Florida Tinder date ends with woman setting man and SUV on fire, police say

A Tinder date didn’t go as planned for a man after a 25-year-old woman lit him and his car on fire at a hotel, Miami-Dade police said.

Destiny Lenai Johnson was charged with armed aggravated battery with bodily harm, attempted felony murder and first-degree arson after she was arrested late last month. She remained behind bars Thursday at Miami-Dade County’s Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center after a judge denied her bail on one of the charges, jail records show.

The Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office didn’t immediately respond to the Miami Herald’s emailed request for comment. Johnson pleaded not guilty Tuesday, and a judge ordered her to stay away from the man and the hotel.

Around 6 a.m. Nov. 25, the man told police he was waiting for Johnson, who he had met during a Tinder date about a week earlier, at Holiday Inn Express & Suites, 11520 North Kendall Dr., when he noticed something off about her, according to her arrest report.

The man saw Johnson walk from a vehicle in a neighboring parking lot to his car carrying what appeared to be a 1-gallon water jug. She then opened his SUV’s passenger door but did not get in. Instead, the man told police, she said she needed money to fix her car.

After the man gave Johnson the $60 he had on him, he said her demeanor changed rapidly, yelling, “You guys are out to get me.” She then poured a yellow liquid that smelled like gasoline from the jug onto the front passenger seat of his vehicle, the man told police.

The man tried to push the jug out of his SUV causing additional “ignitable fluid” to spill inside his vehicle and on himself, he told police. Johnson, he said, ignited the fluid with a lighter, setting fire to the interior of his car, his right arm and herself.

The man said he got out of the car and rolled on the asphalt to extinguish the flames burning his body. Soon after, his SUV was in flames.

According to the man, he then took out his firearm because he was scared that Johnson was going to try to set him on fire again. She then ran away, allowing him to go to the front desk at the hotel and ask for help. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue took him to HCA Florida Kendall Hospital.

Almost two hours after the attack, a 911 call led police to find a naked Johnson saying that she “blew up a vehicle.” She was taken to the same hospital after claiming she was being sex-trafficked, police said.

Johnson’s next court date is Dec. 18.

Miami Herald staff writer Devoun Cetoute contributed to this report.