@NYPDDetectives/Twitter(NEW YORK) — A 27-year-old man wanted for the murder of a woman in New York City was arrested in a Los Angeles hotel room with another woman allegedly tied up against her will, authorities said.
The suspect, Danueal Drayton of New Haven, Connecticut, is accused of using dating websites to target his victims, New York Police Department officials said.
Drayton had been wanted for the murder of a nurse in Queens who was found dead in her home a few weeks ago, after she allegedly met him on Tinder, NYPD officials said.
As New York police investigated, they connected the Queens murder case to a separate rape case in Brooklyn several weeks earlier, NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said on Thursday.
The “common denominator in these cases — one being a murder and one being a rape — is dating websites,” Shea said. “This individual is known to us and believed by us to be using dating websites to meet women and victimize women.”
Drayton is alleged to have met women on Tinder and other popular online dating apps as well, Shea said.
Drayton fled New York and was apprehended this week in Los Angeles, where police found him with a woman who had been tied up against her will in a North Hollywood hotel room, according to the LAPD and Shea.
Police are urging potential victims or anyone with information to contact authorities.
“We are actively encouraging any victims to come forward in this case because there are potentially more victims out there,” Shea said.
When Drayton was taken into custody in Los Angeles, he was charged with attempted murder, forcible rape, sexual penetration by foreign object and false imprisonment, according to a Los Angeles police source. Bail was set at $1,250,000, the source said.
Drayton is due in court Friday. It was not immediately clear whether he had retained or been appointed a defense attorney.
A spokesperson for Tinder did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
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