Danueal Drayton, a man accused of killing his Tinder date, allegedly had sex with her dead body, according to the New York Post. He is also accused of using the deceased’s credit card to buy a plane ticket to California, People reports.
Drayton met the victim, 29-year-old Samantha Stewart, on Tinder in 2018. In July 2018, the two went on a date prior to going to Stewart’s home in New York. According to People, that’s where prosecutors believe Drayton attacked and strangled the 29-year-old and “engaged in sexual conduct with the dead body.”
Stewart’s brothers discovered the victim naked and wrapped in a blanket in her bedroom the next day. Her teeth had been knocked out and her tongue was hanging out of her mouth, the New York Post reports. Drayton had already fled New York when Stewart was found.
“This family deserves justice,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz stated in a press release, People reports. “This was a brutal crime that makes every person using a dating app fearful. 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 defendant is accused of brutally beating and then killing this innocent woman in her own home,” she continued. “After this heinous act of violence, the defendant fled the state to escape prosecution. Now back in our custody, this defendant will be held to account for his alleged actions.”
Drayton has been charged with murder in the second degree, grand larceny in the fourth degree, 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, the New York Post reports.
Drayton is set to appear in court again on May 25. He faces up to 25 years to life in prison if guilty.