Make New York Post a Preferred Source The knife-wielding maniac who raped a woman in Central Park was busted Tuesday while working at a Burger King in Florida — and will be charged with two additional sexual assaults in the iconic Manhattan greenspace, authorities said.
Dereck Rivera-Deleon, 30, was nabbed in Miami by the NYPD and the US Marshals Service Regional Fugitive Task Force, according to police.
He was working at the fast food joint just two weeks after the sickening attack on a 39-year-old woman in a wooded section of the park on the Upper East Side, authorities said.
Police are seeking the public’s help to identify a man wanted for a rape in New York’s Central Park on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. DCPI Crime Scene Unit officers arrive at the scene of a sexual assault in Central Park in Manhattan, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. Robert Mecea for NY Post The sicko allegedly flashed a knife, dragged the victim into the desolate area near East 67th Street and Fifth Avenue around 8:30 p.m. Oct. 26, and sexually assaulted her, police said. She was hospitalized in stable condition.
The attacker ran off, wearing a black hooded jacket, black pants, and a black backpack. Video released by the NYPD also captured the suspect walking down a sidewalk with earbuds clutched in his hands.
Deleon, who has a Bronx address, will also be charged in two previous rapes from 2023 and 2021, also in Central Park, police said.
Following the disturbing attack, the NYPD announced that it had ramped up its presence in the park.
“The NYPD has increased patrols in Central Park,” officials said in a statement. “As with any part of the city, we remind everyone to always be aware of their surroundings and to remain vigilant.”
The sexual assault was the fifth since the start of the year inside the park — up from three rapes in the same region during the same period last year, according to department crime data.
