DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A Decatur man has pleaded guilty to multiple charges in a string of cold case rapes in DeKalb County dating back to 2006.
The Dekalb County District Attorney’s office said Dionte Mapp, 39, pled guilty to three counts of kidnapping, three counts of rape, two counts of aggravated sodomy and two counts of aggravated assault on March 11.
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Prosecutors said that on June 28, 2006, Mapp met a 17-year-old girl who agreed to go on a date with him, but the date turned violent. According to prosecutors, Mapp drove her to a South DeKalb park, slapped the victim and forced her to perform sex acts on him before raping and strangling her. The victim was able to escape and call police.
On Oct. 23, 2013, a 23-year-old woman was walking home along Candler Road near Flat Shoals Road in Decatur when Mapp walked up beside her and tried to persuade her to give him her number. When the woman refused, Mapp grabbed her by her neck, threw her on the ground near a wooded area and raped her before running off.
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On March 21, 2015, a 23-year-old woman was walking along Candler Road near Rainbow Drive to catch a bus to work when Mapp grabbed her from behind, put her in a headlock and jammed a gun in her back. Prosecutors said he threatened to shoot her if she screamed. Mapp took the victim into a wooded area where he strangled and raped her. The victim escaped and jumped into a female passerby’s car. She was later hospitalized for her strangulation injuries.
Less than three months later, a fourth victim was walking in the same area after getting off a bus from work. She was talking on her phone to her boyfriend when Mapp came up from behind her and started strangling her. The victim was then forced into a wooded area, where she screamed and fought Mapp off.
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That victim ran home and told her boyfriend about the attack. Her boyfriend returned to the area, searched for Mapp and then beat him when he found him. Mapp was hospitalized after the beating.
Investigators recognized that there were similarities between the cases and used Mapp’s DNA to determine that he was the suspect in all four attacks.
Mapp was sentenced to life in prison with 35 years in custody and the balance on probation under sex offender status.
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