Louisiana man sentenced to decades in prison after scheming to mirror Dahmer murders

LAFAYETTE, La. (KNOE) - The United States District Judge Robert L. Summerhays sentenced Chance Seneca, 21, to 45 years in prison for kidnapping and attempting to murder a gay man in Lafayette on Jan. 25, 2023.

Seneca lured the victim to an “isolated house, took out a handgun, instructed him to put on handcuffs and then used several methods to attempt to murder him,” a press release from the United States Attorney’s Office Western District of Louisiana.

The press release says Seneca lured the victim with intentions of murdering and dismembering him in order to satisfy a compulsive murder fantasy of murdering gay men and also eating and preserving their bodies. Seneca spent months planning and scheming murders reminiscent of the murders committed by serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

Attorney Branon B. Brown said hate crimes are a top priority for the department, so they take theses cases seriously.

“No one should ever be subjected to the type of horrendous actions that this defendant inflicted upon the victim in this case,” says United States Attorney Brandon B. Brown.

After Seneca was arrested, the press release says he admitted to planning to continue murdering gay men until he was caught or killed.

The FBI and the Lafayette Police Department investigated this case. The prosecution was by Deputy Criminal Chief Myers Namie for the Western District of Louisiana and Trial Attorney Thomas Johnson of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section.