A Long Island woman is speaking out about her relationship with Danueal Drayton, the man now at the center of a multistate investigation involving dating apps. Zynea, 26, told the Daily News that she met Drayton, 27, on the dating site Plenty of Fish in November 2017.
According to Zynea, she first thought he was a cool guy with a big vocabulary. She said they bonded over her work with people with disabilities and his talent for fixing cars. After about six months, she said, Drayton told her he planned to relocate to California and asked to see her one last time.
The two met for lunch at a Chipotle on June 13, she told the paper. She said Drayton did not eat, but he asked her several questions about her dating life before they drove around in her car. “He was like, ‘Can I chill with you the whole day?'” Zynea told the Daily News, adding that she said no. She said he then asked her to take him to a park on Long Island to pick up a bag of clothes.
Zynea told the Daily News the two had already fallen out in April, after she learned he was still using the dating app to talk to other women. She said she tried to end things but offered to stay friends, and that Drayton would not accept it.
She said that after she parked at the entrance of the park, he asked whether they would ever get back together. When she told him she had to go, she said, he got out of the car, then stopped and searched his pockets as if he had lost a phone charger. She said he then jumped on her and began strangling her while threatening to kill her. Zynea said she was able to throw herself out of the car, and three factory workers nearby stepped in and called for help.
She told the Daily News that Drayton was not arrested that night. Instead, she said, he began stalking her, calling her phone, showing up at her home, threatening her son, slashing her tires and threatening to cut her brakes.
Drayton was later arrested and charged with strangulation and criminal trespass in that case, according to reports. He was released on July 5, and Zynea said she was never told. Days later, reports say, he was linked to the death of Queens nurse Samantha, and police have said he met her through Tinder. Authorities reportedly connected him to a rape in Connecticut and then found him in California, where he was accused of holding another woman captive.
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According to the Daily News, Drayton told police he killed seven women. On Monday, he pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and attempted murder involving a 28 year old California woman. These are allegations, and the case was still moving through the courts at the time of this report.
Zynea told the Daily News she believes all of this could have been avoided if he had never been released.
