In January 2018, Blaze Bernstein was a 19-year-old medical student at the University of Pennsylvania. During winter break from college, a meeting with a former high school classmate ended in a fatal encounter.

In July 2024, 27-year-old Samuel Lincoln Woodward was convicted of first-degree murder with a hate crime enhancement for the killing of gay and Jewish Bernstein in Foothill Ranch, California. In November he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

An all-new “20/20” episode, “The Last Text,” airing Friday, January 3, at 9 p.m. on ABC and streaming the next day on Hulu, features exclusive interviews with the Bernstein family and those involved detectives involved in the case.

Woodward’s parents, Blake and Michele, did not respond to an interview request from ABC News. However, when the verdict was announced, they presented a letter to the court.

“You used to be able to look into Sam’s eyes and be surprised at the level of sensitivity and warmth – one of his best qualities,” the letter reads in part. “Well… he’s too vulnerable for you to look him in the eyes… He committed a crime, but he’s not a person without value who doesn’t deserve respect…”

Blaze grew up in Lake Forest, an upper-middle-class community of about 90,000 people about an hour south of Los Angeles. According to friends, Blaze was creative, thoughtful and enthusiastic. He was smart and interested in everything, they said.

“A young man of the Renaissance,” Arnie Rachlis, rabbi emeritus of the University Synagogue who has known the Bernstein family for decades, told “20/20.”

The 19-year-old medical student attended the University of Pennsylvania and returned home to Southern California for winter break, excited to see his family. Unfortunately, the reunion left the Bernstein family with lasting wounds and heartache. On January 3, 2018, just before Blaze was due to return to school, he went missing.

“My dad called me and said, ‘Hey, have you heard from Blaze? He doesn’t answer his phone,'” Beaue Bernstein, Blaze’s sister, told “20/20.” “‘It’s really strange. Just let us know if you hear anything.’ “And I think, ‘That doesn’t sound right.’ “

Blaze left his glasses, wallet, keys and bags packed for his return to college. Panicked and confused, the Bernsteins told “20/20” that they had called everyone they could to see if anyone had seen or heard from Blaze in the last 12 hours. Unfortunately, no one knew where he was.

One of the first things the Bernsteins thought about was using the iPhone app Find My, which allows users to share their location with others. However, according to Blaze’s mother, Jeanne Pepper Bernstein, the location services were turned off.

The Bernsteins confirmed to Verizon that Blaze had not made any recent phone calls. A quick check of his computer revealed no messages on iMessage or Facebook.

The family then contacted the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and said an officer initially tried to calm them down.

“He insisted that these kids be out making a booty call or doing something 100% of the time,” Jeanne Pepper Bernstein told “20/20.”

Desperate for information, the Bernsteins decided to search Blaze’s social media accounts for possible leads.

“I told my parents, ‘I can try to help you find anything you need,'” Beaue, who was 14 at the time, told “20/20.” “I’m really good with Snapchat. I knew the names of a lot of his friends, so I was able to text them and ask them if they knew what was going on.”

Snapchat is a free mobile messaging application that allows users to share photos, videos and text messages. The special thing about the app is that everything shared, including text messages, disappears from the recipient’s screen after just a few seconds.

The Bernsteins were lucky because Blaze’s username and password were stored in their iCloud Keychain. While searching his Snapchat account, the family discovered that Blaze had sent his address to someone. They didn’t know this person, but discovering his name on Blaze’s Snapchat account would upend their desperate search for their son.

Gideon Bernstein, Blaze’s father, sent a direct message to Samuel Woodward and asked Sam to call him.

When Woodward called Gideon Bernstein, his daughter Beaue recorded the conversation. 20/20 obtained a copy of the recording from Orange County Superior Court.

“We haven’t heard from him all day,” Gideon Bernstein told Woodward by phone. “He missed an appointment today and then we got worried and I tried to figure things out. So you’re the first real clue to the mystery here.”

