[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
A Louisiana man has been sentenced to 45 YEARS behind bars after being inspired by Jeffrey Dahmer to kidnap and murder gay men.
The 21-year-old Lafayette resident Chance Seneca was described as having a “months-long scheme to kidnap and murder gay men” according to the Department of Justice on Wednesday. The court later concluded he “intentionally targeted the victim and other gay men because of their gender and sexual orientation.” Disgusting.
The story of how all this came to be is stomach-churning and the details are graphic. Continue reading at your own discretion.
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An 18-year-old boy named Holden White was Seneca’s intended murder victim. He met Seneca on Grindr in 2020 before agreeing to meet him in person. According to the DoJ, the 21-year-old drove out to the victim’s residence, held a gun to him, and forced him into handcuffs. He then used “several methods” to attempt to murder the teen. It only gets more disturbing from there, as the release said:
“Believing that H.W. was dead, Seneca then attempted to dismember him.”
Just awful… But unbelievably Holden survived!
The teen spoke to The Acadiana Advocate in 2021 and detailed what he remembered from the horrific scene, saying he woke up naked in a bathtub with Seneca attempting to dismember him after blacking out for a while:
“He is in the process of doing my left wrist. He was slicing it … and it was very, very hard. It was to the point that he was basically trying to cut off my hands. He was just staring at me with a fearful look in his face, like a ‘I just did this?’ look, I was laying in the bathtub, naked, bleeding out, the water red and cold, and I remember thinking, ‘Well, this is it.’ The last words I said to myself were just ‘Stay calm,’ over and over and over in my head I was just repeating to myself to stay calm.”
Absolutely horrific. And it sounds all too much like the criminal’s inspiration…
Seneca ended up giving up and calling the police. White was taken to the hospital, where he lay in a coma for three days. Ultimately he survived the attack, but not without getting some serious injuries and PTSD from the situation. He told the outlet a week before the sentencing his left hand and a finger on his right hand are completely numb, his skull is sensitive to weight, and he suffers from anxiety. The victim pushed for the court to give a life sentence, saying:
“[I’m] scared for me and for other future victims he might harm. I’m scared an 18-year-old, like I was, will have their life forever changed by a date.”
Seneca even read aloud a letter in court, claiming he’s a “caring person” with no “violent bone” in his body. Uh… all evidence to the contrary?
Via a DOJ release, this self-proclaimed nonviolent man was already plotting to kill again:
“After his arrest, Seneca admitted that he had planned to continue murdering gay men until he was caught or killed. Seneca acknowledged that he kidnapped and attempted to murder H.W. in order to satisfy a compulsive murder-fantasy. Seneca had become fixated with the idea of killing gay men, and this fascination led him to spend months designing a murder-kidnapping scheme that mirrored the murders of gay men committed by the notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Seneca intentionally targeted gay men, as Dahmer had done. Seneca had also intended to eat and preserve the bodies of his victims, as Dahmer had done.”
“As Dahmer had done.” Chilling. Especially in light of the controversy of the Netflix series (pictured above, inset) being accused of glorifying the killer.
FBI Special Agent Daniel English explained Seneca has a “fascination” with Dahmer and even named his pet rabbit after him, as well as believed the serial killer wasn’t “a bad guy.” An earlier release from the DoJ said Seneca planned to follow in the footsteps of Dahmer by dismembering and keeping “parts of the victim’s body as trophies, mementos and food.”
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in part in a statement that this is a grim reminder of prejudices the LGBTQ+ community faces:
“The facts of this case are truly shocking, and the defendant’s decision to specifically target gay men is a disturbing reminder of the unique prejudices and dangers facing the LGBTQ+ community today.”
Brandon B. Brown, US Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana added in a statement of his own:
“No one should ever be subjected to the type of horrendous actions that this defendant inflicted upon the victim in this case. The victim never thought that he would find himself falling prey to a predator in such a way. Hate crimes such as this are a top priority for the Department and this office, and we take these kind of cases very seriously.”
Both Clarke and Brown stressed the importance of internet safety to remind everyone always be cautious when meeting people online. Seneca’s federal sentencing leaves him with another court date for his state charges of attempted second degree murder. It’s safe to say he won’t be seeing the light of day for a very long time…
Reactions, Perezcious readers? Is his sentencing too light — did he deserve to get a life sentence like the victim was pushing for? Let us know your thoughts in the comments (below).
[Image via Lafayette Sheriff’s Department/Netflix]
