Suspected Dating App Killer Must Undergo Mental Test

LOS ANGELES, CA — Court proceedings against a man suspected in multiple rapes and at least one murder came to a halt Thursday when his own attorney questioned whether he is mentally fit.

A mental competency evaluation was ordered Thursday for Danueal Drayton, who is suspected of killing a nurse and raping another woman in New York and is charged in Los Angeles County with sexually assaulting and trying to kill a woman in North Hollywood after they went on a date. Police suspect he met his alleged victims online, and he allegedly confessed to several additional murders after his arrest, authorities said.
The criminal proceedings were suspended after a defense attorney declared a doubt about the defendant's mental competence, according to Paul Eakins of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

Drayton, 27, of New Haven, Connecticut, is accused of sexually assaulting the 28-year-old woman, trying to strangle her and refusing to let her leave her North Hollywood apartment, according to Deputy District Attorney Elan Carr.

When police caught up with him in North Hollywood, Drayton was wanted for killing Samantha Stewart, a 29-year-old nurse found dead in her Queens apartment on July 17. Stewart was found dead by her father and brother, and authorities later determined that she had been strangled. Police now believe Drayton also raped a woman in Queens a month before Stewart was killed. He seemed to be repeating his pattern of rape and strangulation in the North Hollywood attack, according to police. Drayton was arrested about 5 p.m. on July 24 by police in North Hollywood. Drayton is charged in Los Angeles County with one count each of attempted murder, forcible rape, false imprisonment by violence and sexual penetration by a foreign object.

Authorities believe Drayton preyed upon women he met through online dating sites.

According to the New York Daily News, Drayton confessed to committing two murders in Connecticut, one in the Bronx, one in Suffolk County, one in either Queens or Nassau County, and possibly another California homicide.

"My body did this, not my mind," the paper quoted Drayton as telling investigators. "I didn't want to do this. My body made me do this."

According to the police source who, however, that it was unclear if Drayton was telling the truth about the additional crimes.

The Daily News reported that Drayton was released by authorities at a July 5 hearing in Nassau County after his arrest for choking his girlfriend in Inwood Park. The judge ruled that Drayton posed no flight risk, rejecting the county district attorney's call to hold him on $7,500 bail.

"It would have been impossible for the judge at that time to foresee the allegations that are presently unfolding and coming to light," a Nassau Court spokesman told the Daily News.
That was far from Drayton’s only brush with the law.

Drayton was supposed to be arraigned last Friday, but he refused to board a bus meant to take him to court, according to ABC7. If he refuses to voluntarily appear for his rescheduled arraignment Monday, a court order will be issued to force him to appear.

He is charged with one count each of attempted murder, forcible rape, false imprisonment by violence and sexual penetration by a foreign object, and could face up to life in prison if convicted as charged in the North Hollywood case.

He has been bouncing in and out of Connecticut prisons for the past several years after multiple convictions. He was convicted of unlawful restraint and violation of a protective order in relation to a 2012 incident in New Haven. He was sentenced to two years in prison.

He also has a strangulation conviction for a 2011 incident in East Haven for which he was sentenced to three years in prison. He was convicted of violating a protective order in Waterbury during 2015 and was sentenced to two years in prison.

Most recently he has a harassment conviction for a February 2018 incident in New Haven. For his last Connecticut conviction he was sentenced to 90 days jail, execution suspended and probation for a year.

Drayton -- who was awaiting a date for a hearing Thursday to determine if there was enough evidence to require him to stand trial in the Los Angeles County case -- remains jailed in lieu of $1.25 million bail.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Rich Scinto contributed to this report.