NYC Serial Stabbing Suspect Arrested After Attacks On Homeless: NYPD

NEW YORK CITY — A homeless man preyed on people like himself in three stabbing attacks across Manhattan that left one person dead, police said.

Trevon Murphy, 40, was arrested Wednesday morning in a Harlem park after a Good Samaritan recognized him from photos and video released of a serial stabbing suspect, said NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell.

Murphy wore the same "Innocence Project" sweatshirt and neon sneakers as the man in the images, whom police linked to the stabbings, one of which was fatal, of three homeless men while they slept outside, Sewell said.

"This man was preying on the vulnerable,” Sewell said.

The attacks began July 5 when an attacker stabbed a 34-year-old homeless man — who was sleeping on a bench in the Hudson River Greenway near West and Christopher streets — in the stomach, officials said.

The man died hours later at a local hospital while NYPD officers scoured the area for evidence, officials said.

But the trail apparently ran cold until July 8, when a 59-year-man sleeping on a bench near Madison Avenue and East 49th Street was knifed in the stomach, police said.

He survived, but tried to "self-medicate" for two days before reporting the attack, said Joseph Kenny, an NYPD assistant chief with the detective bureau.

A third and final attack unfolded Monday in Stanley Isaacs Playground on the Upper East Side when a 28-year-old man was stabbed in the stomach while he slept, police said.

The man also survived as police began to draw together lines of evidence from the attacks, officials.

Video evidence emerged as the most important — all attacks appeared to linked to a man wearing neon sneakers and a gray backpack, Kenny said. He said the suspect also wore an "Innocence Project" sweatshirt in two attacks.

It's that outfit — which was prominently displayed in photos and video released by the NYPD on Tuesday — that a retired correction officer spotted on a man he saw in a Harlem park near West 128th Street and Saint Nicholas Avenue about 6:42 a.m., officials said.

The Good Samaritan called 911 and police responded to arrest the man — Murphy, they say — who is homeless, Sewell said.

Murphy had a knife and also identified himself from still images related to the attacks, Kenny said.

Sewell said Murphy had recently violated his probation out of Tennessee and was wanted on an outstanding warrant. She said he also was released on his own recognizance after authorities said he attacked a roommate in Queens in April.

Murphy was due in court July 22 for that incident, Sewell said.

This is a developing story. Refresh for updates.