Suspect Danueal Drayton allegedly confessed to strangling New York nurse Samantha Stewart, after luring her to her death on Tinder – Police say Drayton may be responsible for at least seven murders

A man suspected of using dating apps to lure as many as seven female victims to their death has reportedly confessed to brutally strangling a nurse in New York City.
Danueal Drayton, 27, of New Haven, Connecticut, was arrested in Los Angeles on July 24, for allegedly strangling 29-year-old Samantha Stewart to death at her Queens home on July 17.
Authorities tracked down Danueal Drayton in Los Angeles, where they found him in the same residence as a woman who had been tied up and was said to be held against her will.
Drayton, 27, of New Haven, Connecticut, was arrested in North Hollywood, California. Police arrived at the scene while Drayton was allegedly raping another woman in her own home. Responding officers they found him in the same residence as a woman who had been tied up and was said to be held against her will. Drayton is also charged with attempting to kill her. The NYPD had mounted a manhunt for Drayton after  the body of Stewart, who was a registered nurse at North Shore University Hospital, was found inside her home on July 17.
Police said Stewart suffered trauma to her neck and head and believe she was strangled.
Drayton was also wanted for an unrelated rape case in Park Slope Brooklyn that occurred several weeks earlier. Officials said both investigations led to Drayton’s arrest.
Stewart and Drayton met on Tinder, and investigators said he allegedly used several dating websites to find his victims.

Suspected serial killer Danueal Drayton, [left] of New Haven, Connecticut, was arrested in Los Angeles on July 24, for allegedly strangling nurse Samantha Stewart [right], in New York on July 17

On his arrest, law enforcement sources say Drayton not only confessed to murdering Stewart but also bragged about killing six other women. He claims to have killed two in Connecticut, slain women in the Bronx and Suffolk County, as well as another murder in Queens or Nassau County.
‘My body did this, not my mind,’ Drayton allegedly told police. ‘I didn’t want to do this. My body made me do this.’
Drayton admitted to a pair of Connecticut killings, along with single slayings in the Bronx and Suffolk County. He also claimed responsibility for another murder in either Queens or Nassau County, and there was a possibility of another California homicide, the police source said. It was unclear if he actually committed the crimes or was just rambling.
“I believe that there will be more victims,” said NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea, noting the suspect’s long and violent rap sheet.
Drayton was extending territory, having purchased a one-way ticket to California shortly after the Stewart death.
He lined up his next victim once on the West Coast, arranging a date with her. The police source said cops traced Drayton’s white Ford from Stewart’s home to a Kennedy Airport parking lot, where they found the victim’s AAA card and the suspect’s release papers from a Nassau County choking arrest last month.
Drayton, remained behind bars Friday on $1.25 million bail on charges of attempted murder, forcible rape, sexual penetration by foreign object and false imprisonment, according to a Los Angeles County court complaint.

Samantha Stewart [Photo: L-R], was found in a pool of blood, with all her teeth had been knocked out and her tongue hanging out 

His prior arrests include a June 30 arrest for choking his girlfriend with both hands inside her parked car on Long Island, and a 2011 strangulation bust in Connecticut, one of five arrests in the New Haven man’s home state.