CBS 48 Hours: David Bogdanov Update Today & Family
David has been charged with 20 years of prison time. He is still being held at the Washington Corrections Center in Shelton, Mason County.
After it came to light that David Bogdanov was the last person to see Nikki before she went missing, he became an immediate person of interest. Nikki’s acquaintances say she went home late on June 5, 2019, to meet David.
During a sexual interaction, Bogdanov found out Kuhnhausen was a transsexual woman, according to his testimony. He said that as he attempted to get her out of his car, Kuhnhausen went for his gun and strangled her with a smartphone charging cable in self-defense. Bogdanov also stated that if his family found out about his sexual contact with Kuhnhausen, he would be humiliated.
The murder of Kuhnhausen sparked outrage in the local community, prompting the creation of the Nikki Kuhnhausen Act, which prohibits a defendant from employing a legal technique known as the LGBTQ+ “panic defense.”
Nikki Kuhnhausen Killed For Being a Transgender
The court sentenced David Bogdanov, the 27 years old man found guilty of killing Vancouver girl Nikki Kuhnhausen in 2019 after discovering she was transgender, to 20 years in jail in September 2021. Bogdanov’s lawyer has stated that he intends to appeal the conviction.
Kuhnhausen, 17, went missing in June 2019, and her bones were discovered six months later in the Larch Mountain region of east Clark County. Her acquaintances told police that they saw her leave a friend’s house in Vancouver on the evening of June 5, 2019, to meet a stranger.
Detectives identified Bogdanov as a person of interest after reviewing Kuhnhausen’s Snapchat account. The two had met, & he had offered her a lift in his car, according to a Snapchat check of Bogdanov’s account.
The teenager died due to strangulation by David in the same car after he discovered she was a trans. During the trial, many believed he had not told the complete truth.