A suspected serial killer has been indicted in the murder of a New York City nurse whom he met on Tinder four years ago.
Danueal Drayton was arraigned Friday in Queens Supreme Court for the murder of Samantha Stewart after spending four years behind bars in Los Angeles. Prosecutors say Drayton and Stewart met in person in July 2018 after getting to know one another on the popular dating app. After going on a date, the pair returned to Stewart’s Springfield Garden, Queens home. Once there, Drayton beat and estranged the 29-year-old woman to death before having sex with her deceased body. After killing her, Drayton fled to Los Angeles, using her credit cards to purchase his flight.
Days later, he was tracked down at an L.A. hotel, where investigators found him holding another woman hostage after sexually assaulting her. Drayton remained in custody in California before he was extradited to New York last week.
The two cases are not the only ones linked to Drayton. During his interview with police in 2018 after his arrest, he confessed to killing at least six other women that he’d met on dating sites between the two states. While he has been linked to several rapes, investigators are still looking into the additional murders he has claimed.
At the time of Stewart’s murder, Drayton was mistakenly free on $2,000 bail while awaiting trial in Nassau County, New York. A judge who was not aware of his lengthy criminal past granted him bail after he was charged with choking a girlfriend who was breaking up with him.
Drayton is due in court on May 23rd.
