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A shocking turn of events.
By Bernadette Giacomazzo — Written on Jul 31, 2019
The death of Ally Kostial has shocked, not only the Ole Miss community but the nation at large. However, a new report suggests that there might be more to her murder than meets the eye. Was slain Ole Miss student Ally Kostial pregnant with her alleged shooter's baby?
Let's look at what we know about this latest development.
1. Homicide is the number one cause of death in pregnant women.
While it would be shocking if Ally Kostial was, indeed, pregnant at the time of her murder, it's not at all uncommon for pregnant women to be the victims of violent crimes. In fact, according to WebMD, homicide is the number one cause of death in pregnant women.
"We found that homicide was the leading cause of death among women who were pregnant...and accounted for 20% of deaths among that group, compared with 6% of deaths among nonpregnant women of reproductive age," says author Isabelle Horon, DrPH, from the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, who conducted a study that looked at pregnancy-associated deaths from 1993 to 1998," reported the outlet.
2. Ole Miss tends to be a lot more conservative than other colleges in the country.
A common political talking point, especially amongst the more right-of-center crowd, is that colleges and universities in the United States are "liberal breeding grounds." That, however, doesn't seem to be the case at Ole Miss, better known as the University of Mississippi. Niche.com rated it amongst the Top 20 most conservative colleges in the United States (Ole Miss was number 19 on a list that included Brigham Young University, Southwestern Assemblies of God University, and Liberty University, which ranked at the top of the list), and the top conservative college in Mississippi.
If Ally Kostial was, indeed, pregnant at the time of her murder, there's a strong chance that it wouldn't have gone over well with the student body at the university, let alone her alleged shooter.
3. Ole Miss is currently facing a possible civil rights investigation.
The murder of Ally Kostial is just the latest in a series of problems that Ole Miss is currently facing. According to ProPublica, the actions of a few students have potentially triggered a civil rights investigation into the school. "Three University of Mississippi students have been suspended from their fraternity house and face possible investigation by the Department of Justice after posing with guns in front of a bullet-riddled sign honoring slain civil rights icon Emmett Till," wrote the outlet, who also claim that it's unclear whether the students merely posed in front of the sign or if they actually shot it up.
In short, the"Ole Miss environment doesn't seem like one that would welcome diversity with open arms — and it's certainly one that's very pro-guns.
4. Ally Kostial told fellow Ole Miss students that she was pregnant with her alleged shooter's baby.
According to The New York Post, Ally Kostial's alleged killer, Branden Theesfield, reportedly got her pregnant. In the days leading up to her death, Kostial had been telling people that, in fact, she was pregnant with Theesfield's baby. "The slain Ole Miss college student whose bullet-ridden body was discovered near a lake told friends that she was pregnant with her accused killer’s child. Alexandria “Ally” Kostial, 21, confided in her University of Mississippi sorority sisters that her love interest, Brandon Theesfeld, was upset that she was pregnant shortly before he allegedly shot her to death earlier this month," reported the outlet.
5. Brandon Theesfield allegedly wanted Ally Kostial to get an abortion.
It makes sense that a young college student would be upset with a surprise pregnancy, but according to Radar Online, Brandon Theesfield not only urged Ally Kostial to get an abortion, he allegedly shot her to death when she wouldn't comply.
"Brandon found out but he was dating someone else. He wanted her to get an abortion. I think morally she didn’t want to do it,” said a third pal. “He would be awful and then she’d break up with him, or he’d break up with her in rage, and then he’d go back to her saying, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry.’ And she’d take him back," reported the outlet, who added that Ally Kostial didn't want the baby, either, and was engaging in "really unhealthy" activity (such as partying and drinking heavily) to try to terminate her pregnancy.
It bears noting that abortion is safe and legal in the United States, and Ally Kostial could have done just that.
6. Brandon Theesfield's ex-girlfriend thinks it's highly likely that he'd killed Ally Kostial.
Yahoo recently spoke to Mary Ellen Manor, Brandon Theesfield's ex-girlfriend, who made clear that not only does she think it's highly likely that he'd killed Ally Kostial, she thought that he could have killed her had she continued to date him.
"Honestly, I almost fell down my stairs in my house. It freaked me out. I was like, 'What if that could have been me?' I'm relieved that I’m ok, but I can’t believe I hung out with a dude who could be charged with such a thing, and it just made me very wary," she said to the outlet.
It bears noting, too, that as with any other suspect, Brandon Theesfield is innocent until proven guilty.
Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, and photographer whose work has appeared in People, Teen Vogue, Us Weekly, The Source, XXL, HipHopDX, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, and more. She is also the author of The Uprising series. For more information about Bernadette Giacomazzo, click here.