By Victoria Edeme

A now suspended Virginia Tech footballer, David Etute, has been charged with second-degree murder for the death of a man he met on dating app, Tinder. Etute, who has Nigerian roots, had allegedly beaten a transvestite sex worker to death after discovering that ‘she’ was actually a man, Richmond-Times Dispatch reported.

Etute’s statement to the police revealed that he was matched with someone named ‘Angie’ on Tinder. The footballer had visited the victim’s apartment on April 10 and he revealed that they both engaged in oral sex. On returning to the apartment on May 31 for more intimate sexual activity, he discovered that the ‘Angie’ he was matched with was a male who was later identified as Jerry Smith, a restaurant worker.

Etute told the police that upon his discovery, he punched Smith five times in the face and kept on punching him victim till Smith hit the ground. Though he heard “bubbling and gurgling”, Etute left the apartment and didn’t call the police after the incident. Two days later, the police found Smith’s body in his apartment at Blacksburg, Virginia. Autopsy revealed that all the bones in Smith’s face were broken and his teeth were also missing.

Smith also sustained cranial fractures and the medical examiner revealed that he died from blunt force trauma transmitted to the head. In the Montgomery County General District Court on June 2, Etute was charged with second-degree murder for Smith’s death.

Etute was granted bond during the hearing but the Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney, Patrick Jensen, filed an expedited appeal to keep Etute in jail for five more days. According to a release by the Commonwealth’s Attorney, Mary Pettitt, the court later agreed on Wednesday to release Etute on a $75,000 secured bond under house arrest and electronic monitoring.

When asked about how he felt, Etute revealed that the situation affected him “real hard”. He said, “I’m trying to stay strong for the people that support me. I feel like I’ve let a lot of people down… I’m truly sorry for my actions.”

Originally published at PUNCH