Suspect in Central Park serial sexual assaults arrested in Miami

Also developing at this hour, the NYPD has tracked down and arrested a suspect in Miami who they say is connected to a pattern of sexual assaults inside Central Park. The incident's all happening over a five-year span. Let's get right to Fox 5 Live's Lisa Evers live in Central Park tonight with the latest. Lisa. Well, Natasha and Steve, a cross-country manhunt ends in handcuffs tonight after NYPD detectives and federal marshals take a suspected serial rapist into custody in Miami. Now, the person taken into custody is described as Derek Rivera de Leon. This is surveillance video of the suspect NYPD released during the investigation. They say he allegedly sexually assaulted a 39-year-old woman at night point, dragging her from the Fifth Avenue entrance into a secluded area inside Central Park. The nightmare unfolded at about 8:30 on Saturday night, October 25th, wearing a black hoodie, black sweatpants, and carrying a black backpack, he allegedly forced the woman... into the wooded area where she was sexually assaulted. A passerby called 911, and the suspect fled into the park. Investigators combed through surveillance video compilations from the park and buildings across the street, along with forensic evidence that the NYPD detective work, along with the national tracking skills of the U.S. Marshals, led to the arrest. Here's how former NYPD Lieutenant Commander of Detectives Ralph Salento sees it. This needs to be considered. The fact that he's being connected to two other rapes tells me, although we don't have confirmation of this, that it is a DNA case. They probably retrieved DNA from the first victim, they retrieved DNA from him, and then they matched that DNA to unknown subjects. Now, the suspect was at his job working at a Burger King in Miami when the marshals and the NYPD detectives walked in to take him into custody. He's expected to be charged as well with two other rapes that happened allegedly here in Central Park, one in 2021, the other in 2023. That's the latest here from Central Park. I'm Lisa Evers, Fox 5 News. Steve and Natasha, back to you. All right. Thanks, Lisa.