Tragic Double Homicide: Man Uses Dating App as Deadly Trap, Fatally Shooting Two Victims on Separate Occasions

A Texas man is facing a lifetime behind bars after being convicted for using a dating app to ensnare and subsequently murder two men.

Jer Auntey Pleasant, 25, received four concurrent 50-year prison sentences on Friday. The charges include the murders of Larry Wilson, aged 54, and Joseph West, aged 22, alongside aggravated robbery and aggravated sexual assault of a minor, according to the Bexar County Criminal District Attorney’s Office.

These sentences will be served simultaneously.

The series of crimes began in March 2022 when Pleasant connected with a victim on Grindr, known as “the world’s largest social networking app” for the LGBTQ community. During their encounter, Pleasant attempted a robbery and shot the victim, as reported by the DA’s office.

In a separate incident that July, Pleasant was identified through DNA evidence as the assailant in the sexual assault of a 13-year-old, further incriminating him in his string of offenses.

Authorities suggested that the now-sentenced defendant had a modus operandi that he carried over into 2023.

“On two consecutive days in April 2023, Pleasant committed two separate murders,” the DA’s office said.

Under the name “Derek” on Grindr, Pleasant had been chatting with Wilson, and he arranged for the two of them to meet at the Banyan Tree Apartments in San Antonio, local NBC and The CW affiliate WOAI reported.

On April 14, 2023, they met, and Pleasant fatally shot Wilson.

“The following day, April 15, West was discovered in his apartment with a fatal gunshot wound to the head,” the DA’s office said. “Key evidence, including fingerprints matching Pleasant were found at both crime scenes, with ballistics confirming that the same firearm was used, allowing local authorities to quickly connect and solve both cases.”

One of the relevant pieces of evidence at both crime scenes was Pleasant’s fingerprint on condom wrappers, according to WOAI.

“I feel in my heart he was set up,” Larry Wilson’s brother, Johnny Wilson, told local CBS affiliate KENS the month of the murders. “Them dating apps nowadays. You’ve got to watch out. It can be setups.”