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Killers on dating apps

The murder of Grace Millane, a young student from the United Kingdom. She planned to travel the world after graduating from Lincoln University. After four weeks in Peru, she went to Auckland, New Zealand. She arrived on November 20, 2018.

Grace Millane

Millane didn't react to messages, stopped answering the phone, wasn't active on social media. Her family became worried, especially when Millane didn't respond to their congratulations on her 22nd birthday. As a result of that the family had reported her missing and the Zealand police immediately started an investigation.

Missing Grace

On December 2, she was about to celebrate her 22nd birthday and went out for a Tinder date with Jesse Kempson. They visited several bars during the evening. The footage from a public camera shows them kissing and laughing happily together. Grace and Kempson leave just after 9.30 p.m. for the CityLife Hotel, where they take the elevator to Jesse's room. That was the last time Grace was seen alive in public.

CCTV captured the Grace last time alive

A few days later, the investigation was over. Grace's body was found in the bushes in a neighbouring park. The girl died between December 1st and 2nd, on her birthday, according to the autopsy. Detectives published photos of a rented car that was supposed to get the body to the park. Someone rented a car for 24 hours and returned it the next morning, December 3rd. This led to the guy Grace had last seen and spent the whole evening with. It was a 26-year-old Jesse who was immediately arrested by the police and charged with murder.

How did Grace die? Kempson murdered Grace in the hotel room by strangling her for four to five minutes with considerable force. According to Jesse's statement in court Grace had invited him to strangle her during sex, and he had woken to find her dead. Kempson, however, did not call 911 after Grace's death, instead using the internet to watch pornography and taking explicit images of her body. Kempson scheduled another Tinder date the next morning before purchasing a suitcase and cleaning supplies. Another CCTV footage is of Jesse alone in the lift, taking two suitcases out of the room. He loaded the body into two suitcases, drove to the park and threw them away.

Jesse's room

Jesse Kempson

He was sentenced to 17 years in jail with the possibility of parole.  The murder was labeled as "brutal" by a New Zealand judge. Kempson has since been found guilty of abusing his ex-girlfriend physically, sexually, emotionally, and financially, as well as sexually abusing another woman he met on Tinder. Both his convictions and punishments are being appealed. 

The court refused his take to overturn his conviction and imprisonment for the murder of Grace, a judgment he has indicated he will appeal to the Supreme Court.

References:

BBC News. (2020, December 22). Grace Millane murder: Jesse Kempson guilty of attacking two more women. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-55346213

Pictures: 

picture 1: Grace Millane’s family upset over choke-death manslaughter sentencing. (2021). [Photo]. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-59307894 

picture 2: Grace Millane murder: Jesse Kempson guilty of attacking two more women. (2020). [Photo]. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-55346213

picture 3, 4: DEATH SCENE Grace Millane – Inside ‘blood-stained’ hotel room where Brit backpacker was ‘strangled to death by Tinder date.’ (2019). [Photo]. https://www.the-sun.com/news/32364/grace-millane-inside-blood-stained-hotel-room-where-brit-backpacker-was-strangled-to-death-by-tinder-date/

picture 5: Social Media Murders. (2021). [Photo]. https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/grace-millane-documentary-flatmate-murderer-6213042