Suspected Central Park serial rapist arrested in Florida, NYPD says

New York City police and federal authorities arrested a man in Florida on Tuesday in connection to a string of Central Park rapes that date back to at least 2021, authorities said. Dereck Rivera-Deleon was nabbed while he was working at a Burger King in Miami, according to an NYPD statement. He’s been booked in connection to “raping a woman in Central Park on” Oct. 24 in addition to two other “rapes that occurred in Central Park in 2023 and 2021,” according to the police statement. “The NYPD will stop at nothing to get dangerous criminals off our streets,” the department said. A 39-year-old woman was pulled into a wooded area of the park around 9 p.m. on Oct. 24 where she was assaulted at knifepoint near East 66th Street and Fifth Avenue, officials said. Police released surveillance images of the suspect following the attack, wearing dark clothes and carrying a dark backpack. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.