When Donald Trump won the presidential election for the first time in 2016, Corey Burke and her trans wife considered leaving the country.
Instead, they decided to stay and “dim their heels in,” according to her wife’s book about their relationship and their lives.
Eight years later, 33-year-old Burke is now behind bars after allegedly hacking her father to death with an ice ax on election night.
It was a stunning development for Burke.
Burke had a job at Jeff Bezos’ space exploration company Blue Origin. The company has not yet responded to the allegations against her. Her wife, Samantha Leigh Allen, has had a stellar career as editor of Conde Nast.
In her bestselling book Real Queer America: LGBT Stories From Red States, Allen writes about how the couple struggled with the 2016 presidential election.
“After (Trump) won… my wife, Corey, raised the possibility of leaving the country,” Allen said. However, she added that the couple decided to stay in the US – “to settle down and just get on with this case.”
‘I wanted to be part of that Red State resistance. “I wanted to stay in the ‘real’ America — and so did Corey, once the initial shock wore off,” Allen wrote.
The Blue Origin employee allegedly killed her father during a mental health crisis
Burke’s $800,000 home is pictured. Police say she shattered the windows in an “act of liberation” after killing her father
The alleged killer and her wife, trans author Samantha Leigh Allen
Burke and Allen married just months before the election in the Miami suburb of Coral Gables. They met in Indiana in 2013, shortly before Burke moved to Atlanta to be with Allen.
“We laughed about our officiant, Mario, accidentally calling Corey my ‘husband’ when he habitually recited the heterosexual ceremony script,” Allen wrote of the wedding.
The author called Burke her “Big Boo, one true love and the mastermind behind this entire operation.” She said Burke was half Puerto Rican and half Irish, adding that she was “white-passing.”
‘The hardest part about writing this book was being away from her. I can’t wait until one day we can pack up our own van full of kids and hit the road. That would be a ‘nightmare come true,’ she added.
The prominent lesbian couple was also featured in the 2014 documentary Inside her Sex, which “explores female sexuality and shame through the eyes and experiences of three women from different walks of life.”
The two shared Allen’s gender transition journey, raising thousands of dollars in donations for her gender reassignment surgery and driving from Atlanta to San Francisco for the procedure.
“This is Corey, sitting on our kitchen table,” Allen said as she introduced the alleged killer to the camera.
Allen shared that the couple met in Indiana at the Kinsey Institute for Research and Sex Gender and Reproduction.
The couple is seen above in a promotional image for the 2014 documentary Inside her Sex
Allen has raised thousands of dollars in donations to receive the procedure
“We met on Wednesday and on Thursday evening we had sex for the first time,” Allen said.
“The amazing thing about the sexual dynamic I have with Corey is that everything is just completely open and completely honest and having a conversation about what we want to do sexually is as easy as having a conversation about where we want to go out to dinner,” she says. added.
In 2016, they appeared to have moved to Miami, where Burke worked in Human Relations for the Fox Networks, according to Linked In.
Allen also shared that she still wanted gender reassignment surgery, despite the fact that she was “still having better orgasms than” ever before.
“But my feelings about what’s there aesthetically have really changed,” she explained.
“Having a vagina means being able to receive something in a way that is mechanically and aesthetically consistent with my experience of my own sexuality,” Allen said to the camera as she unpacked a box of women’s sanitary pads.
“Are you glad I got that for you?” Burke asked Allen.
In one scene, the alleged killer is seen topless while fixing her hair in front of a mirror.
When asked what part of Allen’s transition she was excited about, Burke replied: “sex.”
“I’m also glad you’re happy and feeling better… it’s not nice to see you dissatisfied with your appearance or clothes.”
In one scene of the documentary, the alleged killer is seen topless in front of a mirror
Allen is seen in the documentary as she is about to undergo gender reassignment surgery
After Allen’s surgery, the couple is seen happily frolicking in Miami, with Allen wearing a nice blue swimsuit.
Ten years later, Burke is accused of killing her father after he allegedly refused to turn off the lights in the home they shared, which she bought in 2023.
Burke appears to have moved to Washington state in 2019 and joined Blue Origin as a training coordinator in 2022, according to her LinkedIn.
She allegedly told police she had to bite her father as she strangled him because “he was too strong.” Burke added that she felt better when her father “went soft.”
According to police, Burke admitted to police that she “freaked out” and claimed there was “something big going on with Election Day.”
Investigators say Burke emerged from the Rainier Valley home with a bloodied face and appeared to be having a mental health crisis.
Burke reportedly told detectives that “she knew she couldn’t convince her father to keep the lights off,” so she went upstairs and got the murder weapon.
She then tripped her father and strangled him before attacking him with the ice axe.
Burke then bit him and hit him several times on the head and side with the blunt and sharp ends of the ice axe, police say. His body was found in the basement.
Blue Origin’s project manager told police she wanted to help people ‘change their attachment to their parents’
She apparently smashed several windows and later told police she did so in an “act of liberation” after killing her father. She was reportedly ‘clapping in her house’ when police arrived.
A neighbor first called 911 after noticing her broken windows. The officer who responded to that call discovered the horror she had unleashed within.
Police say they found a bloody silver and blue ice climbing ax at the crime scene.
The day after the murder, she allegedly whispered to a police officer: “I killed him.”
Burke added that she had a strained relationship with her father and said she was “overwhelmed” on Election Day.
She added that she wanted to help people “change their attachment to their parents.”
According to police documents, Burke allegedly described how she killed her father, saying “it was really hard, really damn hard” and “there were points where she felt like she couldn’t do that.”
Burke was charged Friday with first-degree murder and is being held on $2 million bond.
She is scheduled to appear in court on November 21.
Neighbors told police that father and daughter lived in the house together and that Timothy was largely homebound due to health problems.
DailyMail.com has contacted Blue Origin for comment on this story.