If you were to look at one of the many photos of Trey that have bene posted online, you might not notice anything all that different than the countless other boys who grew up in Small-Town Ohio. He may not have Hollywood Leading Man good looks, but really – who does these days?
According to Trey himself, he was … well, “Hideous”.
But, in his mind, that was only part of his problem. At times, he suggested that there was something like a conspiracy – the exact nature of which he never quite understood. At one time he might say that ladies only like the most attractive guys, not hideous ones like himself. Later on, he’d try to blame the feminism movement that he believed taught women that they didn’t need men to provide for them like they used to. In fact, he believed that women were no longer women at all, but some new kind of entity he referred to using an offensive slur.
The one thing that Trey knew for sure was that none of the ladies ever wanted to date him.
Welcome to the Internet
If you’re a young man who has a hard time meeting girls, where do you turn? Of course … you log into the internet.
Using the screen name “t.gen21”, Trey would occasionally (as in … not often) post on Facebook, Twitter (now X), and Instagram but it was another kind of site where he seemed to spend most of his online time: Incel Websites.
For the record – “Incel” stands for “Involuntary Celibate” and is a subculture made up almost entirely of white heterosexual males who feel they are incapable of finding romantic or sexual partners and is characterized by things like hostile sexism, anti-feminism, dehumanization and sexual objectification of women, misogyny, misanthropy, and an entitlement to sex (often focusing on rape culture).
They often see themselves as flawed, comparing themselves to successful and high-status guys they refer to as “Chads” as it if was obvious women would go after these guys and not themselves. Rather than trying to elevate themselves to this higher status, they blame women for not being into guys like themselves.
I’ll be honest with you – this can turn into a rather morbid rabbit hole should you choose to look farther into it.
Anyway – when Trey ran across this idea, he felt like he could relate.
Today, we can still find a few traces here and there of Trey’s online activities as many of his profiles have since been privatized or deleted. Therefore, while it’s safe to say he joined the incel community – we cannot say how well he had been welcomed into it.
There Once Was A Guy Named Elliot
If there was one Incel that Trey idolized more than any other, it was a guy named Elliot. And considering the Incel Community sometimes refer to him as “Saint Eliott” he clearly wasn’t the only one.
To make a long story short – Elliot was already a popular guy in the incel community before he went from ranting on the internet to … well, he shot three people to death, three more died of stabbing wounds – seven additional people were wounded by gunfire and seven others injured when his vehicle plowed into them.
To the incel community, the guy was a hero. To everyone else, he was a mentally deranged psychotic killer.
And Trey was one of the incels who totally idolized the guy. But Trey wanted more.
It’s hard to say what was going through Trey’s mind at the time. Some accounts say that he merely wanted to go above and beyond what his idol had done. Others suggest that he felt like he didn’t fit in with the incel crowd, therefore if he managed to pull off something greater than “Saint” Elliot, they would turn around and hold him in the same regard.
Whatever it was, we do know that Trey tried to (or planned to) emulate his idol every step of the way. He planned a lot of actions, not because they meant anything to him, but because they were things Elliot did.
For example, before his mass murder spree, Elliot filled a squirt gun with orange juice and used it to squirt the delicious beverage into the faces of ladies he felt deserved it. Trey began to prepare to do the same thing.
The Incel Playbook
Beyond trying to follow in Elliot’s footsteps, Trey’s path contained several elements in common with other incels.
A couple of years before the events of this story, Tres was arrested for … Making a terrorist threat. He was sentenced to seventeen months behind bars. After which he was released and those who knew him hoped that was the wake-up call he needed.
For a few months, it almost seemed like he was turning his life around. His online activities, at least in incel forums, had become less frequent. He seemed interested in going to school, getting an education, maybe even joining the military.
We would later discover that, at least as it pertains to the military, he may have had ulterior motives. He did enlist and was sent to Georgia for training, but four months later he was back home after a dishonorable discharge.
There are those who join the military out of a sense of duty or because they love their countries, among other honorable reasons. And then there are some who crave the power that comes with being a soldier. And some merely want experience with weapons, armors, and other items of warfare. It seems Trey might have been in that later category.
Trey was spending a lot of his time online, posting an endless stream of messages to Incel forums. It was through many of these posts that law enforcement became aware of what he was planning. Later on, his internet search history would be a great contribution to fill in the gaps.
