Ally Kostial Was 1 Of 5 Women Killed In Mississippi In 24 Hours

The story of Alexandria "Ally" Kostial, the 21-year old University of Mississippi student whose body was found Saturday morning, has circulated widely in the news. We know that Kostial was shot eight times, and a suspect, Brandon Theesfeld, 22, has been arrested and charged with her murder. A preliminary autopsy showed that she had died of "multiple gunshot wounds." Friends remember Kostial as well-liked and heavily involved in school activities: "When I was around her, I just felt like my spirit being lifted," Margaret Illig told a local news outlet.

Kostial was only one of five women to have been shot and killed in Mississippi in the span of a violent 24 hours, The Clarion-Ledger reported. All of the women were victims of gun violence, and one of them was allegedly killed by her boyfriend, part of the disturbing number of intimate-partner murders in the U.S. Most of them were women of color, and their stories deserve to be heard.

Ahead, read about the women whose stories didn’t make national headlines.