Crime

Nurse's Accused Killer Allegedly Admits to 6 More Slayings — and Used Dating Apps to Find Victims

Since his capture in California, Danueal Drayton has allegedly confessed to seven total killings, including two unsolved homicides in Connecticut

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Published on July 30, 2018 04:04 PM

A man facing murder and other felony charges in Los Angeles and New York City has allegedly confessed to a total of seven slayings, and authorities believe he used popular dating apps to find his victims, PEOPLE confirms.

Danueal Drayton, 27, was arrested in North Hollywood, California, last week in connection to the July 17 strangulation of 29-year-old N.Y.C. nurse Samantha Stewart.

Drayton was arrested at a hotel where police allege he had beaten and raped another woman whom he was holding captive in his room at the time he was taken into custody.

Since his capture Drayton has allegedly confessed to Stewart’s death as well as six other killings, including two unsolved homicides in Connecticut, where he has lived, according to N.Y.C. authorities.

Stewart was found unconscious by a relative at her family’s home in Springfield Gardens, Queens. She was naked and wrapped in a blanket at the end of her bed with her teeth knocked out.

The nurse was pronounced dead soon after first responders arrived to treat her.

N.Y.C. Police Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea told reporters last week, of Drayton: “I believe that there will be more victims.”

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The suspected serial killer is being held in California in lieu of $1.25 million bail, according to online records. In addition to murder, he has been charged with attempted murder, forcible rape, sexual penetration by foreign object and false imprisonment.

He is also accused of sexually assaulting a woman in Brooklyn in June.

Sources told the New York Daily News that Drayton allegedly started talking to investigators almost immediately.

He told the arresting officers “My body did this, not my mind,” and later reiterated, “I didn’t want to do this. My body made me do this,” sources claim, according to the newspaper.

Drayton does not have an attorney and has yet to enter pleas to the charges he faces.

The investigation into his claims is ongoing, PEOPLE confirms.