because of who he was, targeted by hate.

It's not safe for you to be a lot of different minorities now.

The victim in this case-- and nobody disputes that he was a victim-- was stabbed to death. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Ken Morrison would defend Samuel Woodward, charged with first-degree premeditated murder. Morrison squared off against prosecutor Jennifer Walker.

And where we start is with who was killed, Blaze Bernstein. And he was 19. He was gay and Jewish. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): The silent, ghostly presence in the courtroom was Blaze. [POIGNANT MUSIC] That slender, curious, playful young man with a big world, images that refuse to fade.

Are there pictures or things that flash through your mind that you think of Blaze? Always, every day. [GENTLE MUSIC] TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): It was just weeks after Blaze's death that we first met Jeanne and Gideon. Wounds raw, they shared bittersweet memories of the son they described as magical.

And the first time I saw him, I looked in his eyes. There's something about this baby. I was like, he's going to change the world someday. Boom, boom, boom. Ba-buh-boom, ba-boom. Hey. Ba-buh-boom, ba-boom. That's a good intro.

What do you miss most about Blaze? Yeah, that's it. [LAUGHS] His quirky personality. Ba-da-boom, ba-boom.

He was different.

He liked to turn ordinary into the extraordinary.

I called him a unicorn. He was magnificently creative. [PENSIVE MUSIC] It was late summer 2016, and Blaze, who'd already achieved so much, was headed to an Ivy League school here in Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania. There would be new friends, mentors, and challenges, and Blaze seemed ready for it all. [SOMBER MUSIC] He really hit his stride. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): A creative writer thinking about a career in medicine. He was finding himself. [PENSIVE MUSIC] TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Then came winter break, sophomore year. Blaze headed home.

He was really looking forward to being with us, too. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): There were holiday celebrations and Hanukkah candles. The budding chef cooked up a gourmet meal. And then, sometime on the night of January 2, 2018, Blaze secretly left his parents' house. It would be the last time. That night, when did you realize that he was missing? We didn't. I didn't know that night. We didn't even know. We thought he slept in. And the next day, we were-- I had my aha moment when I was at the dental appointment. [GRIM MUSIC] TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): The next day, Blaze was due to meet his mother for that dentist appointment, but Blaze never showed up and wasn't answering his cell phone.

I called Gideon. He asked me if Blaze had ever come home the night before, and I screamed out, I don't know. Rushed out of the office and came home.

We both did. We flew home. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): And checked Blaze's room. His wallet, his retainers, his keys--

Those were all still at the house. --his glasses, yeah, all of that stuff was at the house. But your thought was? Well, it was just so highly unusual. He wanted to spend time with us. I just kept texting and calling him and leaving messages all day. Where had he been? We didn't know. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): They called police and tried to log on to Blaze's social media accounts.

We just jumped on his computer. This was a big challenge for us. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): But with the help of family and friends, they logged on to Blaze's Snapchat. That's where they discovered the night he disappeared, Blaze had sent his home address to someone, Sam Woodward, a seeming stranger. We'd never heard the name. We've never heard the name before. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Gideon and Jeanne were panicked and baffled. Who was Sam? So Gideon messaged Sam-- please pick up. Sam got on the phone. The Bernsteins recorded the phone conversation and would share it with police. GIDEON BERNSTEIN (ON RECORDING): We just cracked into his Snap account and saw that you had been trying to find him. So you're the first real clue to the-- to the puzzle here. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Sam's pieces of the puzzle began with him meeting Blaze near the Bernsteins' home. SAM WOODWARD (ON RECORDING): I picked him up at 11:00. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): And he said he drove him here, nearby Borrego Park, with its thick brush and twisting paths, and that once there, they parked. GIDEON BERNSTEIN (ON RECORDING): OK. And then did he get out of the car, or what happened? SAM WOODWARD (ON RECORDING): Yeah, he got out of the car, and I got out of the car, too. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): And, Sam added, Blaze, claiming he was going to meet a friend, walked down a path and vanished into the darkness. SAM WOODWARD (ON RECORDING): I shouted out, Blaze! Blaze! But I didn't see anything. I-- I didn't hear anything. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Sam explained to the Bernsteins how he knew Blaze and why he says they were getting together. SAM WOODWARD (ON RECORDING): It was more of a spur of the moment kind of thing. Yeah, dude, let's hang out since he and I were friends when we were at OCSA. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): OCSA, the Orange County School of the Arts, where Raiah Rofsky, Blaze, and Sam were once classmates. Raiah's high school memories of Sam were about to come flooding back with a vengeance.

