An alleged serial rapist who cut a path of terror in Queens in the 1990s, who was recently caught in Georgia decades later, may have even more victims that police are unaware of. On Friday cops released an image of the man in his younger years alongside his current mugshot in the hopes it may prompt them to come forward.
Michael Benjamin, 57, was arrested Thursday by the Special Victims DNA Cold Case Squad and charged with raping five women, some at gunpoint, between 1995 and 1997 in southeast Queens. Benjamin, who had been living in Georgia, was linked to several open rape cases by investigators using advancements in forensic technology, police and prosecutors said.
Benjamin, who looks almost identical to his mugshot from the 1990s, save for a few more lines on his face and gray in his beard, plus glasses, is also charged with several counts of burglary.
In what appeared to be a typical M.O., the suspect in the cases would often break into his victims’ homes through a window in the early morning hours and rape them, then make off with 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 113th Rd. and 194th St., prosecutors said. In another attack, on Sept. 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 facedown on the floor, while threatening to kill their baby.
Police also believe Benjamin is responsible for six more rapes in Laurelton that the Daily News covered in 1992, but the statute of limitations for those attacks expired before enough evidence was gathered to pre-indict Benjamin, sources said.
All of those attacks occurred between 1:30 a.m. and 5 a.m., with the rapist getting into each victim’s home through a window.
The victims ranged in age from 21 to 42. The last one of them, then 41, was raped for a second time on Aug. 7, 1992 — nearly a year after she was the attacker’s first victim on Aug. 22, 1991. “I told you I’d be back,” the man chillingly told her after the second rape, she told police, The News reported.
DNA from one of the crime scenes was pre-indicted as a John Doe in 2005 — a move by prosecutors to prevent the statute of limitations from expiring until police could figure out the suspect’s identity.
That break came last year, when a fingerprint from one of the crime scenes was retested using new technology. The print was a match for Benjamin, who pleaded guilty to attempted rape in 1995 — a month before his alleged rape spree — 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 Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025 in there Bronx, New York, New York. (Barry Williams/ New York Daily News)
After the fingerprint match, investigators in Georgia lifted Benjamin’s DNA from a cup he used and had discarded inside the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office, which matched genetic residue left at the Queens crime scenes that had been stored as evidence, sources said.
Benjamin’s next court appearance is Dec. 5. If convicted, he faces 25 years in prison.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
