Virginia Tech linebacker is charged with second-degree murder in brutal beating death of Tinder date, ‘Angie’ in Blacksburg, VA, on May 31

Isimemen Etute faces second-degree murder after he repeatedly punched and stomped on Jerry Paul Smith when he discovered that his supposedly female partner was a male, prosecutors said

Etute, 18, was indicted on Tuesday in the murder of the 40-year-old restaurant manager

The college freshman allegedly matched with Smith on Tinder in April, when Smith was reportedly posing as a woman named ‘Angie,’ and they had oral sex

He claims he gave Smith $50 and cut off after that, but when she invited him back to ‘her’ apartment on May 31, he allegedly found out Smith was a male posing as a woman

After making the discovery, Etute allegedly told police, he proceeded to punch Smith repeatedly and stomp in the head

Police discovered the body on June 1 and the cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma to the head

A Virginia Tech linebacker accused in the fatal beating of a Tinder match after the date turned out to be a 40-year-old man has been indicted on a charge of murder.
Isimemen Etute, 18, was indicted by a Montgomery County grand jury for the murder of restaurant manager Jerry Paul Smith on Tuesday, The Roanoke Times reported.
The student athlete faces second-degree murder after he repeatedly punched and stomped on Jerry Paul Smith when he discovered that his supposedly female partner was a male, prosecutors said
Etute, a freshman at Virginia Tech, was arrested on June 2 for the May 31 killing. 

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Prosecutors say the suspended Virginia Tech linebacker beat the cross dresser to death after he discovered the victim was not a woman like he had been led to believe online.
Isimemen Etute from Virginia Beach was charged with second-degree murder June 2 in the death of Blacksburg, Virginia, resident Jerry Smith.
Etute, a member of Virginia Tech’s 2021 recruiting class, was suspended from the team after he was charged.
At his bond hearing in June, attorneys for the state revealed that Etute allegedly admitted to police that he punched and stomped Smith multiple times after he discovered his supposedly female date, was indeed a man.
Etute had allegedly gone to meet up with someone he thought was a woman for a second sexual encounter at the other party’s apartment on Blacksburg’s on Main Street.

Prosecutors allege Etute met with Smith on Tinder in April when the older man was reportedly posing as a woman named ‘Angie’ and the two had oral sex.
Etute told police Angie was hiding his face during the intercourse, and paid him $50 at the end. 
Etute also said he stopped messaging Angie after the interaction because he wasn’t sure Angie was who she said she was, but a month later, Angie reached out to him again and invited him over, telling him to bring some friends. 
He then went back to Smith’s downtown Blacksburg apartment to find out whether Smith was a male or a female, police said.

He used his phone’s flashlight in the darkened apartment to get a better look at Smith before realizing the victim’s gender and punching and stomping the man to death, prosecutors said.
Smith was found dead in his apartment the next day, police said, and a medical examiner’s office ruled that Smith died from blunt force trauma to the head. 
Etute, has been free on a $75,000 secured bond, but he required to live with his family in Virginia Beach and be monitored electronically.
He is scheduled to return to court on November 18. 
Prosecutors say Etute punched Smith in the face five times before he fell to the ground. He then allegedly punched the victim at least five more times and stomped on his head.
As the football player was leaving, prosecutors say, Etute heard ‘bubbling and gurgling’ coming from Smith but did not call the police.

An autopsy report revealed all of the bones in Smith’s face were broken and his teeth were missing, the Richmond-Times Dispatch reported.
Etute was suspended from the school and its football team during the investigation. 
Surveillance footage from Smith’s apartment captured Etute visiting him on May 31 – the night Smith was brutally beaten to death.
Etute allegedly, told cops following his arrest in June, that Smith did not fight back. 
Police discovered Smith’s body in the apartment in the 100 block of Blacksburg’s North Main Street, a day later.

Etute’s defense attorney, James Turk, previously said that Smith had several social media accounts in which he posed as a woman named ‘Angie.’ – It appeared that Smith lived as a man during his day-to-day life, including at work, and his family referred to him by male pronouns.
‘Nobody deserves to die,’ Turk told reporters following his client’s arrest, ‘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,’ he said. ‘That’s just wrong.’ 
In an obituary, Smith’s family remembered the restaurant manager – nicknamed ‘Gigi’ by his nephews – as a ‘polite young man throughout his life.’

Following his death, a spokesperson for the family said, they were having difficulty coming to terms with what happened.
‘We are so at a loss at everything that’s going on,’ the spokesperson said, noting: ‘At the end of the day, no matter what he did or didn’t do, nobody deserves what he got.
‘Whatever happened gives nobody the right to react that way.’
The family describes Smith as a proud, openly gay man: ‘Everybody knew he was a gay man. He did not like women. He was very proud of who he was,’ a family member said.
And even if Etute did not know Smith was a man, the relative said, ‘he did not deserve this.
‘He was maybe 112 pounds soaking wet, he wasn’t a threat to nobody, he wasn’t a threat to a fly. He wasn’t a dangerous person,’ adding: ‘Nobody has a right to take someone’s life. Whatever happened should not have happened.’