Woodward’s reaction initially gave the impression that he was sympathetic to the Bernsteins’ plight.

“Yeah, I feel like (expletive) … honestly, I’m sorry,” he said. “I want to find Blaze as much as you do.”

During that call, Woodward told Gideon Bernstein that Blaze suggested driving to a nearby park to meet another of his friends, but never mentioned that friend by name.

“He got out of the car and I got out too and just asked him, ‘Who is this guy?’ ” said Woodward. “And he just said, ‘You’re about to find out, you know. He’s a friend of mine.’ And then I was like, “Okay, Blaze.” And I just waited there by the toilet and he, I didn’t see where he went.

It was a disturbing phone conversation that left the Bernsteins with more questions than answers. The family discovered that Woodward briefly attended high school with Blaze and grew up just 30 minutes away in the affluent seaside town of Newport Beach. With this information, the Bernsteins went to the police, who then investigated Woodward.

On January 4, 2018, Orange County Sheriff’s Department investigators brought Woodward in for questioning. During his interview with police, Woodward said that after he picked Blaze up at his house, they drove around for a while and eventually stopped in Borrego Park.

Woodward told officers that Blaze had met another friend at the park that evening and said he stayed behind as Blaze walked away and disappeared from sight. After several hours of questioning, Woodward was not charged and was allowed to leave.

Police remained suspicious and decided to put Woodward under surveillance.

“There was a large team deployed to the scene,” Sgt. Dylan Jantzen told 20/20. “And we followed him wherever he went.”

As concern for Blaze grew, the media became alert and the public became aware of his disappearance.

“There was an immediate firestorm of attention to this case,” Jantzen said. “We were literally inundated with tips from the public. The first week there were hundreds and the number grew exponentially.”

According to Jantzen, there was enormous pressure on investigators to move forward in the case. On Jan. 9, when Blaze had been missing for seven days, investigators returned to Borrego Park after obtaining cellphone data that showed he and Woodward were there together.

“There was a torrential downpour,” Jantzen said. “It was cold, it was raining, everything was wet, everything was muddy.”

Police found Blaze’s body covered in dirt and a tree branch. They also discovered a broken cell phone about 15 to 20 centimeters below the body.

“The autopsy revealed injuries that I believe were the result of an extremely violent encounter,” Jantzen said. “Blaze was stabbed 14 times in the left side of his neck and five times in the right side of his neck. He was stabbed in the knee. He had defensive wounds on all his fingers.”

After further investigation, police had enough evidence to determine that Woodward had acted alone.

When Woodward was charged in 2018, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office evaluated the evidence against him and decided to charge Woodward with a hate crime because Blaze was gay, but not because he was Jewish. Woodward pleaded not guilty to the charge.

At trial, prosecutors argued that Woodward fatally stabbed Blaze while they were alone in Borrego Park because Woodward was driven by a hatred of gays. They cited evidence that Woodward was affiliated with an anti-gay, neo-Nazi extremist group, and they said he lured Blaze to a park and stabbed him in a premeditated act of hate.

In a shocking twist, Woodward’s defense attorney acknowledged that his client killed Blaze but said it was not a premeditated hate crime. Woodward’s lawyer claimed he joined the extremist group out of isolation and loneliness.

The defense said that Woodward himself struggled with his sexuality, although Woodward disputed that characterization when he testified in his own defense. Woodward claimed he fell asleep while in the park with Blaze and claimed he woke up to find Blaze taking photos or videotaping their encounter with his cell phone.

Woodward claimed that he was horrified by the idea that Blaze might publicly share a compromising image of him, and that this alleged discovery led him to stab Blaze repeatedly. However, investigators with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department told 20/20 that they found no photos or videos from that night on Blaze’s phone.

At the end of the trial, Jeanne Pepper Bernstein made a statement to the assembled media.

“We are delighted with the verdict that holds Samuel Woodward accountable for the brutal, violent and painful murder of our son,” she said in part. “Justice has been served.”