A man accused of raping a homeless woman in a Manhattan park this past summer has been connected by DNA evidence to three similar assaults in Florida, police said yesterday.

According to police, the man allegedly beat and raped a 68-year-old homeless woman in Manhattan’s Riverside Park around 1 a.m. on August 30, 2005. Police said DNA samples from a chain the alleged rapist was wearing around his neck at the time of the attack – which the victim ripped off him – and from semen recovered during the victim’s rape kit, connected all four cases last month.

According to NYPD Inspector Michael Coan, the DNA evidence was entered into federal and state crime databases during the course of the investigation, and matched three Miami Beach assaults.

As of last night, a spokesman from the Miami Beach Police Department could not be reached for comment.

However, Inspector Coan said the suspect is wanted for one assault that took place on October 22, 2004, and for two separate assaults on April 11, 2004, when the suspect attempted to rape three other women in their 50s and 60s in open beach areas.

According to police in New York, in one case the alleged perpetrator bit one of the victims, providing another sample of DNA evidence, which enabled police to connect the interstate assaults. Police also said the suspect appeared to target women in their 50s and 60s, and in all cases, grabbed them from behind in public areas.

The Miami victims provided descriptions of the man, but the New York woman helped police create a sketch of the man, which they released yesterday, police said. Police described the suspect as around 6 feet tall, with a muscular build, dark hair, and dark eyes.