Hardy was amid the process of transitioning to a woman when he was arrested on homicide charges, but maintained his identity as a man. He is currently housed in the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge (the women's prison is located in Billings).

Karen Jill Hardy, his former wife and mother of his children, alleged Hardy had not just begun transitioning to a woman, but seemed to be taking on her identity, mirroring her hair, clothes and partially taking her name. Karen Hardy had fallen out of love with Hardy and had a new attention in Orozco. The three of them, along with Korjack, met in Wyoming, and moved to the Frenchtown home together in late 2012.

At trial, neighbors remembered a "rank" smell the following spring that lasted nearly a week after Hardy had a bonfire.

No one reported Korjack and Orozco missing until Karen Hardy walked into an eastern Montana police station in 2016, three years later. She told authorities Korjack, who had been paying for the Frenchtown home and their lifestyles, had come home to find Hardy in bed with a man — he didn't mind Hardy being transgender, but would not accept him as gay.