Dating apps were created to help people meet each other and maybe fall in love. But law enforcement authorities say a Connecticut man used them to prey on women, including a nurse in Queens he met through Tinder who was strangled to death earlier this month.

The police in New York have also linked the man, Danueal Drayton, to a rape in Brooklyn and they are investigating whether he might be responsible for other rapes and killings involving women he met through dating and ride-hailing apps. Mr. Drayton, of New Haven, has a history of arrests involving violence against women dating back to 2011, according to the authorities, and he has told investigators he is responsible for several other crimes.

Mr. Drayton, 27, was arrested last week in Los Angeles by a regional fugitive task force after the police in New York tracked him to a hotel room there, law enforcement authorities said. When Mr. Drayton was found, officers discovered he had raped a woman and was holding her captive after sharing an Uber ride, the authorities said.

He pleaded not guilty on Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court to charges of attempted first-degree murder, forcible rape, penetration with a foreign object, and false imprisonment by violence. During the hearing, he was restrained in a chair that could not be seen by people in the courtroom gallery, but he could be heard muttering incoherently. A judge ordered him held on $1.25 million bail.