On Friday, a former Connecticut man was jailed without bail after being extradited from California to face charges in the 2018 strangulation death of a Queens woman he had met on dating app, said New York prosecutors.
CBSNews reports, Danueal Drayton, 31, was arraigned in Queens on charges including murder, sexual misconduct and grand larceny in the death of Samantha Stewart, 29, a nurse who he had connected with on Tinder on July 17, 2018.
Drayton also faces charges including grand larceny, identity theft and sexual misconduct, according to the New York Police Department. “Sometime that day, the defendant allegedly beat and strangled the 29-year-old nurse and then engaged in sexual conduct with the dead body,” prosecutors said.
According to victim’s family, Stewart was a registered nurse at Long Island Jewish Hospital and a beloved role model. Her body was discovered by her brother, where she appeared to have been strangled and her teeth were knocked out.
Records show Drayton had an extensive alleged history of violence against women that he met online on dating apps and rideshare apps in both the tristate area and in Los Angeles.
The Hartford Courant reported in 2011, Drayton was arrested on charges that he beat and choked his girlfriend on Thanksgiving Day in East Haven, Conn. He was arrested in New Haven for choking the same woman four months later, despite a protective order, after a judge reduced his $20,000 bail to personal recognizance and released him.
Drayton was charged with felony strangulation and sentenced effectively to three years in jail and three years on probation. He was released on probation in November 2014 but returned to jail the following May after he was caught holding a woman captive in her Waterbury home.
The release on his own recognizance was in error. The New York Times found a court transcript that the judge was never told of Drayton’s past. In fact, the judge was given the opposite information that he had no criminal record and zero failures to appear.
Police say, hours after Stewart’s death, Drayton allegedly raped and choked another woman he had met on Tinder in Sunset Park.
Drayton was traced to a Los Angeles hotel room by a regional fugitive task force when he used Stewart’s credit card to buy a one-way ticket to California. Police found him with a woman he’d allegedly raped and was holding captive—he’d met her when they shared an UberPool.
If convicted, he could face up to 25 years to life in prison.