Woman set Tinder date on fire at Kendall hotel, Miami-Dade police say

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A woman is facing three felony charges, including arson and attempted murder, after setting a man she met on Tinder — and his car — on fire, according to Miami-Dade police.

Destiny Lenai Johnson, 25, was booked into jail Monday in connection with the late November incident.

According to an arrest report, the victim’s first meeting with Johnson, whom he knew as “Tiny,” the name she apparently used on her Tinder account, went fine, he told police. Police said on Nov. 16, he picked her up from the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Kendall East, located at 11520 N. Kendall Drive, and the pair purchased and smoked marijuana on Southwest Eighth Street before returning to the hotel. The man told police the pair never had sex.

Their second encounter, however, did not end well, according to police.

Police said on Nov. 25, Johnson messaged the man at around 5 a.m. and asked him to meet her at the hotel.

Johnson, carrying a one-gallon Zephyrhills water jug containing a yellowish liquid, opened the door of the man’s car and told him she needed money to help fix her car, the report states.

According to the report, the victim told Johnson he “did not appreciate” her asking him to come out to the hotel without telling him she just wanted money, but offered her the $60 he had on him to “help her out anyway.”

Police said Johnson became quickly enraged and yelled “you guys are out to get me!”

She then poured the contents of the jug, which smelled like gasoline, onto the passenger’s seat of his car, the report states. Police said as the man tried to push the jug out of the car some of the liquid also spilled onto him.

Johnson then pulled out a lighter and set fire to the vehicle’s interior, the victim’s right arm and, presumably by accident, herself.

“The victim stated that he immediately jumped out of the driver door of his vehicle and began rolling on the asphalt to extinguish the flames on his body, while his vehicle was soon fully engulfed in flames,” police wrote in the report. “The victim then stated that he produced a firearm from his right waistband and pointed it at (Johnson) fearing that she would make further attempts to light him on fire.”

Police said he put the gun away after she fled and he went to the hotel’s front desk to ask them to call 911.

Less than three hours later, officers received a call about a “naked Black female with burns (who) was found (nearby) stating that she blew up a vehicle,” the report states.

Authorities took Johnson, who is homeless, to HCA Florida Kendall Hospital for treatment. Police said she claimed she was “being sex trafficked” and that she had been offered $60 for oral sex, which she declined.

As of Tuesday, she was being held without bond in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on charges of attempted murder, arson and aggravated battery causing great bodily harm.