Isimemen Etute is being charged with second-degree murder for beating his Tinder date to death, according to the Associated Press. Etute was arrested in Blacksburg, Va. on June 1 and charged with killing 40-year-old Jerry Smith.
Eighteen-year-old Etute, a freshman at Virginia Tech, told the Blacksburg police that he met a woman named “Angie” on Tinder and received oral sex from his date on April 10. When he returned on May 31 for more sex, Etute learned that his Tinder match was a man. A surprised Etute hit Smith five times in the head. After Smith fell to the ground, Etute stomped on Smith before running away from Smith’s home.
The college freshman told police that he heard gurgling noises before he left. Smith was found later found dead with his teeth knocked out. The medical examiner ruled the cause of death blunt force trauma to the head.
Etute was released on a secured $75,000 bond provided he stay with his parents in Virginia Beach under house arrest. His family, along with a dozen of his teammates from Virginia Tech, were in court to show support during his hearing. Etute has been suspended from the team, as well as from the school.
It is unclear if Smith was transgender or a gay man pretending to be a woman online. His family described Smith as an out and proud gay man.
His lawyer, Jimmy Turk, defended Etute by blaming the victim for misrepresenting themselves.
“Nobody deserves to die, but I don’t mind saying, don’t pretend you are something that you are not. Don’t target or lure anyone under that perception. That’s just wrong.”
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam signed legislation in April that bans “LGBTQ panic” or “gay panic” as a defense.
House Bill 2132 states that “another person’s actual or perceived sex, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation is not in and of itself … a defense to any charge of capital murder, murder in the first degree, murder in the second degree, voluntary manslaughter, or assault and bodily wounding-related crimes and is not provocation negating or excluding malice as an element of murder.”
Samantha Rosenthal, co-founder of the Southwest Virginia LGBTQ+ History Project, said that Etute’s lawyer blaming the victim of catfishing is inaccurate.
“Regardless of the victim’s gender identity, the comments by Etute’s attorney demonstrate that the defense intends to use transness as an issue in this case,” she said. “There is unfortunately a long history of framing transgender people as inherently deceptive or untruthful about their identities. But the reality is that trans people often conceal parts of themselves expressly to avoid the violence, harassment, and discrimination that is so often directed against us. As this case unfolds, I hope that people will realize that transgender men, women, and non-binary people are on Tinder and have a right to be there, and that presenting oneself as any gender online is not the same thing as catfishing. Trans people do not owe anyone disclosure about their upbringing, their anatomy, or their past.”
Etute will appear before the court again on July 23.