DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A cold case investigation has connected a Tucker man to four crimes dating back to 2014, including two sexual assaults, a kidnapping and a deadly stabbing, according to DeKalb County investigators.
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DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston said collaboration between investigators was key in connecting the cases to 45-year-old Jamal Toliaferro.
The investigation began with a sexual assault on Christmas Eve in 2014. Police say Toliaferro, wearing a mask, walked into a Tucker garage, tied up a woman and raped her.
The victim went to Grady Hospital, where a rape kit was collected. The GBI developed a male DNA profile from the evidence and entered it into the national Combined DNA Index System, known as CODIS. At the time, there was no match.
Five years later, in 2019, police say the same suspect, again masked, raped another woman at knifepoint at her Tucker apartment complex.
Investigators say the woman fought back and bit her attacker on the hand, drawing blood.
In 2021, the GBI determined that DNA from the 2014 and 2019 sexual assaults came from the same unknown man.
Then, in 2024, police say Toliaferro kidnapped a woman in Tucker. During the kidnapping, investigators say the man cut the woman and burned her with a lighter.
Members of the DeKalb County cold case task force began examining similarities between the three crimes and discussing the next steps.
Investigators used grant money to build a DNA profile that could be run through law enforcement databases.
But before they could get a match, police say Toliaferro stabbed someone to death in Tucker.
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Investigators collected his DNA from that scene and say it matched DNA from the other three crimes.
Boston said the connections between the cases happened faster because of the collaboration that was already in place.
Investigators believe there could be more victims.
Anyone who believes they may have been a victim, or knows someone who may have been, is asked to contact the DeKalb County Cold Case Task Force at 404-371-2444.
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