The latest: High-profile fugitive nabbed behind restaurant counter in Florida
NEW YORK — November 10, 2026.
A multi-week nationwide manhunt for a suspected serial predator who terrorized New York City’s most famous park ended dramatically on Tuesday when federal marshals and local police apprehended 30-year-old Dereck Rivera-DeLeon while he was working a shift at a Burger King in Miami, Florida.
Rivera-DeLeon was taken into custody without incident by the U.S. Marshals New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force and Miami Beach Police detectives. He is charged in connection with the October 24, 2026 knife-point sexual assault of a 39-year-old woman inside Central Park—an attack that sent shockwaves through Manhattan and triggered heightened police patrols across the park's perimeter.
At an afternoon press briefing at 1 Police Plaza, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny revealed that sophisticated forensic DNA analysis directly tied Rivera-DeLeon to two additional unsolved cold-case rapes committed inside Central Park in July 2021 and October 2023, identifying him as an alleged serial predator who operated undetected for over five years.
From Manhattan to Miami: How detectives tracked the fleeing suspect
The breakthrough in the investigation came shortly after the October 24 assault near the park’s Great Hill area. NYPD Special Victims Division investigators recovered usable DNA evidence from the scene and cross-referenced extensive high-definition surveillance footage from park entry portals, tracking the suspect as he exited onto Central Park West.
Within days of public flyers circulating with surveillance captures, detectives matched the profile to Rivera-DeLeon, who had prior arrests on his record. However, when fugitive investigators moved in on his last known address in the Bronx, they discovered he had abruptly packed his belongings and fled the state.
Working alongside federal marshals, digital forensics teams tracked electronic transactions, cellular pings, and employment records down the Eastern Seaboard to South Florida. On Tuesday morning, undercover officers walked into a Miami Burger King franchise where Rivera-DeLeon had secured employment under his real identity and placed him in handcuffs.
DNA link connects attacks spanning 2021, 2023, and 2026
According to prosecutors, Rivera-DeLeon’s alleged pattern of behavior was chillingly consistent across all three incidents. In each case, the attacker stalked women walking alone through wooded, dimly lit paths—including the Ramble and the North Woods—before brandishing a large blade, threatening their lives, and forcing them into secluded underbrush.
“For years, our detectives never closed the books on the horrific 2021 and 2023 attacks,” Chief of Detectives Kenny said. “When our crime laboratory processed the genetic material from last month’s victim, the national CODIS database yielded a definitive triple match. Today’s arrest delivers long-delayed justice to three brave women.”
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has prepared an extensive multi-count indictment including first-degree rape, predatory sexual assault, first-degree robbery, and criminal possession of a weapon. Predatory sexual assault carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years to life in New York state prison.
