Placer County Tinder killer sentenced for murder, torture and mayhem
(FOX40.COM) — A sentence was delivered on Tuesday for the 2021 case of a Rancho Cordova man who used the online dating application known as Tinder to meet one victim who he tortured and another he murdered in Placer County.
Placer County District Attorney reported that 31-year-old Damon Allen Benson was sentenced to 71 years to life in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, “as it relates to a horrific love triangle murder plot in 2021.”
Rancho Cordova man, who used Tinder to torture and murder in Rocklin, convicted
This case involved three individuals who met separately on Tinder. A jury determined that in August of 2021, Benson held a victim he met on Tinder against her will at his apartment and extensively tortured her on multiple occasions. One form of torture included the carving of a Swastika into her back while being tied to his ceiling with a rope. The victim is of Jewish descent.
It was also determined that Benson tortured the victim to get the address of her other male lover, whom she also met on Tinder, so that he could murder him.
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Benson ultimately ambushed the male victim in his home and killed him in his room before fleeing the scene. He claimed his actions were in self-defense, however, surveillance reportedly showed Benson running into the victim’s home in the middle of the night, immediate gunfire, and Benson running out of the home yelling, “That’s right, [expletive]”.
An investigation by the Rocklin Police Department led the Placer County District Attorney’s Office to file multiple charges of murder, aggravated mayhem, torture, felony criminal threats, false imprisonment by violence, and more. A jury decided in September of 2023 that Benson murdered the victim with premeditation and intent.
The guilty verdict came after the jury reportedly heard extensive testimony from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, a Placer County District Attorney Investigator assigned to the case, the female victim, and other witnesses.
“This is a day for justice for the victim and the victim’s family,” said Supervising Deputy District Attorney Jeffery Moore in a press release. “We recognize this verdict will not bring [the victim] back and that we cannot undo what this defendant has done to their family. We are humbled to provide justice for this horrific crime to the greatest extent our laws allow. The defendant shows a clear danger to the public and a callous disregard for human life. Removing Benson from society is the only way to ensure he doesn’t victimize anyone again.”
Many of the murder victim’s family members and loved ones gave victim impact statements and one read a quote from Dr. Cornel West stating that “Justice is what love looks like in public”.
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