Woman reported raped at knifepoint in Central Park; fifth rape in the park this year

Right · 2A woman was dragged into a wooded area on the east side of Central Park by a man with a knife and raped at around 8:30 p.m., shortly before nightfall on a weekend evening in late October, according to police accounts. 1 2 Right · 2The New York Post places the attack on Saturday near East 67th Street and Fifth Avenue; the New York Times report, carried by The Straits Times, says it happened on Oct 25 near East 66th Street, so the exact date and location differ slightly between the two accounts. 1 2 Right · 1The Times report says the woman is 39 and was jogging; it says she was taken to a hospital, and that the attacker wore a black sweatshirt and black sweatpants and carried a black backpack. 2

Right · 1Law-enforcement sources told the Post that, from the preliminary investigation, the victim does not appear to have known the attacker. 1 Right · 2Both outlets describe it as the fifth rape in the park this year. NYPD figures cited by the Post show five in the Central Park Precinct, up from three at this point last year, and the Times says police made arrests in three of the four earlier cases and that there were three rapes in the park in all of 2025. 1 2 Right · 1Police said on Oct 26 that they had stepped up patrols as they searched for the assailant, though they gave no details of the increase. 2

Right · 1Mayor Zohran Mamdani, asked about the case at an unrelated news conference in the park on Oct 26, called it "horrific" and said every New Yorker should be able to walk anywhere in the city at any time of day and be safe. 2 Right · 1On broader figures, the Post reports citywide rape reports up nearly 3%, to 1,693 through Oct. 18 from 1,650 a year earlier, and says police brass attribute the rise to a state-law change that widened the legal definition of rape. 1 Right · 1The Times adds that serious crime in the park remains relatively rare given its tens of millions of annual visits, with about 55 robberies, felony assaults, sex crimes and murders so far in 2026, roughly level with 2025 and slightly below 2024, per police statistics released Oct 26. 2

Right · 1The Times also notes other recent incidents: a 63-year-old woman who lived in the park was killed in September, and a 32-year-old cyclist was hit in the head and robbed of her AirPods by three men on Oct 18; the cyclist, Katherine Marroquin, said the city was "not doing a good job". 2 Right · 1The attack came a week before the TCS New York City Marathon, whose course passes within a few hundred feet of the site; New York Road Runners spokesperson Crystal Howard said the group was saddened and works closely with law enforcement. 2 Right · 1Nearby residents quoted by the Post said they avoid the park at night, citing benches occupied by vagrants and blind spots along paths. 1