Georgia investigators are seeking potential further victims of a Florida man whose DNA has been linked to three sexual assault cases involving women allegedly lured through Craigslist job adverts.
Julius Hunter, 42, has been indicted in DeKalb County on charges of rape, aggravated sodomy and kidnapping over the alleged assault of a 19-year-old woman in Clarkston in July 2016.
He was arrested in Fort Lauderdale on 13 August, two days after a grand jury issued the indictment, and was extradited to Georgia. Hunter was booked into DeKalb County Jail on 20 August and is being held without bail.
DNA link to three sexual assault cases
According to investigators, the woman had responded to a Craigslist advert offering $300 for an overnight babysitting job. A man claiming to need someone to look after his children arranged a rideshare to take her to an apartment near Jolly Avenue in Clarkston.
When she arrived on 27 July 2016, prosecutors say there were no children at the property. Instead, she found Hunter and another man.
Investigators allege that she tried to leave but was prevented from doing so and was sexually assaulted over several hours. She was released the following day, took a taxi and asked the driver to call 911 before meeting police at a petrol station. She was later taken to hospital for a sexual assault examination.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation identified male DNA in the woman’s sexual assault kit in 2017, but the profile did not initially match anyone in the national Combined DNA Index System, known as CODIS.
The DNA was subsequently matched to evidence from two other sexual assault investigations in DeKalb and neighbouring Gwinnett County, dating from 2016 and 2017. Hunter’s identity was established after Florida authorities collected his DNA following his 2021 felony sexual battery case.
Hunter had been serving an 11-year probation sentence in Florida when the Georgia indictment was secured. The Florida case involved his former girlfriend and was unrelated to the Georgia allegations.
Investigators seek other alleged victims
DeKalb County investigators say the three cases share similarities beyond the DNA evidence. They allege that women were approached through Craigslist adverts offering work such as babysitting, modelling, dancing and massage services.
Some of the women are believed to have been directed to the same Jolly Avenue apartment, authorities said. Investigators have not yet been able to reconnect with the women involved in the two additional cases linked to Hunter’s DNA.
They are also trying to identify the second man who was allegedly inside the apartment during the 2016 attack. He has not been charged.
The investigation is being carried out by the Georgia Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Task Force, which brings together prosecutors, investigators and victim advocates to examine unsolved sexual assault cases.
Brandi Rogers, an investigator with the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office, said Hunter grew up in New Jersey and that there could be victims outside Georgia.
“We ask anyone who believes they may have been victimized to call our tip line at 404-371-2444,” she said. “It is important that we hear their stories so we can offer them support whether or not they decide to move forward with prosecution.”
Don Plummer, a spokesman for the Georgia Public Defender Council, which is representing Hunter, declined to comment.
