A Florida man has been extradited to Georgia after DNA evidence allegedly linked him to the kidnapping and rape of a 19-year-old woman in DeKalb County a decade ago.
Julius Hunter, 42, was indicted by a DeKalb County grand jury on 11 August on charges of rape, aggravated sodomy and kidnapping. He was arrested two days later in Fort Lauderdale while on probation following a 2021 felony sexual battery conviction.
Hunter was returned to Georgia in co-operation with the US Marshals Service, Fort Lauderdale police and the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office. He is being held without bond at DeKalb County Jail and is awaiting arraignment.
DNA match reopened cold case
Investigators allege the woman responded on 27 July 2016 to a Craigslist advert offering $300 for an overnight babysitting job. A rideshare vehicle took her to an apartment complex near Jolly Avenue in Clarkston.
When she arrived, prosecutors say there were no children at the property, but two men were present. She allegedly tried to leave before one of the men stopped her and Hunter assaulted and raped her over several hours.
She was released the following day, took a taxi and asked the driver to call 911. Police met her at a petrol station before she was taken to hospital for a sexual assault examination.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed in 2017 that male DNA was present in the sexual assault kit, but the profile initially produced no match in the national Combined DNA Index System, known as CODIS.
Investigators later found that the same DNA profile matched an unidentified suspect in two other sexual assault cases in DeKalb and neighbouring Gwinnett County, dating from 2016 and 2017.
The breakthrough came after Florida authorities collected Hunter’s DNA following his arrest in the 2021 sexual battery case. The sample was uploaded to CODIS, producing a match with all three Georgia kits, according to prosecutors.
Authorities allege the suspect used Craigslist adverts offering work in babysitting, modelling, dancing and massage to lure women. Some of the victims in the other cases are believed to have met the perpetrator at the same Jolly Avenue apartment complex.
Investigators have not yet located the victims connected to the two additional cases and are examining whether Hunter may be linked to further assaults.
Anyone with information about Hunter or who believes they may have been a victim has been urged to contact the DeKalb County District Attorney’s tip line on 404-371-2444.