I got a call from my mom-- Raiah, did you hear? And I said, what? And she said, Blaze is missing. And then my mom said, Raiah, he was with this guy named Sam Woodward. I screamed in the phone, he what? And she was like, do you know this guy? And I said, yes, I know this guy! He's crazy! [PERCUSSIVE MUSIC] How different were Sam and Blaze? Oh, they were so different, probably about as different as you could be. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Hauntingly different, says Blaze's oldest friend. So when that word began to filter across Orange County that Blaze hadn't come home and that Sam Woodward might be a person of interest, it chilled Raiah to the bone, her memories of Sam impossible to shake. Well, hello, ladies.

He was drawing guns in his notebook in class. Did you say anything? No. But you thought? This is terrifying. [OMINOUS MUSIC] [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): The spotlight was on Sam Woodward, whom Raiah remembered from high school. He was very quiet, very withdrawn, didn't really talk to people. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Sam Woodward, odd man out, says Raiah. Everybody has their clique, but I don't think he identified with any of them, really. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): And, as far as anyone knew, the last person to see Blaze Bernstein alive. The only reason I can think of Sam meeting up with Blaze is because either, number one, he wanted to hook up with him, or two, because he was planning to murder him. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): And as for that story Sam told that on the spur of the moment, he and Blaze had decided to hang out, it didn't come close to adding up for Raiah. He had a reputation of being what? Racist, homophobic, sexist. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): It was Raiah who was there when Blaze's sexuality was still a secret, until, along a glistening California beach, he bravely confided in his oldest friend. So you guys were kind of walking down the beach alone together-- Yeah. --and he came out to you? Yeah. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Raiah, who would later also come out, stepped up when it mattered most.

All I could do was be a good friend and love him unconditionally. [SOMBER MUSIC] TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): While he hadn't yet told his parents, Gideon and Jeanne sensed Blaze might be gay.

We went up to him and said, listen, whatever your situation is, we-- we embrace it. We love you. We don't care. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): But in those first days of 2018, it wasn't just love. It was also an unimaginable fear that consumed Jeanne and Gideon as the search for Blaze began. Orange County cops spoke with Sam. He repeated what he'd told the Bernsteins on that phone call, that he had picked Blaze up, driven to Borrego Park, and that then Blaze had vanished. By January 5, the search had become massive. We're out here conducting a search for Blaze Bernstein.

We're here today to get your help to find our son. [PERCUSSIVE MUSIC]

Search and rescue teams and helicopters searched the wilderness area.

And we printed up thousands and thousands of flyers that people in the congregation put up. [DRONE WHIRRING] Everybody's looking. Shabbat Shalom. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Rabbi Arnold Rachlis coordinated the search from University Synagogue, where Blaze was an active member and a role model. Please join me in honoring Blaze Bernstein. [APPLAUSE] TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Blaze embraced his Jewish heritage and confronted its haters. Not only were 6 million Jewish people systematically murdered throughout Europe in concentration camps-- At such a young age, to see someone with so much talent is a beautiful thing, a good heart, a good soul. That's what Blaze had. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Everyone was somehow hoping for good news, including, it seemed, Sam Woodward. GIDEON BERNSTEIN (ON RECORDING): OK, so is this the best number to reach you at? SAM WOODWARD (ON RECORDING): Yes, sir. It is. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): On that call that Gideon had recorded, Sam sounded deeply concerned. SAM WOODWARD (ON RECORDING): Yeah, I want to find Blaze as much as you do. [UNEASY MUSIC] TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): But Blaze was nowhere to be found. Anxious hours stretched into sleepless nights.

I really didn't know if we would ever find him. As the days passed-- You know? That-- --it became more and more difficult.

