Louisiana Man Pleads Guilty in Grindr Murder, Dismemberment Plot
A 21-year-old Louisiana man pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a brutal stabbing attack that left an 18-year-old victim in critical condition.
Local news source WAFB recounted that, according to law enforcement, Lafayette resident Chance Seneca intended to dismember the victim, who Seneca lured with the dating app Grindr, "and use that man's body parts for disturbing purposes."
The article added that, according to authorities, the victim "suffered from strangulation that popped nearly every blood vessel in his face, six stab wounds to the neck, blunt force trauma to his head and cuts so deep to his wrists that his hands were nearly sawed off."
In a report from January, 2021, HuffPost recalled that the attack took place in June of 2020, and detailed that the victim, Holden White, "spent days in a coma and nearly a month in the hospital and still does not have full use of both hands."
As the attack took place, White told news channel KLFY, "I was saying my final words to myself, which were just, 'Stay calm.'"
In a statement on the case, U.S. Attorney Brandon B. Brown for the Western District of Louisiana said that the "facts surrounding the events that took place in this case are very disturbing," according to newspaper the Daily Advertiser.
Seneca "pleaded guilty in front of Federal District Judge Robert R. Summerhays Thursday morning," the Advertiser detailed, adding that he "faces up to life in prison" for the attack. Some charges were dropped in exchange for Seneca agreeing to a plea deal.
"According to his plea agreement, Seneca admitted that on June 20, 2020, he used Grindr, a dating application for gay and bisexual men, to kidnap and attempt to murder H.W., a gay man," the U.S. Department of Justice said in a post on its website.
"Specifically, Seneca acknowledged that he used Grindr to propose a meeting with H.W., and that he drove H.W. to an isolated house, took out a handgun and told him to put on handcuffs. Seneca then attempted to murder and dismember H.W."
"Seneca acknowledged that he intended to murder and dismember H.W. for the purpose of satisfying his homicidal urges, and that he had planned to continue murdering until he was caught or killed," the DOJ account added.
"The statutory maximum for the kidnapping offense is life imprisonment," the DOJ post noted. "Seneca faces additional exposure under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines if the sentencing court finds beyond a reasonable doubt that he intentionally selected the victim because of the victim's actual or perceived gender or sexual orientation."
"Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 25, 2023."