A ‘closeted’ Neo-Nazi who brutally murdered his gay classmate told his victim’s parents told them he wanted to help find their son after his disappearance.
Samuel Woodward, 27, was sentenced to life without parole in November for the murder of 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein seven years ago.
Woodward and Bernstein met over Christmas 2018 after Bernstein – who was also Jewish – spotted his former classmate on Tinder and struck up a conversation.
Bernstein was visiting family in California on winter break when he went out with Woodward and disappeared.
His body was found days later buried in a shallow grave at Borrego park in Lake Forest, having been repeatedly stabbed in the face and neck.
Seven years on since his passing, ABC News have uncovered a phone call made between Blaze’s father Gideon Bernstein and Woodward.
The elder Bernstein says to Woodward: ‘We haven’t heard from him all day. He missed an appointment today, and then we started getting concerned, and I’ve been trying to figure things out. So you’re the first real clue to the puzzle here.’
Woodward replied: ‘Yeah, I feel like [expletive], honestly I’m sorry. I want to find Blaze as much as you do.’
Samuel Woodward, seen here, was sentenced to life without parole in November for the murder of 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein seven years ago.
Bernstein, pictured here, was visiting family in California on winter break when he went out with Woodward and disappeared
In that call Woodward also told Bernstein that his son had suggested they drive to a nearby park to meet another friend.
He told the worried father: ‘He got out of the car, and I got out the car too, and I just asked him “Who is this guy?”
‘And [Blaze] was just like, you know, “You’ll find out in a little bit, you know. He’s a friend of mine.”
‘And then so I was just like, “OK, Blaze.” And I just waited there by the bathroom, and he, I didn’t see where he went.’
The phone exchange left the troubled family with more questions than answers, and they went to the police to raise concerns about Woodward.
He was then placed under observation by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department who later brought him in for questioning.
An exhaustive investigation for the missing teen ensued, revealing social media exchanges between the two, who planned to meet in the park later that evening.
Bernstein’s body was later found in a shallow grave in the park. He had been repeatedly stabbed in the face and neck.
In that call Woodward also told Bernstein that his son had suggested they drive to a nearby park to meet another friend
Gideon Bernstein and Jeanne Pepper Bernstein, parents of Blaze Bernstein, speak during a press conference after Samuel Woodward was sentenced to life without parole
At Woodward’s sentencing, Bernstein’s mother admitted she finds solace knowing her son’s killer’s fate as while he ‘rots in prison, we will be here on the outside, celebrating the life of Blaze.’
Prosecutors claimed Woodward was affiliated with the violent anti-gay, neo-Nazi extremist group Atomwaffen Division.
However, Woodward’s lawyer said his client didn’t plan to kill anyone or hate Bernstein.
Instead, Morrison insisted that Woodward faced challenging personal relationships due to a long-undiagnosed autism spectrum disorder.
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Blaze Bernstein's homophobic murderer Samuel Woodward learns his fate
Bernstein and Woodward attended the same high school, Orange County School of the Arts.
The pair had connected via a dating app in the months before Bernstein’s savage killing.
Woodward claimed that the night of Bernstein’s death, he picked up his then-classmate, went to a nearby park and repeatedly stabbed him after a failed attempt at trying to grab a cellphone he feared had been used to photograph him.
The trial also saw Woodward’s legal team claim he was confused about his sexuality.
The 27-year-old had grown up in a politically conservative and devout Catholic family where his father openly criticized homosexuality. However, the prosecution detailed a different story.
They said Woodward had repeatedly targeted gay men online by reaching out to them and abruptly breaking off contact, while also maintaining a hateful, profanity-laced journal of his actions.
Authorities said they also found a black Atomwaffen mask with traces of blood, a folding knife with a bloodied blade and a host of anti-gay, anti-Semitic and hate group materials in a search of his family’s home in Newport Beach, California.
As a result of his sentencing, Woodward will spend the rest of his life in prison.