Warning - this article contains details which may disturb some people.
A 19-year-old US man has been charged with luring a gay man via an online dating app and attempting to kill him with the intention of keeping various body parts as trophies and food.
On Thursday, Chance Seneca, from Louisiana, was charged with federal hate crime and kidnapping over what the US Department of Justice called, an "overarching scheme to kidnap and murder gay men whom he met online".
It's alleged Seneca kidnapped two men and attempted to kidnap another on June 19 and 20 last year, using dating app Grindr, an app for gay and bisexual men, to source his victims.
Seneca attempted to murder one of the men, 18-year-old Holden White.
According to CBS, an unsealed affidavit revealed police responded to a call from Seneca last June, finding White lying in a bathtub with strangulation marks on his neck and wrists slit to the bone.
Seneca told police he called them following the attack so that he could be put into a mental institute.
White, the victim of the attack, told CBS "everything" about the date "seemed fine." The pair had decided to meet up after talking on Grindr for about a month.
Seneca picked White up and took him to his house to play video games. After leaving the room to get something he came back and wrapped a cord around White's throat.
The next thing White remembers is waking up in a bathtub to Seneca "slicing open" his wrists.
White told CBS it was obvious he was targetted because he is gay.
"He went on an app designated for gay people. He chose to choose someone who is gay and very proud of his sexuality."
It's also been alleged Seneca intended to dismember his victims and save body parts as trophies, mementoes, and food.
CBS reports Seneca's Facebook page includes a picture of Jeffrey Dahlmer, perhaps revealing the serial killer as an inspiration. Dahmer was a US serial killer who famously murdered and dismembered 17 boys and men between 1978 and 1991. His murders involved cannibalism and necrophilia.
Seneca has been charged on six counts including, hate crime, kidnapping, firearm, and obstruction charges and is in custody. It's been alleged he possessed a firearm and tried to cover up the attempted murder by deleting any communication with White.
