Transgender Killer Who Says He Targeted Victim on Hiking Trail Because She Was ‘What I Would Want to Look Like,’ Takes Deal and Avoids Death Penalty

Zion Teasley, the man who stabbed Phoenix hiker Lauren Heike 15 times on a trail in 2023, has pleaded guilty to her murder in a deal that takes the death penalty off the table and sends him to prison for life. Teasley, 25, killed Heike, a 29-year-old beauty technician, after stalking her on a hiking trail near her home. Neighbors found her body at the foot of a barbed wire fence. Police said he chased her, killed her with a pocketknife, and jumped the fence to get away.