A Lafayette man who will serve over 40 years in federal prison for attempting to murder and dismember a gay man in imitation of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer has been ordered to pay over $25,000 in restitution.
Chance Seneca, 21, was ordered to pay a total of $25,571.91 to two victims — $24,298.33 to the first victim and $1,273.58 to the second victim — by U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Louisiana Robert R. Summerhays on March 16.
The victims’ names were filed under seal and were not listed publicly in the filing. The payments were ordered as a lump sum due immediately to the parties.
Seneca pleaded guilty in federal court to a count of kidnapping and was sentenced in January to serve 45 years in federal prison, with 31 months shaved off his sentence for time he spent incarcerated before his case was adjudicated.
Seneca was given an equal, concurrent sentence in a parallel state case, in which he pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree murder and committing a hate crime.
The sentence and restitution stems from Seneca’s targeting of gay men through the LGBTQ-focused dating app Grindr, which he used to target potential victims for murder and dismemberment. Seneca admitted to meeting with two men but failing to go through with his plot until June 20, 2020, when Seneca strangled, bludgeoned and stabbed Holden White.
Unable to see the plan through to the end, Seneca called 911.
White, now 21, survived the attack and testified to the physical and mental pain he’s suffered as a result of the attack at Seneca’s federal sentencing. One of Seneca’s other victims, identified only as J.F., submitted a written victim impact statement to the court.