Matias Reyes

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Matias Reyes (b. c. 1971) is a serial rapist and murderer who, while serving a lifetime prison sentence for other crimes, confessed to the rape and nearly fatal assault of Trisha Meili, the "Central Park Jogger" on April 19, 1989.

On August 5, 1989, Reyes raped a woman who escaped and ran for help. He was arrested at that time and later confessed to an earlier rape and murder of a pregnant mother of 3 whose three children huddled in the next room during the attack. Other living victims identified him as a rapist. In a plea bargain he was given a sentence of 33 1/3 years to life.

In the assault on Meili, six youths under 18 were convicted of that crime in 1990, based mainly upon confessions in which they implicated each other. At the trial they argued the confessions were coerced or improperly obtained. Reyes confessed to the crime in May 2002; their convictions were vacated in December that year. DNA evidence confirmed that Reyes raped Meili but could not confirm that he acted alone as he claimed.