Cops Say East Side Rapist Caught

A 28-year-old suspect from the Bronx was arrested and charged with rape for breaking in and strangling a 29-year-old woman after forcing his way into her apartment in the vicinity of E. 92nd St. and First Ave. in the early morning hours of Sept. 28.

Donovan Murphy was charged with rape, assault, strangulation, two counts of burglary and one count of grand larceny.

Prosecutors said the victim awoke in her bed around 3:40 a.m. and found an unknown male in bed next to her. She began to scream and the suspect, according to prosecutors, hit her in the face with a closed fist, pulled her pajama pants off, placed his hands around her neck and raped her. He was said to have stolen the victim’s credit card and headed to the Bronx where he used the card at a self checkout at a CVS at around 5:15 a.m.

The victim was said to have suffered a large gash to the inside of her lip causing heavy bleeding and bruising to her the face. She went to the hospital at around 6:40 a.m. and received stitched to close her lip wound.

The suspect apparently was on probation in Virginia for an undisclosed crime and a probation officer from Virginia was able to identify the suspect to the NYPD, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said the suspect acknowledged that he was the person seen in some of the still photos that were taken from surveillance video footage.

His arrest comes as rapes across the city were up 14 percent through Sept. 29 to 1,252 reported incidents compared to 1,097 in the same period a year earlier. In the 19th Pct on the UES where the attack happened, there were 13 rapes this year compared to 9 in the same period a year ago.