19-year-old facing federal indictment for “overarching scheme to kidnap and murder gay men”

On June 19 and 20, 2020 19-year-old Chance Joseph Seneca is said to have attempted to kidnap one man, and successfully kidnapped two others that he had met through Grindr.

One of the men he kidnapped was 18-year-old Holden White who has stated in interviews since he was nearly killed that this was a targeted, planned attack.

"He [Seneca] went on an app designated for gay people," White told KLFV 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."

Despite Seneca reportedly using an image of Jeffrey Dahmer as his profile picture* on Facebook, White reported that he didn't see any red flags when, after a month of talking, Seneca suggested that they meet in person.

According to White's recollection of events, things were fine initially and he was playing videogames in Seneca's bedroom. Seneca stated he had to get something, left the room, and when he returned, approached from behind White and is said to have wrapped a cord around his neck in an attempt to strangle him.

White was in and out of consciousness after that. He remembered coming to at one point to find himself nude in the bathtub as Seneca reportedly slashed his left wrist "to the bone." When White eventually regained consciousness three days later, he was intubated in a hospital where he remained for nearly a month for treatment of a blunt force trauma injury to the back of his head and stab wounds in the neck.

While White was bleeding, Seneca called 911 at 11:49 pm. "I really f---ed up my life tonight," he told the dispatcher. "It's my fault." Seneca went on to say that, "I didn't want all this to happen," and that he "tried to control everything so good," "It was going so well."

"I don't want to be killed," he said, "I just want help." Seneca later admitted that this was in an attempt to be placed into a mental institution.

Officers responded to the residence and found Seneca outside smoking a cigarette. In an upstairs bathroom they found White with "weapons such as a knife, ice pick, and hammer" in plain sight near the bathtub.

After being read his Miranda rights and waiving them, Seneca is said to have told officers that "the proposed meeting was a pretext and that he intended to kill and dismember White." He said it was a fair statement to say that Grindr was his "hunting ground."

Seneca continued by telling officers that "he had hoped to remove and preserve White's hands but that he could not finish his plan after seeing the bones of White's wrists exposed under the flesh." He said he apologized to White and told him to "let go... I'm setting you free."

Seneca was charged with attempted murder and has pleaded not guilty. He remains in the custody of the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's department.

The indictment returned yesterday by a federal grand jury contains six counts: hate crime: kidnapping, possession of a firearm in the furtherance of a crime, two charges for kidnapping, attempted kidnapping, and destruction, alteration, or falsification of records for his attempt to erase communications that had taken place between himself and White form mobile devices.

His court date on these new charges has not yet been set.

An account that appears to belong to Chance J. Seneca somehow remains searchable on Facebook to this day. While there was no remaining image of Dahmer within the folder for profile images, (a compilation image of Dahmer and other serial killers exists in the cover image album), there still remain other dark and satanic imagery, many of which were tied to album covers.