The judge who released him, in that case, did not know Mr. Drayton had a criminal record in his home state, Connecticut, dating to at least 2011. (The prosecutor, court clerks, and Mr. Drayton’s public defender also did not know.). Not long after being released from jail, he met Ms. Stewart on Tinder. The two went out and she allowed him to come back to her house where he allegedly beat and strangled her.
The New York Post reports that after killing Stewart, he had sex with her dead corpse. He then used her credit card to buy a plane ticket to flee to California, prosecutors said. Stewart’s body was found by her brothers in her Queens NY apartment. Her relatives told The Post at the time that Stewart’s teeth had been knocked out and her tongue was hanging from her mouth.
A week later, Drayton was found in a North Hollywood hotel room where he was allegedly holding a woman against her will. After being locked up since 2018, he was arraigned in Queens Supreme Court last week (o4.08.22) on an 18-count indictment. He was 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 was officially 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, and unlawful possession of personal identification information in the third degree, and criminal possession of stolen property in the fourth degree.
He is scheduled to next appear in the Queens court on May 25, and he faces up to 25 years to life in prison if he’s convicted.