It was day seven since Blaze last left home. A family, a community was beyond frustrated. Detectives had searched Borrego Park over and over. But they decided to give it one more look. In the pouring rain, a detective stood right over there, and hidden under a large tree branch was a mound of dirt. Under the wet, caked earth lay Blaze Bernstein [RAIN PATTERING, THUNDER RUMBLING] If not the rain, we would have never known what happened to him. So the rain uncovered his face. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Leah and Richard Bernstein are Blaze's grandparents.

We just loved him. I wish I could write like he wrote. [VOCALIZING]

I wish I could cook like he cooked. Yep, where's Blaze? Yeah, he's in front. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): 48Hours met them just a few months after Blaze was murdered. I think the world lost a beautiful soul. I always think of him before I go to sleep. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Their grandchild, once brimming with life and possibility, had been horrifically slaughtered with a knife. [SOMBER MUSIC] Then the funeral happened. And it was shattering. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): The grief stretched across Orange County.

We're hugging them right now. We're all hugging them. This is our big, giant hug to them. I just want to know why. I don't-- I don't even want to know because I'm not going to like that answer. [GRIM MUSIC] [SOMBER MUSIC] TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Three days after Blaze Bernstein was found, butchered and broken-- [TENSE MUSIC]

Undercover officers made their move on Sam Woodward this afternoon. As he pulled out of his Newport Beach driveway and went down the road, they pulled that car over and arrested him. Sam Woodward was charged with murder with the personal use of a knife. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Then Orange County DA Tony Rackauckas. How did Blaze Bernstein die? He was stabbed multiple times in the neck. What does that tell you? Well, it tells me that there was a lot of hate. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): As police gathered evidence, the violence that happened in Borrego Park was revealed. With Blaze's body, his battered phone. Inside Sam Woodward's car, blood. The blood on the headliner belonged to both Sam Woodward and Blaze Bernstein. Blaze Bernstein's blood was in Sam Woodward's car? Yes, yes.

And then they went on to search the house.

Yes. What kind of forensic evidence did they gather? There was a knife. The knife had blood on it, Blaze Bernstein's blood on the knife. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): At his arraignment, Sam Woodward would plead not guilty. [PERCUSSIVE MUSIC] Investigators would continue to search for what happened that night in Borrego Park. [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] They would soon come to believe that Sam had a dark and frightening secret.

He was involved in this extreme neo-Nazi organization, Atomwaffen Division, which does expect its members to explicitly target members of the Jewish and LGBTQ community. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Sarah Moore monitors hate crime, working for GLAAD, one of the most prominent gay rights organizations in the country. She's kept a close eye on the small but violent group, Atomwaffen. These are their propaganda videos, posted between 2017 and '18.

They want to blow up the world as it is. They want to create something entirely new. And the new thing is what? In their mind, it would be a white ethnostate. Race war now! And there's either no Jewish or no LGBTQ or no people of color in that society.

How does Atomwaffen recruit? They recruit primarily online. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Just a click away and exactly where Sam, who Raiah Rofsky remembers had trouble making friends, found some, strangers who welcomed and encouraged him. Did you consider yourself a neo-Nazi?

I just consider myself a Nazi. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): This man does not want his identity revealed, but he says he was once a member of Atomwaffen and that he came in contact with Sam the year before Blaze was murdered. [TENSE MUSIC]

It was like a camaraderie type of feeling, common interests. And those interests were hating other groups, hating Jews, hating gays, hating Blacks.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. How involved was Sam Woodward in Atomwaffen?

I know that he was involved. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Involved enough, say investigators, to wear the Atomwaffen mask, give the Nazi salute, make a pilgrimage to Colorado to meet neo-Nazi leader James Mason, and travel to Texas to attend Atomwaffen's version of a corporate retreat. They call it hate camp. At hate camps, members will get a one-on-one training on how to be a violent extremist. [SOMBER MUSIC] TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): And that bitter January, 2018, when News broke that Blaze had been stabbed to death, allegedly by a member of Atomwaffen. As Orange County mourned, neo-Nazis reportedly cheered.

