A 34-year-old Inglewood, California man has been charged with the murder of two men he met on an unnamed gay dating app, and the attempted murder of another, while he was on probabtion for a series of burglaries.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced murder charges Monday against Rockim Prowell, 34, for the killings of two men in their 50s in 2021 and 2023, and the attempted murder of another man earlier this year, who managed to escape with injuries.

According to prosecutors, Prowell met 51-year-old Miguel Angel King on July 20, 2021 after the two first chatted on a gay dating app.

The circumstances of King's murder haven't been shared, but he was fatally shot, and Prowell is accused of then stealing his car. King’s remains would then later be found on August 14, 2021, in the Angeles National Forest.

The car was recovered several miles from King's home, and forensic evidence in the vehicle allegedly links Prowell to the killing.

It seems plausible that Prowell committed other crimes in the subsequent years — and just months before this killing, in May 2021, Prowell was arrested in connection with multiple residential burglaries in Beverly Hills, for which he ultimately took a plea deal. But prosecutors say that Prowell met up with another man, 53-year-old Robert Gutierrez, two years later, in August 2023, after chatting on a dating app.

The two met about a mile from where Prowell lives, and two days later, Gutierrez's family reported him missing. His body has still not been found.

When police went to Prowell's home last week to arrest him, they say they found Gutierrez’s car in Prowell's garage.

The hookup gone wrong that appears to have led to Prowell's arrest occurred earlier this year, on February 22, 2025. An unnamed 40-year-old man says that he met Prowell on the same gay dating app and agreed to meet up at a location that is about four miles from Prowell's residence. The victim says that Prowell tied him up and beat him with a baseball bat.

The victim in this case managed to escape, but Prowell allegedly chased him in a vehicle and struck him, breaking his leg.

"Imagine the terror and horror these victims felt after being duped into believing they were meeting for one reason, only to face inexplicable violence," Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said in a statement. “These were predatory acts that showed a total disregard of life."

Prowell was arraigned Monday in Los Angeles on two counts of murder with the special circumstance allegation of multiple murders, two counts of carjacking, one count of assault with a deadly weapon, and one count of attempted murder. If convicted, Prowell faces possible death or a life sentence without parole.

At the time of these crimes, Prowell was still on probation for the Beverly Hill burglaries, which took place between 2019 and 2021.

"This suspect has now been stopped in his tracks because of the diligent and tenacious work done by investigators at both the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department," Hochman said.

This case is reminiscent of British serial killer Stephen Port, who met his victims on Grindr, and whom London Metro police let walk free multiple times after questioning, likely due to homophobia on the police force. Port killed four young men he met on the app between 2014 and 2015.

In 2023, a 21-year-old Louisiana man was convicted of the kidnapping and attempted murder of a gay teen he met on Grindr, which was part of a larger scheme to mimic the grisly murders and dismemberments of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

An infamous, still unsolved San Francisco gay serial killer case, The Doodler, also involved a young man who met up with older men in bars for sex — in the days before apps existed.