Vancouver man charged over death of transgender teenager

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Seventeen year old transgender woman Nikki Kuhnhausen went missing in June 2019. The young woman went missing in Vancouver, Washington, and in early December her remains were discovered in a remote area of nearby Larch Mountain.

Ten days after the body was discovered, on December 17th, prosecutors charged 25 year old Vancouver man David Bogdanov with her death.

A judge has now set his bail at $750,000. Prosecutors had asked for a $6million dollar bail, but the defence team argued that Bogdanov had no previous criminal record.

Since he was first arrested prosecutors have added an additional charge of a hate crime, because they allege that Bogdanov strangled Kuhnhausen after he learned she was transgender.

ABC News in the US have reported that court documents allege that Kuhnhausen and Bogdanov met in downtown Vancouver on June 6 and he and his brothers invited her to a bar for a drink.

Bogdanov told detectives he gave her his coat because she was cold and after one drink, he let her keep what was left in a bottle of vodka before she returned home. Kuhnhausen did not go home though, she later met up again with the accused man and told him of her gender history.

Bogdanov told detectives that when he discovered Kuhnhausen was transgender he asked her to leave his truck, and he claims he never saw the young woman again. Prosecutors will allege that he strangled the teen and disposed of her body in the Larch mountain area. Prosecutors claim mobile phone records place him in the area on June 6th 2019.

OIP Staff