Everyone celebrated him. Like, he killed a gay Jew. Which, in their mind, is sort of a jackpot. Ugh. It's disgusting.

There were people congratulating this accused killer for what he has done, killing my son, congratulating him. Had you ever heard of Atomwaffen-- No. --before this? But we should have, because we're a perfect target for that group. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Because of Sam's involvement in Atomwaffen, seven months after Blaze's murder, prosecutors upped the ante, adding a hate crime enhancement, a murder motivated by prejudice.

As the story unfolded that the murder was related to homophobia and antisemitism, well, then the anger in the community ratcheted up. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): For some, it brought back the darkest of times. It must seem like all of this hate was behind you. That's something in the past. You can't forget it.

You can't forget it. Never. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): It's a murderous echo from her past, all too real for Grandma Leah, a Holocaust survivor, once a little girl forced by Hitler's Nazis to wear a yellow star. Yes, we did wear the stars. It's a horrible irony that what you escaped is-- Is following me. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Sam Woodward was locked up in the Orange County jail. He would begin his years-long journey through the justice system. It included a revolving door of defense lawyers, who raised questions with the court about Sam's mental health and his ability to defend himself. In 2022, Sam Woodward was found competent to stand trial. Investigators say they also mined Sam Woodward's phone and social media activity. And along with the Nazi propaganda, they found something else. Sam had visited gay dating and porn sites, and he had exchanged flirtatious messages with Blaze. So they matched twice on Tinder. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Louis Keene, a reporter for The Forward, would cover the case and report on the conversations between Sam and Blaze.

Blaze admits that he's gay. Blaze says, I think you're hot. And Sam says back to Blaze, you're not too bad-looking yourself, Blaze. So they kind of had this flirty interaction. Maybe Sam was closeted and wanted to hook up. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Raiah Rofsky moved to New York City, where she lives as an openly bisexual woman. She still wonders about Sam's intention and Blaze's that tragic night in Borrego Park.

The defense may argue that Blaze made a move on Sam, and Sam freaked out. OK, and if you freak out, does that excuse you stabbing somebody? [TENSE MUSIC] TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): April 2024. Stuff is getting real. The jury is being picked. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Finally, Sam Woodward headed to trial. Over time, the case had taken on even greater meaning.

There's a lot at stake here because it's not just about getting justice for Blaze, but it's also about what precedent this is setting for other LGBTQ+ people who have been or might, in the future, be in similar situations. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Blaze's parents steadied themselves to relive the night that shattered their lives.

I know that a lot of things will be said that are probably untrue, because that's what happens in a criminal trial. I have an opportunity to defend Blaze, and that's what I will do. [DRAMATIC MUSIC] [TENSE MUSIC]

Please come to order. Superior court is now in session.

The People call Jeanne Pepper.

It's the final thing that I have to do for my son, is be there and make sure that there is some form of justice.

Good afternoon, Ms. Pepper. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): It took more than six years for Jeanne and Gideon to get this day in court.

I just want to thank you for being here, and I'm sorry that the circumstances. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): But it comes with terrible memories of the day they lost their son, Blaze.

You remember where you were when you got the phone call. I do remember that, yes.

And why does that stand out in your mind? [BREATHES DEEPLY] Because it was the beginning of-- [TENSE MUSIC] --hell. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): The couple have to come face-to-face with their son's killer. But the killer, Sam Woodward, doesn't seem to want to be seen.

Can I ask you to move the hair out of your face a little bit. Maybe pull the hair on the right side of your head away so we can see you? Please? Thank you. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Even before he took the stand, Sam Woodward was already an eerie presence in the courtroom who got everyone's attention.

Sam looked like Charles Manson. [CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING] So you couldn't really see his face. No.

You couldn't really hear him all the time. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Reporter Louis Keene. If you're in the jury, he looks extremely menacing. Do you want to look him in the eye? Not really. I don't care. He's meaningless to me. Blaze, we love you, and we want you to come home. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Back when they were frantically searching for Blaze-- Please keep your eyes open for my baby. I want him home with me now. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): --Sam Woodward told them he didn't know anything about what happened to their son. SAM WOODWARD (ON RECORDING): I didn't see where he went. I searched all over for him. I couldn't find him anywhere. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): But his looks have changed dramatically, and so has his story.

