He pointed out the screw scars to prosecutors during one of his recent interviews, an investigator said. It didn't take long for police to connect Matias to a series of other crimes in the area, and under interrogation, he confessed to one murder, five rapes, and two attempted rapes. ''He was a very bad historian,'' said Dr. Berrill, who interviewed him three times. After they were sentenced, the case faded from most people's memories until last January, when Matias Reyes, a convicted murderer and rapist serving a 33-years-to-life sentence, confessed that he alone had raped the jogger. Heather Finn is the content strategy editor at Good Housekeeping, where she heads up the brand's social media strategy and covers entertainment news on everything from ABC's 'The Good Doctor' to Netflix's latest true crime documentaries. View the profiles of people named Matias Reyes. Let's take a look back at the rapist's reign of terror in New York City — and where Central Park rapist Matias Reyes is today: According to his 1991 interview with psychologist N. G. Berrill, Matias Reyes was born in Puerto Rico in 1971. When he was 2, his mother sold him to his father for $400, he told a psychologist. Then, more than a decade later, they found themselves in the same prison once again: this time, the Auburn Correctional Facility. Mr. Reyes was not feared in the East Harlem neighborhood where he lived, first with his mother in the Washington Houses, and later on his own, in the van, according to investigators. Ever since the May 31 release of Netflix's wildly popular miniseries When They See Us, the real-life story of the so-called "Central Park Five" has shot back into the spotlight. He's still in prison today for his earlier murder, however — and although he will be eligible for parole in 2022, he's likely to stay incarcerated. Matias Reyes was born in 1971 and from New York. ''I always say no to violence,'' he is quoted as saying in the report. Two other women who survived their encounter with Mr. Reyes told the police that he had given them a stark choice at knife point -- your eyes or your life. When detectives played the tape of the call for him, and Mr. Reyes heard his voice, he began to acknowledge several other rapes, the investigators said. Ms. Gonzalez, 24, was raped and stabbed nine times in her basement apartment on East 97th Street in June 1989. His confession exonerated the Central Park Five, as seen in Netflix's When They See Us. He also claimed he suffered sexual abuse as a young boy, before going on to commit violent crimes himself. I beat her with a rock… I went off. That afternoon, he broke into a 24-year-old woman's apartment before proceeding to rape her and ransack her home. Matias Reyes is certainly an interesting and evil character. (Accounts differ, but Mr. Reyes has said that he and his mother split up after a violent argument when he was 15 or 16.). The first four boys were sentenced to five to 10 years in a youth correctional facility, and the fifth boy (16-year-old Korey) was five to 15 years in an adult prison. During an interview on ABC’s 20/20 in 2012, Matias revealed he left Miss Meili for dead on the Central Park, Manhattan. School reports noted his … Matias Reyes's horror stories, as recounted to doctors and detectives, are hardly a singular tale of desperation in a city as varied as New York. Their conviction was later deemed vacant in 2002 and they were released when a man named Matias Reyes confessed to the crime. Join. ''He is a complete lunatic,'' said Michael Sheehan, a former homicide investigator whose work helped prosecute Mr. Reyes for the murder of Lourdes Gonzalez. Investigators said Mr. Reyes tried to use charm as a weapon, engaging women in conversation to gain their trust before attacking. But his prison record gives evidence of continuing trouble. The Central Park jogger case (events also referenced as the Central Park Five case) was a criminal case in the United States over the aggravated assault and rape of a white woman in Manhattan's Central Park on April 19, 1989, occurring during a string of other attacks in the park the same night. This question is answered by one of the most striking moments in the series: when Korey, after serving more than a decade in prison, crosses paths with convicted murderer and serial rapist Matias Reyes. Then, investigators said, he continued to her bank to remove money from her account using her A.T.M. Tests performed as part of Dr. Berrill's assessment measured his I.Q. Most people believe it because they want to. Through all of his initial questioning, Matias never once mentioned his connection to the Central Park Jogger case. Meanwhile, the true perpetrator of the crime, Matias (who was working as a deli clerk and living out of a van at the time), was free to keep committing his terrifying and violent crimes. But a neighbor in East Harlem said Jesus Ramos, a man who worked with Mr. Reyes in the deli, trusted him enough to bring him home at night sometimes. In fact, it wasn't until he met Korey Wise in prison that he even considered owning up to this particular