Photo Courtesy of The Roanoke
A Virginia Tech freshman faces formal murder charges after meeting and allegedly killing a trans woman he met on Tinder earlier this year.
The Roanoke Times reported that a grand jury in Montgomery County indicted Isimemen David Etute on second-degree murder charges on Wednesday. In May, the suspended Virginia Tech linebacker was accused of killing trans woman Angie “Gigi’ Smith, 40. Etute’s preliminary hearing was held on Sept. 23, and his indictment came the following day.
The college student met Smith, who’s white, for a rendezvous in April. Etute and the victim met up again a month later, but the 18-year-old suspected that Smith wasn’t a biological woman. The athlete reportedly grabbed Smith’s genitals to determine his gender, and after using the flashlight on his cell phone to get a closer look– Etute began to pummeling the victim. He allegedly left Smith badly beaten on the floor before he ran away.
The disgraced Virginia Tech student was arrested on June 2. He was released on a $75,000 bond and is in Williamsburg, Virginia, with his family for now. Etute is due back in court on Nov. 18.
Smith suffered from broken bones to his face, and his teeth were knocked out during the incident.
Etute’s defense attorney Jimmy Turk made a statement about the incident.
“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.”
Smith’s family referred to him as an “openly gay man” and not a transwoman.
In Virginia, a second-degree murder conviction is punishable with a minimum of “five” and a maximum of “40 years in prison,” according to Karin Riley and Porter Law Offices.