Do you remember what you were thinking when you were driving the knife down again and again and again? [KEYBOARD CLACKING] [SIGHS] [SIGHS DEEPLY] An anger like nothing I'd ever felt in my whole life. [SOMBER MUSIC] TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): There's absolutely no question Sam Woodward killed Blaze Bernstein. The evidence will show that Samuel Woodward is guilty of homicide. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): The question for the jury is-- Why this homicide was committed.

Sam's defense attorney said in opening arguments that we were going to hear from Sam about something that happened that night that provoked Sam into killing Blaze. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): The challenge for defense attorney Ken Morrison is to prove voluntary manslaughter, that Woodward acted impulsively. There was no cold, calculated decision to kill. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): And the knife? According to the defense, it wasn't ever meant for murder. From the time Sam was a Boy Scout, Sam was never without one.

Would you ever carry a pocket knife with you in your pants pocket? [SIGHS] Yes, I would, almost all the time.

Did you have a knife in your pocket when you were with Blaze Bernstein? Yes, I did. The killing happened in less than an hour. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Prosecutor Jennifer Walker argues this was premeditated murder and a hate crime.

You'll see the cell phone evidence, the DNA evidence, the defendant's words, the defendant's hate. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): In the nearly three months at trial, Walker painstakingly put on more than 20 witnesses, including the same former Atomwaffen member who spoke with us, now a witness for the prosecution who still wanted his identity concealed.

Do you recognize that?

Yes.

What is it?

That's a picture of Samuel Woodward. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): All to build the case for the added hate charge and a greater sentence. The difference is the possibility of parole. If it's no hate crime, then it's 25 years to life with the possibility of parole. If it's a first-degree premeditated murder and a hate crime, Sam faces life in prison without possibility of parole. The facts of this case are not simple. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): The defense uses a time-honored tactic, suggesting the victim is not as innocent as he appears.

You will learn that Blaze Bernstein was not killed because of who he was, but because of what he did. Tell us what happened. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): In Sam Woodward's version--

Sam, can you pick your head up? Move your hair? TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): --Blaze was toying with him and threatening to out him. Once they were in Borrego Park, Sam says he smoked a joint. I started nodding off. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Sam says he thought Blaze took a compromising picture. I saw my pants unbuckled. I could practically feel something somewhat close to my leg. And he had his phone in his hand.

He tells us that he believes that Blaze is taking a photo of his privates. I just came undone. I went in a state of just terror, and I asked, what are you doing? What are you doing? TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): No photo was ever found, So. There's no evidence that Blaze actually took one.

What were you afraid of? I grew up in a home with my mother and my father, and I love them more than I can imagine. My father, though, he-- there's no way, not a chance, people like him-- just even thinking about the look on his face, if he saw something like that, if he'd heard about something like that that got out somehow-- [GRIM MUSIC] --I couldn't fathom that.

Sam grew up in an ultra-conservative Catholic household. He had parents who believed homosexuality was a sin. But Sam also seemed to have really conflicted feelings about his own sexuality. [SOMBER MUSIC] What you come away with is just immense sadness of all these external forces coming to bear on his life. He did what he did, and what he did can't be undone.

Any idea how long it took to stop stabbing Blaze? No idea. No. It was one of the most awful things I've ever heard. And you know that Blaze's parents are sitting there for months of this trial. They've been hearing their son is accused of sexual assault. You can't really imagine what that's like. Jeanne Pepper walked out of the room. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): For the prosecution, the only predator in this story is Sam Woodward.

He has a 6-inch knife out, and Blaze is the predator. Blaze is the problem here. That's what's being sold to you by the defendant. He was interested and fixated on hate. Atomwaffen Division had that outlet for him. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Only two people know what really happened that night. Sam Woodward has had his say. Blaze Bernstein isn't alive to tell us.

