Alexandria Kostial your typical 21 year old college student living her so called “dream life”. However, on July 20th, 2019, this dream life was instantly ripped away from her.
Alexandria, better known by her friends and family as Ally, was less than a year away from graduating college and pursuing a dream career in the fashion industry one day. She had such a deep passion and love for life, and this included all people as well.
Ally was the kind of young woman that saw the good in people, and once she saw the good it was hard for her not to care about you. However, some of her friends have said since the tragedy struck that if she didn’t see the good in everyone she might still be alive today.
Ally Kostial was born on September 11th, 1997 in St. Louis Missouri. She grew up in St. Louis and attended Lindbergh High School before graduating in 2016.
During high school, Ally was active in track and field and cheerleading. She also was a member of the National Honor Society, Youth in Government, and the gold team.
After graduating from high school, Ally made the decision to attend her dream school for college which was the University of Mississippi, better known as Ole Miss.
She began attending university and she was majoring in marketing and was hoping to one day pursue a career in the fashion industry.
Ally was apart of many clubs throughout her time in college just as she was in high school. She was the founder and president of the Ole Miss golf club, a member of the Alpha Phi sorority, and a member of the Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity.
Ally also taught various fitness classes to other students on campus because fitness was a huge passion of hers and she wanted to share that with others as much as she could.
Ally’s family and friends described her as being a love and light to everyone around her. They talked about how caring she was which even led her too volunteering to teach English to young children in Peru and Africa.
Her loved ones said:
“Her sweet sparkle lives on through the lives she touched. She forever changed the world for the better.”
Throughout Ally’s time attending Ole Miss, she met some amazing friends and she even met a young guy that eventually became her boyfriend. This mans name was Brandon Theesfeld.
Ally and Brandon’s relationship began early on in college, but it never seemed to last for very long according to their friends. They were constantly on again off again but never seemed to officially become a real couple.
According to Ally’s friends at college, her and Brandon’s so called “relationship” didn’t seem very healthy to them because they knew that she wanted something more serious with him but he didn’t seem interested in that.
However, her friends could’ve never imagined that Brandon would ever become violent towards Ally, and they definitely were horrified to find out what happened to her later on.
In April of 2019, Ally and Brandon were not on speaking terms and were no longer seeing each other on a regular basis.
However, on April 14th, Ally did reach out to Brandon through text message to let him know that she thought there was a possibility she could be pregnant with his child.
Ally’s friends said that Brandon didn’t respond to most of her text messages relating to the possible pregnancy, but he did finally respond twice and made it very clear to her that he didn’t want a child.
He told Ally that he didn’t think she was pregnant, but if she was he would want her to terminate the pregnancy.
However, according to Ally’s friends this was not something that she would ever want to do if she was actually pregnant.
Investigators now know that Ally wasn’t actually pregnant after all, but it’s still unsure if she ever informed Brandon that she wasn’t or if she even knew for sure herself.
Brandon continued to ignore Ally after these text message exchanges in April for months. However, eventually he did decide to meet up with her and finally talk in person. They decided to meet up on July 20th, 2019.
On Friday July 19th, 2019 at 11:52 p.m. Ally was caught on surveillance video leaving a bar in Oxford Square and she got an Uber and went home alone.
Shortly after Ally arrived home from the bar that night, her and Brandon made the decision to meet up. He picked her up at her apartment at 1:28 a.m. and they drove together to an abandoned fishing camp at Sardis Lake.
This camp was about a 45 minute drive from where Brandon picked up Ally at her apartment. The area where this fishing camp was located was very remote, dark, and desolated. It’s still unsure why exactly Ally and Brandon chose to go there together that night.
However, looking back on the situation now, investigators believe they know why Brandon would’ve wanted to take Ally there.
At some time between 2:15 and 2:30 a.m. someone in the area around the camp reported hearing gunshots while they were walking their dog.
Around 10:30 a.m. on July 20th, 2019, an officer was patrolling the area around the fishing camp when he came across a horrific site. He found Ally’s lifeless body on the ground and her belongings on the side of the road close by.
It was discovered after her body was found that Ally was shot at least nine times.
Almost immediately after Ally’s body was found and police began speaking to her friends and family, they knew that Brandon was the top suspect in her murder case.
Police got into contact with Brandon right away, and he assured them that he would go to the police station on Monday July 22nd, 2019 voluntarily to speak with them.
However, when Monday came and he didn’t show up, police put out a warrant for his arrest. Only two hours after the arrest warrant was issued, Brandon was spotted at a gas station and arrested by the police.
After they officially arrested him they found the gun he used to murder Ally in his truck. He also wrote a note to his parents confessing to the murder in full detail.
Police are still unsure if Brandon murdering Ally was for a specific reason, or just a combination of many different things that have built over the years between the two of them.
Brandon did write in the letter to his parents
“I’ve always had terrible thoughts. Those thoughts have been fueled by cocaine and alcohol.”
Police did think this could be the reason behind him murdering Ally, but there could also be more to the story that we just don’t know about because he hasn’t talked about it.
On August 27th, 2021 Brandon pled guilty to the first-degree murder of Ally Kostial. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Ally’s family and friends were devastated by her tragic murder. They have done everything in their power since to keep her memory and positive spirit alive. They want her to be remembered for the amazing person that she was and not just the horrific act that took her life.
Sources:
St. Louis Cremation. (2019, July 27). Alexandria Madison Kostial. St Louis Cremation.
The US Sun. (2022, March 4). Who was ally Kostial and what was her cause of death?. The US Sun.