'Tinder Killer' Horrifically Tortured Date - Then Tracked Down & Killed Her Other Lover

[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]

This is gruesome. First, there was the Tinder Swindler, and now the Tinder Killer. Eep!

A man from California named Damon Allen Benson (who was nicknamed by authorities as the “Tinder killer”) was sentenced to 71 years to life in prison on Wednesday after a horrific bout of “jealousy” led him to torture and murder others!

According to the Sacramento News & Review, a female victim met Benson on Tinder in February 2021, connecting over their mutual interest in paganism and hiking. But shortly into their relationship, he turned abusive and allegedly began hitting her while saying she wasn’t “allowed to leave.” But by the summer, she also began seeing the other victim, Cameron Gabriel, whom she had matched with on the app in 2020 but who had just moved closer.

Things got ugly when Benson (pictured above) noticed a mark on her back. She claimed she’d slept with another woman when asked about it because she “thought it would be less enraging to him.” They stopped talking for a week — and then he asked to meet up. When they did, he allegedly tied her up with rope and hung her to the ceiling naked. He proceeded to torture her with a stun gun, pliers, and cigarette burns until she gave up the name and address of her other suitor, per the outlet. WTF…

According to a press release from the Placer County District Attorney’s Office, the 31-year-old’s “horrific love triangle murder plot” happened in August 2021 after he held the female “against her will at his apartment after being extensively tortured on multiple occasions.” This included him carving a swastika onto her back “while being tied to his ceiling with a rope” — and she was Jewish. Jeez.

When he finally got the address to the 49-year-old male victim’s home, Damon “ambushed” him at his home before fleeing the scene. The DA revealed:

“While the defendant tried to claim his actions were in self-defense, surveillance footage shows otherwise. Surveillance shows Benson running into the victim’s home in the middle of the night, followed by immediate gunfire and Benson running out of the home yelling, ‘that’s right, [expletive].'”

After this, Benson was charged with murder, aggravated mayhem, torture, felony criminal threats, false imprisonment by violence and more, with a jury finding him guilty of murder, torture and mayhem in September 2023.

On Tuesday, as the sentencing was announced, the Supervising Deputy District Attorney Jeffery Moore said in a statement:

“This is a day for justice for the victim and the victim’s family. 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.”

So, so sad.

You can read more from the police department HERE. Our hearts go out to both victim’s families. We hope this sentencing helps them as they heal from this trauma and deep loss.

[Image via Rocklin Police Department]