Tinder Date Strangler, Necrophile Extradited To NYC: Prosecutors

New York City NY

01 April, 2022

12:28 PM

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NEW YORK CITY — A man accused of strangling his Tinder date and having sexual contact with her dead body is back in New York City, prosecutors said. Danueal Drayton, 31, appeared in a Queens court Friday to face an 18-count indictment that included a murder charge. Drayton fled New York City for California in 2018, around the time authorities found the body of nurse Samantha Stewart, 29, in her Queens home, authorities said. An NYPD fugitive team arrested him days later in Los Angeles, but it took authorities until recently to extradite him to face charges in Stewart's strangulation death, prosecutors said. "This was a brutal crime that makes every person using a dating app fearful," said Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz in a statement. "The victim was duped into going out on a date with the defendant, who played a charmer online but was in fact an alleged sexual predator." The tragic saga began with a Tinder match between Drayton — who is originally from New Haven, Connecticut — and Stewart, prosecutors said. They went to Stewart's home in Springfield Gardens on July 16, 2018, after a date, authorities said. Once there, the situation turned violent, prosecutors said. Drayton beat Stewart and strangled her to death, authorities said. He then "engaged in sexual conduct" with Stewart's dead body, according to a prosecutor's office release. Stewart's brother found her body the next day wrapped in a blanket in a bedroom, authorities said. Drayton, meanwhile, drove a white van to JFK Airport, where he hopped a flight to California which he paid for using Stewart's credit card, prosecutors said. Drayton faces charges of second-degree murder, fourth-degree grand larceny, petit larceny, sexual misconduct, identity theft in the second and third degree, unlawful possession of personal identification information in the third degree and criminal possession of stolen property in the fourth degree. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted. His next court date is May 23.