You should find him guilty of the first-degree murder with the hate crime. It's the only reasonable conclusion. [TENSE MUSIC] Do you have any hesitation? Do you have any doubt? TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Now, it's up to the jury. [SOMBER MUSIC]

The passage of time has been doubly hard for Blaze's grandparents, Richard and Leah, still waiting for justice for the grandson they loved and lost. I miss him all, everything about him. He was loving and caring. He was handsome, too. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Blaze and his exceptional appetite for life.

I tried to treat him as just a normal kid, you know? And he turned out-- [CRYING] I'm sorry. He turned out well. [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): On July 3, 2024, the jurors began their deliberations. I don't want him to die. I want him to suffer every day of his life.

Is there a part of you that wants to look that young man in the eye? No. Why not? Because he's a footnote in history. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Whether footnote or headline, grandparents, parents, rabbi, oldest friend. It felt like forever.

I was nervous, and I felt anxiety because I was not sure what the verdict was going to be. [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): 2,364 days after his arrest, Sam Woodward's fate is on the line, living and dying in prison or someday possibly walking free. It's my understanding that you do have a verdict. Is that accurate? We have. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): It took the jury eight hours.

The verdict being read, there's no way to describe what it's like, the emotional intensity of the moment. We, the jury, find the defendant, Samuel Woodward, guilty of the crime of first-degree murder. But as soon as the jury says "guilty," I heard Jeanne say, oh, thank god.

Oh, thank god. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Guilty of murder. But was it hate? Did Sam target Blaze because he was gay? The jury spoke again.

We, the jury, find it to be true that the defendant, Samuel Woodward, committed a hate crime, first-degree murder. [APPLAUSE] TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Outside the Orange County courtroom, all that pain and uncertainty overflowed. Good afternoon. My name is Todd Spitzer. I'm the district attorney of Orange County. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): The current DA offered thoughts on love and law. We don't care who you love or who you want to be with. You deserve to be a free person with free will, and love who you love. And that needs to be protected. [SOMBER MUSIC] We are thrilled with the verdict, which holds Samuel Woodward accountable for the brutal, violent, painful murder of our son, brother, grandson, cousin, Blaze Bernstein, on January 3, 2018.

His parents will never get to speak to him again, and that loss is incalculable. The Woodwards also lost their son. He's going to prison.

When the verdict was that the murder was a hate crime, that essentially meant that there is the proof that Blaze was murdered because he was gay and Jewish. Simple as that. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): For Raiah, who Blaze first came out to on that California beach--

In my head, I was telling Blaze, we finally got him, like case closed. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): And, says the prosecutor, Sam Woodward, should pay the maximum price. He faces life without possibility of parole. And that's what we'll be asking for. Thank you. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): Experts who monitor Atomwaffen say it has largely dissolved, but that the threat of hate groups remains today. You said, love who you love. It sounds so simple, but it's not. Mm-hmm. Just because you're accepting of yourself, that doesn't mean that everybody's going to see the same way as you do. You know?

Can you picture Blaze if he was alive today? No, I don't think I can. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): For Jeanne and Gideon, every day brings reminders of what might have been.

I think about Blaze all the time because when I see things, I think to myself, what would Blaze be doing now? TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): They founded what they call a Kindness Movement, promoting positivity and random acts of kindness in Blaze's name. Blaze It Forward is a response to Blaze's death. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): And in Borrego Park, where Blaze took his last breath, there is this-- hundreds of hand-painted stones, most left by total strangers, in the memory of Blaze Bernstein.

This pile of stones has grown and grown and grown.

Yes. It's great to see the messaging. It's always positive. And they're getting sent to us from all over the world. Still. Still. TRACY SMITH (VOICEOVER): The silent stones speak of tolerance and Blaze Bernstein's transformation into a kind of martyr, his murder a marker of rabid hate, his spirit and inspiration to LGBTQ+ people, wherever they live and with whomever they love. Blaze's life mattered, and he has a legacy to create good news, to inspire people to be better, to be kinder, and to work on repairing the world because it's not too late, and we can make it better. [THEME MUSIC]

I can only describe it as evil, something horrible.

From 48Hours, this is Trained to Kill-- The Dog Trainer, the Heiress,and the Bodyguard.

He couldn't control his obsession.

Who was the hunter, and who was the hunted? Follow and listen on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.