Law enforcement, in particular the FBI and the ATF, had Trey’s name on watchlists, but so far he had (somehow) managed not to cross the line. That … was about to change.
3000
In March 2020, Tres barricaded himself in his bedroom after a nasty fight with his mother. Police responding to the call eventually took Tres into custody without too much hassle. In his room, they found several guns, including at least one that had the serial number filed off, questionably but probably illegal bump stocks, various weapons and armors, various letters and manifestos (including one called A Hideous Symphony, and enough digital evidence to figure out exactly what Tres was planning. And, how long, exactly, this had been going on.
Tres’ writings documented what some call his “radicalization” as they show the descent from general banter in incel forums, to someone who idolized not just people like Rogers, but also “alpha male” and “male supremacist” influencers, including a range of websites and podcasts beyond those he chose to follow.
More than anything, he wanted to “one up” his idol (Rogers) and planned to carry out similar attacks, if not direct carbon copies. He set his focus to Ohio State University in Columbus, researching not just the school itself and its law enforcement response teams, but also school calendars and information about the largest sororities, which he planned to focus on first.
Several times, Tres commented that he wanted his body count to be three thousand.
He also commented on the date he planned to make his assault – which just happened to be the anniversary of the Rogers killings. He claimed at first that this date was a coincidence, but once he realized its significance, he felt more energized than ever.
In 2022, Tres pled guilty to attempting to commit a hate crime. In 2024, a federal judge sentenced him to 80 months behind bars.
What Can We Learn From This?
One of the biggest questions about the outcome of the story is … Was it fair?
The answer to that appears to be “no” but the reasons for that response seems to depend on which side of the issue you fall into?
For some, the sentence was too harsh. They’ll point out that Tres didn’t actually kill anyone and how all he was doing was practicing his first amendment rights while seated behind a keyboard. This side will often ignore the cache of weapons and armor he had in his possession, unless they also mention the second amendment.
For the other side, the sentence was too lenient. Had he received the maximum penalty, he would have spent the rest of his life in prison. He had the tools to carry out a mass murder and elaborate plans he had every intention to follow. Had he not been arrested, he most certainly would have shed blood.
I’ll leave the criminal-legal debate to someone more qualified than I am.
Following the January 6, 2021 [whatever you want to call it] on the Capitol in Washington D.C., investigators started to notice something weird. Many of those arrested had short-lived military careers, and they weren’t entirely sure what to make of that fact. What could it possibly mean?
Some feared a new trend among military cadets was somehow turning people against the government, or aspects of the military. Others feared a problem with the military recruiting process that was possibly failing to weed out those who might not have honorable intentions. Many of these arrested that night had been removed from service after disciplinary issues – but that is hardly proof of anything.
Trey’s writings and manifestos, his direct statements explicitly detail his plans to join the army not out of a desire to serve, but to learn about warfare tactics and how to use weapons. The military has run into similar issues in the past, but the fact that one was this blazon about having done this after the fact lets them know there is a lot more work to do.
One other notable fact about Tres’ sentencing is that he was the first to be sentenced under new federal statutes and guidelines that pertain to hate crimes, including gender-based crimes. These laws and regulations have been somewhat controversial, and until these laws have been used and defended, it’s clear that we still have a way to go.
Author’s Note
Researching this story hit close to home, although maybe not for the reasons one may suspect.
First off, a few years ago, the ideologies of “incels” would have been considered by most to be so extreme they hardly seemed credible. Now, however, perhaps due to the political climate or maybe just the way the world is today, our paradigm has started to shift. Now, these beliefs, or perhaps the way they phrase things among themselves or when speaking with the public, are getting harder to go up against.
Another part of the reason this was difficult for me was that I have known people who have said things that were eerily similar to some of the things Trey (and others like him) have said. To the best of my knowledge, none of the people I know have crossed the line into incel territory, I now must wonder how close they were.
Finally, a large part of this story happened in my backyard, although I had not moved here yet when they occurred. Still, knowing I am walking the same streets, going to the same establishments that he did, it’s difficult to distance myself from the abyss.
I would also like to note that I have not used last names in this post, in part because I don’t want to give Trey any more attention than the internet and the media has already given him, but also out of respect for his family and those who knew him.
