![Louisiana man charged with federal hate crime, accused of trying to kill and dismember gay man](https://cbsnews2.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2021/03/19/045ef027-e30f-44c2-9bb2-7e68dc1f0e30/thumbnail/1200x630/1fa1506d6b62db50bbaaa5be17616e15/seneca.jpg)
Louisiana man charged with federal hate crime, accused of trying to kill and dismember gay man
CBSN
A southwest Louisiana man was charged with federal hate crime and kidnapping charges Thursday by prosecutors who said he tried to kill and dismember one of three men he abducted after luring them using social media and a dating app.
Chance Joseph Seneca, 19, of Lafayette, was charged Thursday in what a Justice Department news release called "an overarching scheme to kidnap and murder" gay men. The indictment said Seneca intended to keep parts of a victim's body as "mementos, trophies and food." Along with Thursday's federal indictment in Lafayette is a newly unsealed affidavit that says Lafayette police responding to a call from Seneca last June found Holden White, 18, severely injured in a bathtub with strangulation marks on his neck and "wrists slit to the bone."![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250216030556.jpg)
This story previously aired on Feb. 10, 2024. It was updated on Feb. 15, 2025. AMIE HARWICK (video): You can seek therapy to address an issue like depression, anxiety, a breakup. You can also seek therapy to be a better you! GARETH PURSEHOUSE (voicemail): I have so much I need to say. Please give me a chance to just say it. … Please (crying) please.
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Signaling a major shift in civil rights enforcement, the federal agency that enforces workplace anti-discrimination laws has moved to dismiss six of its own cases on behalf of workers alleging gender identity discrimination, arguing that the cases now conflict with President Donald Trump's recent executive order, court documents say.