Police probing whether suspect in NYC murder killed others
LOS ANGELES — Investigators are looking into whether a man suspected of killing a woman he met on a dating app in New York City may have killed others, two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press on Monday.
Danueal Drayton, 27, was arrested last week in Los Angeles after police say he sexually assaulted a woman, tried to strangle her and refused to let her leave her North Hollywood apartment.
He pleaded not guilty Monday to attempted murder, rape and false imprisonment charges and was held on $1.25 million bail.
After his arrest, Drayton talked about killing at least five others in Connecticut and New York, the officials said. Investigators are trying to determine whether his claims are true.
The officials said Drayton did not admit killing Samantha Stewart, a nurse found dead in her New York City apartment, though police believe he’s responsible. Stewart’s lifeless body was found July 17 on the floor of her bedroom in Queens, wrapped in blankets and it appeared that she had been strangled and some of her teeth had been knocked out, police said.
Her brother found her body and called their father, who then called police, authorities said.
The officials said Drayton had met Stewart on Tinder and then used her credit card to buy a plane ticket to California. Detectives tracked him to Los Angeles, where they found him holding a woman against her will in North Hollywood last week and arrested him.