Teenager Who Idolized Jeffrey Dahmer Charged with Federal Hate Crime In Attempted Murders of Two Gay Men He Met On Grindr

A Louisiana teenager was charged and indicted with a federal hate crime for the attempted murder of two gay men he met on the gay “dating” app Grindr.

Chance Seneca, 19, from Lafayette, Louisiana, is accused of kidnapping two gay men he met through a dating app called Grindr in June of 2020. Seneca attempted to kidnap one other person but failed during that same time period, according to the Department of Justice.

According to the DOJ release: “The indictment alleges that on June 19 and 20, 2020, Seneca (pictured above) attempted to kidnap one man and successfully kidnapped two other men through his use of Grindr, a dating application for gay and bisexual men. The indictment further alleges that the defendant attempted to murder one of these men because of his gender and sexual orientation, and that the defendant intended to dismember and keep parts of the victim’s body as trophies, mementos and food. The indictment further alleges that the defendant possessed a firearm in furtherance of the hate crime, and that he tried to cover up his actions by deleting communications between himself and the victim of the attempted murder.  The statutory maximum for the hate crime, kidnapping and firearm offenses is life imprisonment. The statutory maximum for the attempted kidnapping and obstruction offenses is 20 years. The statutory minimum for the gun charge is five years.”

CBS News reported: “Along with Thursday’s federal indictment in Lafayette is a newly unsealed affidavit that says Lafayette police responding to a call from Seneca last June found Holden White, 18, severely injured in a bathtub with strangulation marks on his neck and ‘wrists slit to the bone.'”

White appeared on local news stations about the attack, saying he and Seneca spoke over Grindr for over month before arranging to meet and that once he went to Seneca’s house they began playing video games. He alleges that Seneca left the room and when he returned tried to strangle and cut White’s wrist off.

White also claims that he alerted the local police to the fact that Seneca “worshipped Jeffrey Dahmer.”

Dahmer was an American serial killer who lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. who was arrested in 1991.

Dahmer committed his first murder in Bath township, Ohio, in 1978. A second murder followed in 1987, and during the next five years he killed—mostly in Milwaukee, Wisconsin—another 15 boys and young men, who were for the most part poor and African American, Asian, or Latino. Although other serial murderers had claimed far more victims, Dahmer’s crimes were particularly gruesome, involving cannibalism and necrophilia. In February 1992 Dahmer was sentenced to 15 consecutive life terms; a 16th consecutive life sentence was added in May for the murder he committed in 1978. Dahmer was murdered by a fellow inmate in a Wisconsin prison in 1994.

White said in addition to having Dahnmer as his Facebook avatar, that Seneca too targeted gay men.

KLFY reported that: The federal indictment says Seneca planned to use the man’s body parts as “trophies and food.” A Department of Justice statement said Seneca had “an overarching scheme to kidnap and murder” gay men. The affidavit was filed in August by an FBI agent and was based on information from Lafayette police and a conversation the agent had with Seneca. It said Seneca told police he had called 911 after the attack “in a self-described effort to be put into a mental institution.”

White says on the news broadcast: “He went on an app designated for gay people,” he told the station in January. “He chose to choose someone who is gay and very proud of his sexuality. He said this in prison. He said he chose me because I have a smaller stature and it would be easier to kill me. He knew what he was doing.”

White was left with severe wounds after the attack. “It wasn’t just one swipe. It was literally him sawing into my wrist and I was like screaming and crying in pain.”

Seneca is in state custody, already facing attempted murder charges and a state hate crime charge in the June 20 attack. He has pleaded not guilty to the state charges, his public defender, Clay Lejeune, confirmed Thursday.

The Federal court hadn’t scheduled Seneca’s next hearing at press time.

Following Thursday’s announcement, White gave KATC this statement about Seneca: “He is getting what he deserves and justice will continue to be served.”

Watch White’s interview on News Nation below.

NewsNation: A Louisiana teen was tortured and left for dead, spending three days in a coma after he was attacked by someone he met on the dating app Grindr. On June 20, 2020, Holden White was attacked while on a date. Now White, an openly gay man, is pressing hate crime charges.