Father of slain Mississippi student Ally Kostial shares heartbreaking photo on day of her vigil
The father of murdered University of Mississippi student Ally Kostial took to Facebook to share a heartbreaking old photo of his daughter on the day hundreds gathered to attend a vigil near her home in St. Louis, Mo.
"This is one of my all-time favorite pics," Keith Kostial wrote Thursday alongside a photo of his daughter taken when she was a young child.
The image has since received dozens of comments offering support to the bereaved family.
Keith Kostial later took to Facebook a second time to thank the community for the outpouring of kindness his family has received following the unspeakable tragedy.
"We are speechless from the amount of love and support that has been expressed and wish we could respond to each and every one of you," he wrote. "We thank you for all your prayers, blessings and kind words."
Ally Kostial's remains were discovered last Saturday morning near Sardis Lake in Harmontown, Miss., about 20 miles from Ole Miss's campus in Oxford, by a Lafayette County deputy on routine patrol. A preliminary autopsy determined the 21-year-old was killed by "multiple gunshot wounds."
That Monday, 22-year-old Brandon Theesfeld, of Fort Worth, was arrested at a gas station in South Memphis, Tenn., after authorities tracked him down using his cellphone records and credit card history.
The suspect, who police say had blood on his clothing and a weapon in his trunk, was detained for questioning before he was transferred back to Oxford. On Tuesday, he appeared before a circuit court judge and was formally charged with murder.
Multiple people close with Kostial have since spoken out on the nature of the alleged relationship between the suspect and victim, both of whom attended the School of Business Administration at Ole Miss.
"I don’t know how many times she called me about him. About how he was treating her and about how he acted when they were together," A friend of Kostial's told Daily Beast anonymously. "We all told her to end it with him, but she always said she saw the good in him."
