Man charged in killing, dismemberment of trans teen he met on gay dating app Grindr in Pennsylvania: report

A man has been charged in the killing and dismemberment of a 14-year-old Pennsylvania teen who reportedly identifies as transgender. DaShawn Watkins, 29, has been charged with murder in the first degree, aggravated assault, tampering with or fabricating evidence, and abuse of a corpse. Watkins reportedly met the teen on Grindr before the incident.  

According to Your Erie, 14-year-old Paul "Pauly" Likens went missing on June 25. Likens’ remains were then found days later around the area of Shenango Lake in Clark Borough, Pennsylvania. Liken's body had been dismembered and pieces of him were found in several locations around the lake. During the course of the investigation, police arrested suspect DaShawn Watkins.  

Watkins was placed in Mercer County Jail after the arrest. Information from Likens' phone, social media record, and area surveillance indicated that the deceased teen had walked to the area of the canoe launch by the lake near Budd Street and State Route 62 in Sharon, Pennsylvania. He was there for about 40 minutes before he made a phone call on June 23.  

Security camera footage aided officers in identifying Watkins as suspect in the killing after it showed him pulling up to the Canoe Launch area before driving  back to the nearby Riverwalk Apartments. More footage showed Watkin struggling to carry a duffel bag. He was later seen on June 24 making several trips out of his apartment with different bags.  

After Likens' remains were found on June 25, the Mercer County Coroner confirmed that they belonged to the teen. Watkins was arrested on July 2 and said he had talked to someone on Grindr. Police said that he had met up with Likens through a dating app prior to the incident, WPXI news. Watkins said he couldn't remember going to the canoe launch by the lake, telling them that his "memory was poor." Police searched Watkins' apartment and found blood evidence from Likens' body. 

"Pamela Ladner, president of the LGBTQIA+ Alliance Shenango Valley, talked to Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 Thursday night after learning of the death of Likens. Ladner said she spoke with Likens’ mother and was given permission to share that Likens is a transgender female, and she believes Pauly’s murder was a hate crime," WTAE reported. 

“I just want Pauly's family to know that we're all with them, and we're thinking of them, and we just hope that, you know, we can offer them some kind of comfort in any capacity possible," Lander told reporters. “We just really as a community wanted to do something that we felt like would be helpful and show them, you know, that their community is behind them and we care and we just really want to support them in any way we can."

A GoFundMe page made on behalf of the Likens family stated that it was made "on behalf of paulys mom Jen. She found out this morning that her son was murdered. Pauly was only 14 years old and had a whole life ahead of him."