SANTA ANA – A friend of slain pre-med student Blaze Bernstein was arrested Friday on suspicion of homicide in the death of the University of Pennsylvania sophomore who went missing for a week before his body was discovered in a shallow grave near a Foothill Ranch park.

Samuel Lincoln Woodward, 20, was taken into custody Friday shortly after driving from his home in Newport Beach, said Orange County Undersheriff Don Barnes during a press conference hours later. He had been under surveillance, and a mile and a half into his drive, he was stopped and apprehended.

Orange County School of the Arts High school yearbook senior tribute to Blaze Bernstein.

Orange County Undersheriff Don Barnes announces the arrest of Samuel Lincoln Woodward for the murder Blaze Bernstein during a press conference in Santa Ana on Friday, Jan 12, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Mourners embrace as they join more than 300 people in Borrego Park in Foothill Ranch, Lake Forest on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018 for a candlelight vigil for Blaze Bernstein. A make-shift memorial of photos, candles and flowers was set up on a picnic table near the spot where Bernstein’s body was found. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Mourners comfort each other as they join more than 300 people in Borrego Park in Foothill Ranch, Lake Forest on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018 for a candlelight vigil for Blaze Bernstein. A make-shift memorial of photos, candles and flowers was set up on a picnic table near the spot where Bernstein’s body was found. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Blaze Bernstein (Photo courtesy of Gildeon Bernstein)



Not long after in the early afternoon, two sheriff’s investigators walked with Woodward – handcuffed and wearing a black sweatshirt reading, “Keep the peace” – from a parking area in the Civic Center to the Orange County Jail, where he is being held without bail.

“As a parent myself, I put myself in the shoes of the Bernsteins,” Barnes said. “I cannot imagine the grief they must now face.”

Bernstein and Woodward had attended the Orange County School of the Arts in Santa Ana together. Barnes declined to describe their relationship, how Bernstein died or offer a possible motive for the death.

Woodward was arrested after investigators received the results of fast-tracked DNA tests on blood evidence obtained during the probe.

“Evidence collected ties Mr. Woodward to Mr. Bernstein,” Barnes said.

The arrest seemed to provide some relief for Bernstein’s family.

“Finally,” Bernstein’s mom tweeted. “My thoughts are: Revenge is empty. It will never bring back my son. My only hopes are that he will never have the opportunity to hurt anyone else again and that something meaningful can come from the senseless act of Blaze’s murder. Now Do Good for Blaze Bernstein.”

Before the body was discovered on Tuesday, Woodward had told homicide investigators that he drove Bernstein, 19, to Borrego Park on Jan. 2, the night Bernstein disappeared, according to a search-warrant affidavit obtained by the Southern California News Group. Bernstein’s body would be discovered in the grave on the edge of Borrego Park, after rains disturbed the soil.

Woodward told detectives that the two began that evening about 10 p.m. conversing on SnapChat, the affidavit says. They met and drove to the Hobby Lobby parking lot in Lake Forest to “hang out” and “catch up,” and then went to the park.

Woodward says that Bernstein walked into the park after exiting the vehicle to meet a third person and didn’t return, according to the now-sealed affidavit. Woodward left the park alone, he says, visiting a girlfriend and going back to look for Bernstein hours later. Investigators have been unable to confirm whether there was a third person at the park.

“We believe Mr. Woodward was acting alone,” Barnes said.

Investigators were first led to Woodward as a person of interest through his SnapChat conversation with Bernstein.

The search-warrant affidavit says the detectives noticed that Woodward’s hands were scratched and he had dirt beneath his fingernails during one of his meetings. He told them the scratches and dirt came from participating in a fight club and falling into a muddy puddle.

Woodward, according to the affidavit, was unable to provide his girlfriend’s last name, phone number or address. While leaving the sheriff’s facility during an interview, he covered his hands with clothing before touching door knobs, the affidavit says.

Anna Della Donna, an attorney retained by the Bernsteins, read a statement from his family at the press conference:

“With his death a beautiful light has been extinguished. We encourage you to shine his light through acts of loving kindness.”