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27-Year-Old Man Accused of Killing Queens Nurse May Be a Serial Rapist, Police Say

WBLS Staff
07/31/2018 12:00 AM EDT

Photo Credit: Don Emmert/Getty

A Connecticut man accused of killing a New York nurse and sexually assaulting a California woman, faces multiple charges of rape.

According to WABC, Danueal Drayton’s arrest came one week after a nurse by the name of Samantha Stewart was found dead in her Queens’ home on July 17. Police officials say, the 29-year-old was strangled and rape.

Stewart was discovered upstairs in her room by her brothers Keniel and Dewayne Stewart after they couldn’t reach her. According to reports, “Stewart was strangled to death. Her naked body was wrapped in a blanket, she was badly beaten and her teeth were knocked out.”

TRAGIC: A 29-year-old nurse was discovered dead in her own bedroom in Queens. Samantha Stewart’s brother made the gruesome discovery and now police are searching for her killer. https://t.co/KLVhvtUVNB pic.twitter.com/05Un6fhwSC

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Family and friends believe that her killer was a man she met on Tinder (dating app). Dewayne spoke to the Drayton the day her sister was found. “This guy picked up her phone. He told me he had her phone by accident and he had her car keys that she had left (for) our younger brother. So I told him I would come for them,” he says.

He continues:

“I got there and her came downstairs he gave me the keys. I never met him before. He was kind of fidgety, but I wasn’t taking it that serious. He told me his name under his breath, but it was muffled. I can’t remember it. I didn’t think anything of it.”

A fugitive task force tracked Drayton all the way to California hotel, where another woman was tied up in his room alive. The victim said she also met him on Tinder. Drayton choked her and raped her.

New York police Detective Dermot Shea says, “There are potentially more victims out there.” Right now Drayton is being held on “1.25 million bail, so far has been charged with attempted murder, false imprisonment, rape and sexual penetration with a foreign object.”

When we captured Danuel Drayton in LA for the murder of Queens nurse Samantha Stewart, he had another victim held captive. He’s off the streets but may have victimized others via online dating sites. Need help or have info? Call 800-577-TIPS/ sex crimes hotline 212-267-RAPE pic.twitter.com/iif7E9KuyA

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