A 22-year-old Texas man is accused of killing two men he met on a dating app.
Jer Auntey Pleasant was arrested on April 23 by the San Antonio Police Department’s Street Crimes Unit, police said in a news release.
He was booked into the Bexar County Jail and faces two murder charges for the April 14 and 15 killings, court records show.
Pleasant connected with the victims through Grindr, a dating app for gay and bisexual men, and lured them to their deaths, according to court documents obtained by KSAT.
The first victim, a 54-year-old man, drove to an apartment complex on the city’s southeast side where Pleasant, who went by the name ”Derek” on Grindr, agreed to meet up with him, the station reported. A man in a red hoodie shot the victim from the passenger side of his SUV, took a duffel bag from the vehicle and ran.
Investigators searched the victim’s phone and found messages sent back and forth with “Derek,” who said he would be wearing a red jacket, the station reported.
Pleasant is then accused of killing his second victim, a 22-year-old man, at a different apartment complex in northwest San Antonio, documents said, WOAI reported.
Police responded to a call from a friend of the victim’s, worried because he hadn’t heard from him in several days, the outlet reported. Nobody answered the door, but peering through a bedroom window, they spotted a foot hanging from a bed.
Firefighters made their way inside and found the victim dead with a gunshot wound to the back of the head, according to the station. Investigators said they discovered the victim had been talking on Grindr with the same person as the other victim.
Shell casings of the same caliber were also found at both scenes, police said in a news release.
“The suspect was linked to TWO separate, recent murder cases. In both murder scenes, fingerprints were found, identifying the suspect and placing him at each scene,” the release said. “Our detectives from the SAPD homicide unit were able to use forensic evidence to collaborate and gather enough probable cause to obtain an arrest warrant for the suspect, and both of these murders.”
Officials have not said what may have motivated the killings.
Pleasant’s bond was set at $350,000 per murder charge, for a total of $700,000, records show.
McClatchy News reached out to Grindr for comment is awaiting response.
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