The serial rapist who terrorized Queens in the 1990s may have more victims: the NYPD

An alleged serial rapist who terrorized Queens in the 1990s, who was recently arrested in Georgia decades later, may have more victims that police don’t even know exist. On Friday, police released a photo of the man in his younger years alongside his current photo in the hope it will prompt them to come forward.

Michael Benjamin, 57, was arrested on Thursday by the Victim DNA Special Case Squad Accused of raping five womenSome at gunpoint between 1995 and 1997 in southeast Queens. Police and prosecutors said Benjamin, who lived in Georgia, was linked to several rape cases opened by investigators using advances in forensic technology.

Benjamin, who looks almost identical to his 1990s photo, except for a few more lines on his face and gray in his beard, as well as glasses, is also charged with multiple counts of burglary.

In what appeared to be a typical operation, the suspect in these cases would often break into his victims’ homes through a window in the early morning hours and rape them, then steal money and other valuables, according to prosecutors.

On July 24, 1995, Benjamin allegedly raped a 23-year-old woman after breaking into her home near Route 113 and Route 194. In another attack, on September 15, 1996, he allegedly forced a 21-year-old woman into her home at gunpoint and raped her in the hallway after ordering her husband to lie face down on the floor, while threatening to kill their child.

Police also believe Benjamin is responsible for six other rapes in Laurelton covered by the Daily News in 1992, but the statute of limitations for those attacks expired before enough evidence was gathered to pre-charge Benjamin, sources said.

All of these attacks occurred between 1:30 a.m. and 5 a.m., with the rapist entering each victim’s home through a window.

The victims ranged in age from 21 to 42 years old. The last of them, then 41, was raped a second time on Aug. 7, 1992 — nearly a year after she became the attacker’s first victim on Aug. 22, 1991. “I told you I’d be back,” she told police after the second rape, she told police, The News reported.

DNA taken from one crime scene had previously been charged as a John Doe in 2005 — a move by prosecutors to prevent the statute of limitations from running out so police could learn the suspect’s identity.

This breakthrough came last year, when a fingerprint from a crime scene was retested using new technology. The print was identical to Benjamin, who pleaded guilty to attempted rape in 1995 — a month before he allegedly committed the rape — after being arrested for repeatedly raping a 12-year-old girl.

Barry Williams/New York Daily News

Michael Benjamin is escorted from the Bronx Special Victims Unit on Thursday, October 16, 2025 in the Bronx, New York, New York. (Barry Williams/New York Daily News)

After matching the fingerprints, investigators in Georgia lifted Benjamin’s DNA from the cup he used and dropped it inside the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office, which matched genetic residue left at the crime scene in Queens that had been stored as evidence, sources said.

Benjamin’s next court appearance is December 5. If convicted, he faces 25 years in prison.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.

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