Teen was strangled, had his hands nearly sawn off and was dumped naked in a bathtub by his Grindr date who has now been charged with hate crimes in addition to attempted murder
- Prosecutors added hate crime charge to attempted murder case against Chance Seneca, 19, seven months after brutal attack on Holden White
- Seneca is accused of repeatedly stabbing, beating, slashing and strangling White with a cord after going out with him on Grindr date in June 2020
- White, then 18, woke up in cold bath and found Seneca allegedly slitting his wrists
- Police in Louisiana initially said evidence did not support a hate crime charge
A hate crime charge has been added to attempted murder in the case of a gay Louisiana teenager who was strangled, stabbed and battered by another teen he met on the dating app Grindr last year.
Police initially said the evidence did not support a hate crime charge in the attack on Holden White, then aged 18, who spent days in a coma and nearly a month in the hospital and still does not have full use of both hands seven months later.
White said the suspect, 19-year-old Chance Seneca, wrapped a cord around his neck so tightly he lost consciousness and that he woke up in a bathtub where the assailant repeatedly slashed his wrists.
'I was saying my final words to myself, which were just, "Stay calm,"' White told KLFY-TV.
Louisiana prosecutors have added a hate crime charge to the attempted murder case against Chance Seneca, 19 (left), seven months after the brutal attack on Holden White (right)
White survived being repeatedly stabbed, beaten, slashed and strangled after going out on a Grindr date with Seneca (pictured after his release from the hospital)
The Lafayette Parish District Attorney's Office added the hate crime charge to the case against Seneca on January 20.
Seneca earlier pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempted second-degree murder in last June's attack, and he remains jailed on a $250,000 bond. His next pretrial hearing is March 3.
Prosecutor Donald Knecht declined comment, citing the pending case. Seneca's attorney, J. Clay LeJeune, said he had not been told why the hate crime charge was added 'at this late date,' but his client will also plead not guilty to it.
White had his wrists (pictured) slit so deeply that his hands were nearly severed; seven months later, he still does not have full use of his hands
White is convinced the attack was premeditated and that he was targeted because he's gay. He said they met on Grindr, a dating app for gay, bisexual and transgender men.
After talking for a month, they decided to meet in person. White said Seneca picked him up and took him to a relative's home to play video games. They talked awkwardly, he recalled.
White said his next memory is of being pulled backward by a cord, choked so hard that blood vessels ruptured all over his face. He said he woke up in a bathtub as Seneca sliced his wrists.
'The water is running, and it´s cold,' he told The Acadiana Advocate.
Lafayette police said Seneca was at the scene when authorities responded. White was found with cuts to both wrists that were so deeps his hands were nearly severed, six stab wounds to the neck and blunt force trauma to the back of his head, the Advocate said.
But police did not initially recommend a hate crime charge, even though White's family accused Seneca of targeting him because of his sexual orientation.
Lafayette Police Sgt. Wayne Griffin said right after the attack that preliminary evidence indicated it was not a hate crime and that Seneca and White had gotten into an argument.
White said the attack has left him with diminished function in his left hand, but he is determined to move on.
'I'm a survivor,' he told The Advocate.
White, who spent days in a coma and nearly a month in the hospital, says he is convinced that Seneca had targeted him because he is openly gay
White told KLFY he is confident that the attack was a pre-planned hate crime, in which he was targeted for being openly gay.
'[Seneca] went on an app designated for gay people. He chose to choose someone who is gay and very proud of his sexuality,' he said. 'He knew what he was doing.'
White also pointed out that the profile picture on Seneca's Facebook page displays Jeffrey Dahmer, the notorious serial killer and cannibal who murdered and dismembered 17 men and boys.
Meanwhile, White started a new job last week and has continued to date on Grindr, but now only in public places.
'You can’t let other people control your story because it’s your story,' White told News 10.
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