crime. DeLani R. Bartlette. Soy ilustrador y diseñador en comunicación visual, y lo seré hasta que los robots puedan hacerlo por mi. At first, I was afraid, but at the end of the day I felt it was definitely the right thing to do.". For whatever reason, after this second chance meeting, Matias felt moved to go to the police with the truth and in 2002, he admitted to being the lone attacker in the Central Park Jogger case. On August 5, 1989, Reyes raped a woman who escaped and ran for help. Who is Matias Reyes? Trisha Meili. In his report, Dr. Berrill concluded that Mr. Reyes indulged in fantasies in which he envisioned himself a superhero or the king of his social circle. Her three small children were listening through a bedroom door as their pregnant mother was sexually assaulted, then murdered. I felt it was definitely the right thing to do. He claimed he moved to New York with … Unfortunately, that investigator was moved off the case shortly thereafter — and the victim moved away from from the city, never to be heard from by the New York Police Department again. With its report submitted in court this week, the Manhattan district attorney's office explained why prosecutors believed it was Mr. Reyes, and not five teenagers previously convicted, who brutally raped and beat the Central Park jogger in 1989. Matias would continue on a spree of rapes and assaults — earning him the nickname "East Side Slasher" — until he was finally caught on August 5, 1989. He went to trial not long thereafter, where he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 33 years to life in prison. Matias Reyes: The East Side Slasher. Later, under questioning by Detective Sheehan, he confessed to the murder of Ms. Gonzalez, Detective Sheehan said. Even as a child growing up in the school system, he exhibited violent behavior. Matias Reyes's horror stories, as recounted to doctors and detectives, are hardly a singular tale of desperation in a city as varied as New York. Reyes was already in prison at the time he confessed, serving life as a … September 1988-August 1989. ''Given his own childhood, the primitive way he was raised, the dislocation from significant others, you would expect him to be an impaired guy,'' Dr. Berrill said in an interview. Matias and Korey first crossed paths at the infamous Rikers Island jail, where they got into a scuffle over a TV. And after I’m finished she’s struggling. Detective Sheehan, who also worked on the Central Park jogger case that produced the convictions of the five Harlem youths, is among those who discredit Mr. Reyes's account that he acted alone in attacking the Central Park jogger. Matias Reyes claimed responsibility as the sole attacker of the Central Park jogger because he realized “it was the right thing to do,” according to a newly-released prison recording. In 2002, Matias Reyes admitted to being the sole person to rape and beat the Central Park Jogger, Trisha Meili. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com: accessed ), memorial page for SGT Alan Matias Reyes (10 Oct 1949–11 Dec 2019), Find a Grave Memorial no. According to his 1991 interview with psychologist N. G. Berrill, Matias Reyes was born in Puerto Rico in 1971. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io, How to Watch 'Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy', Here's How to Watch the 2021 Golden Globes, Watch Prince Harry & James Corden FaceTime Meghan, The Best Spanish-Language Movies on Amazon Prime, Lady Gaga’s Dog Walker Was Shot & Her Dogs Stolen, Why Prince Harry Stepped Away from Royal Family, See the Full 'WandaVision' Season 1 Episode List, Will and Kate Are Upset About Upcoming Tell-All, Jim Parsons and Todd Spiewak's Sweet Love Story. But they are, for the moment, the closest thing anyone has to an explanation of how a curly haired high-school dropout evolved into a serial predator by the time he was 18. The report did not try to explain what had provoked such viciousness. In reality, the attack was committed by serial rapist Matias Reyes. After she fell down, I dragged her to the bushes. Seemingly moved by their encounter, Matias goes to the police and confesses to being the true, lone attacker in the Central Park Jogger rape — and DNA confirms his admission. Matias Reyes, the man behind the rampage, was 18 and worked as a stockboy at the Real Apple bodega on Third Avenue and 102nd Street, a block south of the apartment where he was staying, which belonged to his boss’s son. Good Housekeeping participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. Suspect in Rape Absorbed Pain And Inflicted It. Mr. Reyes was there, the official said, but the children did not recognize him because they had never seen his face. When the Ramos family was not home, sometimes Mr. Reyes would knock on the door of the neighbor, Luz Pulleza, across the fifth-floor hallway of the Third Avenue building. In 1988, when he was just 17, he committed his first attempted rape, holding a 27-year-old woman at knife-point as he threatened to assault her. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back.