‘US man used Tinder to prey on women’
NEW YORK — Dating apps were created to help people meet each other and maybe fall in love. But law enforcement authorities said a Connecticut man used them to prey on women, including a nurse in Queens, New York, he met through Tinder who was strangled to death this month.
Police in New York have also linked the man, Danueal Drayton, to a rape in Brooklyn and they are investigating whether he might be responsible for other rapes and killings involving women he met through dating and ridehailing apps.
Drayton, of New Haven, has a history of violence against women dating to 2011, according to the authorities, and he has told investigators he is responsible for several other crimes.
Drayton, 27, was arrested last week in Los Angeles by a regional fugitive task force after the police in New York tracked him to a hotel room there, law enforcement authorities said. When Drayton was found, officers discovered he had raped a woman and was holding her captive after sharing an Uber ride, the authorities said.
He pleaded not guilty Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court to charges of attempted first-degree murder, forcible rape, penetration with a foreign object, and false imprisonment by violence. Investigators in New York have begun a deeper investigation into Drayton and are looking for other victims, DermotShea, chief of detectives, said Monday.
Police in New York were seeking Drayton in the killing of the nurse, Samantha Stewart, 29, who was found in her apartment in Queens on July 17. Her brother discovered her body wrapped in a blanket in the corner of her bedroom. The medical examiner determined she had been beaten and strangled.
At the same time, the police said detectives in the special victims division were investigating a Brooklyn woman’s report that Drayton had choked her until she passed out and then raped her on June 17 after they met through Tinder and went on a date.
Tinder said Monday it was cooperating with the investigation. “These heinous acts of violence are heartbreaking,” the company said in the statement. –