A Louisiana teenager has been accused of kidnapping two men he met on the gay dating app Grindr — and attempting to kidnap another.
via People:
Chance Seneca, 19, was indicted and charged Wednesday in federal court on six counts including hate crime, kidnapping, possession of a firearm and obstruction by destruction of records based on the attempted murder of a gay man and his “overarching scheme to kidnap and murder gay men whom he met online,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The alleged incidents occurred between June 19 and 20, 2020.
According to a federal criminal complaint obtained by PEOPLE, one of the victims was found in Seneca’s home on June 20 in a bathtub with strangulation marks around his neck and his wrists slit to the bone. Authorities found a knife, ice pick, saw, and hammer nearby.
Seneca allegedly told authorities that he met the victim on Grindr and later made arrangements to hang out with him at his Lafayette home.
“Seneca told [an investigator] that the proposed meeting was a pretext and that he intended to kill and dismember [the victim] instead,” the complaint states.
He allegedly picked up the victim and drove him to his home where he lured him into the bathroom. There, he allegedly strangled him unconscious, put him in the bathtub, stripped his clothing and then slit his wrists with a knife.
“Seneca explained that he had hoped to remove and preserve [victim’s] hands but he could not finish his plan after seeing the bones of [victim’s] wrists exposed under the flesh,” according to the complaint.
Seneca allegedly told authorities he apologized to the victim and “repeatedly told him to ‘let go…I’m setting you free.”
According to the complaint, Seneca called 911 in “a self-described effort to be put into a mental institution.”
Seneca allegedly admitted that he deleted the Grindr messages between him and the victim before authorities arrived.
Prosecutors alleged in the indictment that Seneca attempted to murder the victim because of his gender and sexual orientation and “intended to dismember and keep parts of the victim’s body as trophies, mementos and food.”
According to the indictment, Seneca kidnapped another man on June 19 and attempted to kidnap another on the same day. He met both of those men on Grindr.
Seneca has yet to enter a plea. It is unclear if he has an attorney.
There are some truly disturbed people in this world.
