A 30-year-old woman was sexually assaulted at knifepoint inside Central Park near East 67th Street and Fifth Avenue around 8:30 p.m. Saturday, and as of Saturday night, police had made no arrest. The woman was taken to an area hospital and was listed in stable condition.
According to the New York Post, a man approached the woman while brandishing a knife near that corner of the park before sexually assaulting her, police said. The attacker then fled the scene wearing a black sweatshirt, black pants and a black backpack, according to police. The NYPD had not immediately provided further information by Saturday night, the newspaper reported.
A Neighbor's Unease
Davis Defore, 30, told the Post he had been walking his dog, Harlow, in Central Park shortly before the assault scene unfolded nearby. He said the incident left him uneasy about his fiancée walking their dog at night in the area.
Valentina Mizrahi, 30, who has lived in the neighborhood since 2021, said her mother had recently advised her not to walk alone at night after speaking with a nearby hotel doorman — a warning that, in hindsight, felt prescient to her.
A Separate Report Near the Park's South End
Separately, NBC New York reported that police were searching for whoever sexually assaulted a 41-year-old woman in Central Park early Sunday, with the assault occurring around 3 a.m. near 59th Street and West Drive. That outlet described the suspect as 25 to 30 years old, of medium build, wearing a white jersey and black shorts. ABC7 New York similarly reported that police were searching for a suspect accused of groping a 41-year-old woman near Central Park South and West Drive just after 3 a.m., saying the man approached her from behind, grabbed her buttocks, and fled.
Per ABC7, the woman in that incident told police she was assaulted by a man she did not know after becoming separated from friends; she suffered minor injuries and was taken to a hospital for treatment. That station reported no arrests had been made and the investigation remained ongoing.
Citywide Numbers on Sexual Assault
The reports land amid a broader uptick in rape complaints across the five boroughs. Citywide data examined by Vital City showed rape complaints rose 6.9% in the first half of 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier, while felony-assault complaints ticked up 0.4%, reaching 14,802 complaints — 48% above prepandemic levels. Overall major crime in the city fell 5.6% over that same stretch, though it remained 25.5% higher than in 2019, per the same analysis.
No arrests had been announced in either Central Park case as of the most recent reporting.
