48 Hours on ID: What happened to Ally Kostial?

In July 2019, Alexandria aka Ally Kostial, a 21-year-old St. Louis, Missouri native and marketing student from the University of Mississippi, was found shot dead near an abandoned fishing camp near Sardis Lake, about 30 miles from campus. Investigators claimed that she was found with at least nine gunshot wounds to the back.

Kostial's text messages, retrieved from her Apple Watch, revealed much about her life before the murder, including details of an on-and-off relationship with a fellow university student named Brandon Theesfeld, from Fort Worth, and an apparent pregnancy that fueled the attack.

Authorities soon discovered the truth and arrested 22-year-old Theesfeld, charging him with capital murder. In August 2021, Theesfeld pleaded guilty.

48 Hours on ID will revisit the murder case of Ally Kostial and a string of desperate messages she sent to another student in the days leading up to it. The episode, titled What Ally Kostial Didn't Know, airs on Sunday, December 4, 2022, at 8 pm ET.

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Marketing student Ally Kostial was shot at least nine times in the back near an abandoned fishing camp

Ally Kostial, a 21-year-old University of Mississippi student, was expected to graduate sometime in the spring of 2020. During her time at the university, Kostial actively participated in a number of extracurricular activities, taught Pilates and yoga, presided over the golf club, and was a founding member of the sorority Alpha Phi. She also got involved in an on-and-off dating scene with Brandon Theesfeld.

On July 19, 2019, months before her graduation, Kostial hugged someone while leaving a bar, got into a cab, and reached home by midnight. Tragically, the next morning, her bullet-riddled body was discovered approximately 20 minutes away from school. Within days, authorities arrested 22-year-old Theesfeld in connection with the horrible murder as the investigation continued.

On the night of the murder, Kostial was seen on a surveillance video about 10 minutes before midnight in Oxford, Mississippi, near a bar. The 21-year-old was seen leaving the venue after hugging someone. She got into a gray van, which was later discovered to be an uber. Her roommates confirmed that she returned home around midnight, but left again after she had reached home.

It remains uncertain what exactly transpired in the hours after she left her apartment, but the next morning, authorities in Harmontown, which is roughly 30 miles from the university, discovered her dead body by a lake. Kostial's death was classified as a homicide on July 24 when an autopsy suggested she died of "multiple gunshot wounds."

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Ally Kostial's on-and-off partner Brandon Theesfeld and fellow student was behind the brutal killing

Brandon Theesfeld was taken into custody on July 22 before being charged with murder two days later. Sources stated that Kostial informed her Alpha Phi sorority sisters that she was pregnant with Theesfeld's child and that he was unhappy with the news.

Ally made multiple attempts to get in touch with Brandon in April 2019 due to the possibility that she was pregnant with his child. On July 20, 2019, Brandon finally met Ally after months of avoiding her. He shot Ally multiple times when they met to talk about the probable pregnancy.

Surprisingly, it was later revealed at the trial in August 2021 that Ally was not pregnant at the time of her death, according to autopsy evidence. Theesfeld's defense claimed that the report:

"Showed that she was not pregnant and there was no evidence that she was pregnant."

Theesfeld was found guilty in August 2021 of the allegations filed against him for the murder of Ally Kostial. He eventually pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and received a life sentence. Brandon was previously charged with capital murder and was potentially facing the death penalty. However, the plea agreement granted him a life sentence.

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ID's 48 Hours will delve into Ally Kostial's story this Sunday, December 4, 2022.