Like harassed students ending up dead, meeting someone for online only to end up murdered is an uncomfortable trend. Recently there was former WABC newsman George Weber. Now, a Houston teen.
The Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office says a 19-year-old Houston man has confessed to killing a Cinco Ranch High School senior he met in an online chat room. Spencer Vogt [pictured, left], also 19, was last seen on Friday near his home in Katy.
Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office officials say a body found wrapped in a blue tarp Wednesday night has been positively identified as Vogt. Deputies found his body in a ditch on Fuqua near Cullen and the Sam Houston Parkway in southeast Houston. They were acting on a tip from Lee Carl Banks III [pictured, right].
On Monday police in Cairo, Georgia pulled over Banks and discovered he was carrying a handgun and driving a Mitsubishi Eclipse registered to Vogt’s family. Brady says good police work led to officers getting a confession from Banks and learning where the body was dumped.
Chief Deputy Craig Brady says Banks allegedly killed Vogt in his family’s southeast Houston apartment. Thursday afternoon, investigators executed a search warrant at the home. They say the two met in an online chat room for gay men.
“My understanding is they had only known each other for a short time, less than a week, but they had prior meetings.” [Fox Houston]
Taylor Siluwé
So sad. It can’t be emphasized more stenuously: DO NOT invite strangers to your home from a chat room.
You can’t tell a crazy psycho killer from a profile pic, this can only be learned after meeting someplace neutral and getting to know each other.
Brandon
@Taylor
The article clearly says that “they had prior meetings”. So the whole meeting someone somwhere neutral thing is bull. If somebody is going to kill you they’re probably not going to drop a hint over coffee. And just how pedophiles don’t stand around playgrounds in trenchcoats, hats, and dark glasses (like in the movies) U can’t tell a murderer just by meeting them face to face. They don’t have clearly discernible characteristics.
Another thing, why is Queerty calling this a trend? I bet more people get killed @ ATMs and gas stations than though hook-up sites. R those “uncomfortable trends”? No, they’re simply facts of life. People suck sometimes, so much so that u may end up dead in any situation.
Taylor Siluwé
Brandon,
yes the articles said they had prior meeting, but it also said they’d know each other a week. A WEEK.
When I talk about getting to know someone I mean just that, not having coffee to try see if they’re crazy or not. Getting to know someone takes time. If this guy had taken more than “a week” to figure out what kind of man he had on his hands maybe he’s still be alive.
You wonder why Queety is calling this a trend? Well, could it be to give people a heads up to take extra precautions?
But I’d ask you: Why do you seem to take offense? Is it that your favorite pastime is being attacked?
Brandon
@Taylor
Where in my reponse was there indication of offense? Ur not a very good judge of tone. I’m simply tired of all the sensationalism we’re bombarded w/ 2day. Everything being hyped up into threatening trends. One week we’re supposed to be scared of the “trend” of people dying from tomatoes, next week it’s the islamofacist “trend”, this week it’s gay the hook-up site murdering “trend”. Sure these are stories that need to be told but lets not blow them out of proportion. This guy could have meet his attacker @ Barnes & Nobles and he still could’ve been killed.
Also, I don’t like how people take these stories as an opportunity to get all “lectury”. “Well, he shouldn’t have….If only he had…..This goes to show….That’s why I never…blah blah blah.” This self-righteousness is getting to be a bit tiresome. The old guy who got killed was critisized for not doing a background check on his murderer and not scouring the internet for any suspicious myspace photos first. Now this kid is critisized b/c he got to know someone over the course of a week and that somehow isn’t long enough? So, are we supposed to wait a couple of months b/f having sex w/ someone now. This is getting little ridiculous. My point is that sometimes u just can’t know. It sucks but thats how it is. Hell, there have been plenty of str8 people who were married for years, raised kids together and one day the husband stabs the wife to death. Did she not spend adequite time getting to know “what kind of man she had on her hands”? I’m sure Nicole Simpson would beg to differ.(allegedly) Ur last question doesn’t make sense so I’ll ignore it.
WetWaffleSlag
@Taylor Siluwé: “You can’t tell a crazy psycho killer from a profile pic, this can only be learned after meeting someplace neutral and getting to know each other.”
The fuck? Are you going to wait for the “fa fa fa’s” to play in your head or expect him to talk about his dear mother?
Ridiculous.
You may want to stock up on rohypnol.
HM
@Brandon:
You just sound like a guy who surfs online personal sites too much.
Anon
@HM:
What’s too much? If he spends all of his free time on personal sites (and I’m not saying he does), what’s wrong with that? Is that in any way affecting your life? Live and let live.
Taylor Siluwé
There is no guarantee that a guy will sent off your 6th sense that something isn’t quite right. And like Brandon said, a person get flip out after being with someone for years.
So there’s no set indicator of a nut job. There’s no way to be perfectly safe is this crazy world. Now that I mention it, who’d want perfectly safe anyway — isn’t a little danger exciting?
Still, I see nothing wrong with pounding home the point (at the risk of sounding “lectury”, Brandon) that we have to take extra precautions in these crazy times. People are on the edge for some reason and every day is a new horror about some average Joe flipping out and killing everybody.
When something like this happens, what should we do if not warn our brothers to be just a little more careful? Form prayer circles?
scott
I hear you Brandon. And I agree with you. Taylor, your last post makes some sense. Try and be more careful but really, even the most careful can be screwed. As evidenced by the Madoff situation, the housing bust, etc.
Anyway, poor kid. Hope he RIP.
Jean
Things those of you who have posted might consider about this case:
This boy (although big and 19) is a deaf high school senior in Texas.
Although many short accounts say he knew the killer for a week, they met online and met face to face for the first time the day Spencer was murdered.
The killer had a criminal record and was due in court the Monday after the murder on an assault charge. When they met, he had a gun with which he said he accidentally shot Spencer. Spencer was shot twice in the head.
Although this may be a job for PFLAG, please consider those of you in the gay community doing something about educating these kids to dangers. Although family can help, very often these young kids have not come out to their families, but they may be reading glbt sites.
The media talk about them contacting each other on a gay Internet site and setting up a meeting for sex. The assumption is that gays only meet for sex. For perspective on this, this is a segment from Spencer’s page on spock: “Heyyyy..my name is Spencer and im 17 years old…im gay and im proud! im lookin for friends/relationship…i never have a real serious boyfriend…all i found was pervert…hope ur not him….i love to listen music, shopping, chatting, hangin out….driving my car, dating…..so please im me”
And if you really want a good cry, go to You Tube and look at spencer vogt RIP, that his high school friends put up as a tribute to him. See if it doesn’t remind some of you of yourselves when you were in high school.
Please help make this happen less often in the future.
Ryan
I knew Spencer. He was an absolute sweetheart. I don’t think we’ll ever know the full details about this incident, but it really doesn’t matter. Nothing will bring him back.
Jean
For those of you who might be thinking about the situation and what to do, The Chronicle reported today that the killer said that he shot Spencer because he wanted his car.
Ryan – I’m sorry for the loss of your friend. He sounded very sweet.