RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif. (AP) — A 31-year-old man has been sentenced to a minimum of 71 years to life in prison for holding a woman captive, torturing her, and fatally shooting her other lover in a “horrific love triangle.”
Damon Allen Benson was convicted of murder, torture, aggravated mayhem, false imprisonment by violence, criminal threats, and other charges after a jury determined he “murdered the victim with premeditation and intent.”
Benson met a woman on Tinder who was also seeing the victim, leading to jealousy. Investigators found that Benson held the woman captive at his apartment, extensively torturing her on multiple occasions, including carving a swastika into her back and tying her to his ceiling with rope. The woman, who is Jewish, was maimed by Benson so she would reveal her other lover’s address.
He then found the victim, identified as Cameron Gabriel, and “ambushed” him before killing him and fleeing the scene. Benson claimed it was self-defense, but surveillance footage reportedly showed otherwise.
The shooting occurred in July 2021, and Benson was taken into custody in September of the same year. In a statement following the sentencing, Supervising Deputy District Attorney Jeffery Moore expressed the importance of providing justice for the “horrific crime” and emphasized the need to remove Benson from society to prevent further victimization.
According to his obituary, Cameron Gabriel had only recently returned to California before he was killed. The obituary described him as having an “energetic personality” and being someone who “always saw the good in people.”