Posted Tuesday at 4:57 p.m. Updated Wednesday at 4:31 p.m.
A person who was stabbed to death Tuesday morning in Morristown has been identified as Fern Feather, 29, of Hinesburg, according to Vermont State Police.
Seth Brunell, 43, who does not have a permanent address, was charged with second-degree murder in the killing, Vermont State Police said. Brunell was ordered held without bail until arraignment Wednesday in the Lamoille County criminal court in Hyde Park.
In a recent social media post, Fern Feather identified as a transgender woman. State police initially identified Feather by a previously used name and later said that family still knew Feather by that name.
Investigators determined that Brunell met Feather several days ago, and the two had been spending time together. The Lamoille County Sheriff’s Department encountered them in a vehicle Tuesday at about 8:05 a.m. in the parking lot of the Lamoille North Supervisory Union. Deputies checked on them and waited for them to leave the parking lot.
Sometime before 10:15 a.m., investigators said, the pair stopped their vehicle on Duhamel Road in Morristown near the intersection of Cadys Falls Road. According to the affidavit of probable cause, Brunell told police he was defending himself after the victim made a sexual advance and attacked him. However, investigators wrote that they observed no injuries or evidence of a struggle or an assault on Brunell.
The victim’s body was taken Tuesday evening to the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington for an autopsy, which is scheduled for Wednesday.
Further details of the case are outlined in the affidavit of probable cause, which will be filed with the court and made public after Brunell’s arraignment Wednesday afternoon.
— Tom Kearney
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect Fern Feather’s name and gender based on additional information provided by the Vermont State Police.