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A man accused of murdering a Queens nurse after their Tinder date allegedly had sex with her dead body — and then used her credit card to buy a plane ticket to flee to California, prosecutors said.
Danueal Drayton, 31, is charged with beating and strangling 29-year-old Samantha Stewart at her Springfield Gardens home after their date in July 2018.
He was arraigned in Queens Supreme Court on an 18-count indictment Friday after being extradited from Los Angeles to face a slew of charges, including murder, sexual misconduct and grand larceny.
“This was a brutal crime that makes every person using a dating app fearful,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said following his arraignment.
“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.”
Drayton, who lived in New Haven, Connecticut, murdered Stewart after they went back to her home on July 16 after meeting on the dating app, prosecutors allege.
After the brutal slaying, Drayton allegedly had sex with the nurse’s lifeless body, dumped her in a blanket in the bedroom and took off with her credit cards, according to the indictment.
He is accused of fleeing her home in a white van that was found abandoned at JFK Airport a day later. Prosecutors said he flew to Los Angeles with a ticket he’d bought with one of the victim’s credit cards.
Drayton was taken into custody a week later in a North Hollywood hotel room where he was allegedly holding a woman against her will.
Stewart’s body was only discovered by her distraught brothers after Drayton had already fled the Empire State.
Her relatives told The Post at the time that Stewart’s teeth had been knocked out and her tongue was hanging from her mouth.
At the time of her death, Stewart was working at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset.
“This family deserves justice,” Katz said. “Now back in our custody, this defendant will be held to account for his alleged actions.”
Drayton, who is scheduled to next appear in the Queens court on May 25, faces up to 25 years to life in prison if he’s convicted.
He is 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.
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