Suspected Central Park serial rapist arrested in Miami Beach: What we know

We're going to go talk to Jessica from Oso because we want to tell you about the man who was accused in that Central Park attack. It was what happened a couple weeks ago toward the end of October. There was this search for him, and they did track him down, the alleged suspect. And it looks like... He may be connected to a couple other cases here. All right, Jessica. Good morning, Dan. How's it going on this side of the newsroom? It is. It is. It's going well. It's going well. It's going. Very busy day this morning here as we learned new details about this arrest that was made in Miami in Florida. Wait a second. Yeah. So we had this suspect who allegedly attacked a woman a couple weeks ago in Central Park, and the arrest was made down in Florida. Down in Florida yesterday. So the attack happened. This happens on October 24th and NYPD puts surveillance video and photos of this suspect for days they're trying to work the leads that they have and it was yesterday when we found out that he was in Miami, that's him there, that's the sound bullets, this is the video here of the arrest. So this is the video of the actual arrest down in Florida. All right, so that's the original arrest. That's the arrest there, and that's the suspect, 30-year-old Derek Rivera de Leon from the Bronx. So he's from the Bronx, ends up in South Florida, in Miami. Police say that after committing the alleged rape, he... escaped and fled to Miami. He was working at the time at a Burger King. So he left New York just a couple weeks ago and already was able to find employment of some kind? If you see right there, he's actually wearing his uniform. He works at Burger King and was wearing the uniform at the time of the arrest there. He does have an interaction with police, and we're going to listen to that in just a second. But we also have learned that he's not only connected to this rape on October 24th, but to two other rapes also. In Central Park, dating back to 2021, and another one in 2023. Okay. Which, you know, residents in the area, we were speaking to them this morning, are obviously glad that this man is off the street. He is in Florida, will be extradited to New York City at some point. We don't know when he's going to be extradited. Not yet. They have not said that yet. We know that he's still in Florida at this hour. But let's hear the interaction, because he has questions for officers, and there is an interaction there between him and the officers that, All right, so we're going to play this audio, and let's see if we can get a listen. I'm glad to hear they caught him and, you know, it's important that the city is a safe place for all of us. Yes. I'm sure it's a relief for a lot of people. Well, I immediately thought, well, he's done this before, and they have his DNA, and thank God, and not only that, but they did it so quickly. Exactly. So, I thought, that's terrific. So you can see that residents are relieved. You were at Central Park this morning? We were at Central Park this morning. So if I take you back to October 24th, when the first crime is, well, this latest crime is committed, he's accused of raping a 29-year-old woman. So he, at knife point, the woman is walking on 5th Avenue. So police tell us that it was on 5th Avenue at the entrance there, 66th Street. He has a knife. He points the knife at the victim and drags her to the wooded area of the park there and commits the heinous crime. We, days later, I forget exactly how many days then, I believe it was like maybe two or three days that the NYPD releases the photos, the surveillance video of him walking down Fifth Avenue there wearing all black. And yesterday we got news that there was an arrest, NYPD Fugitive Task Force along with Miami Beach police make the arrest there. And you can see the suspect, he seemed, this is a surveillance video I'm talking about that police put out after the crime on October 24th. You can't really see his face clearly, I mean it's a little pixelated there, blurry, but he was wearing all black and that black backpack could be the same backpack that you see in the arrest there. And just before we let you go, Jess, do you... The other alleged crimes, what do we know about those? So we know one was in 2021, the other one in 2023. You may be asking yourself, how did police track him down? So it was surveillance video, cell phone, and also DNA from those victims. I was going to ask you if there's DNA involved here. Yep, DNA from those victims from 2021, 2023, that also link him, connect him to those crimes years ago. And do we know when he's going to be extradited? We don't. We know that he is... He has been processed in Miami, he's still being held there, and at some point he will be flying here, extradited to New York City, and will face the charges there. Just one last thing, Jess, because this happened toward the end of October, and then it was just a few days later that we had the attack in Bath Beach where a woman was killed, a runner was killed and stabbed, and I think even though we see the crimes down in New in New York City, we see the major crimes down. When people see these kind of incidents, It scares them. Oh, absolutely. I think to get those back-to-back was terrifying. But now we have back-to-back arrests because there was an arrest earlier this week. And you hear it from residents in the area. I mean, that last woman that spoke, I spoke to her the day after. So this happened over the weekend on Monday. I was out there reporting on this crime, on this rape. And that woman, she's a New Yorker but had left for about like 25 years, came back less than 48 hours before the attack, and she was so scared. She said she was in that park. In Central Park, that same night of the rape, at the same time, just feet away from where it happened. So this morning when I saw her, I went up to her and talked to her. I said, there was an arrest. She goes, I heard this morning. She was relieved. I mean, when arrests are made and they're made quickly, residents just feel a lot safer knowing that that man, again, authorities are calling him a serial rapist. Yeah. All right. Jessica, thank you very much.