JEFFERSON PARISH, La. — A metro Atlanta man already serving a life sentence for a series of violent sex crimes has now been convicted in six cold case rapes that terrorized a community nearly 40 years ago.
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A Jefferson Parish, La., jury found 60-year-old Donnell Bluain guilty Thursday on six counts of aggravated rape stemming from attacks that occurred in Metairie and River Ridge in 1986. Prosecutors said jurors deliberated for about 45 minutes before returning guilty verdicts on all counts.
Bluain is currently serving a life sentence in Georgia after being convicted of multiple rapes and other crimes in the Atlanta area in the late 1990s.
According to investigators, the Louisiana case remained unsolved for decades until advances in DNA technology helped identify Bluain as the suspect.
Authorities said Bluain lived in Metairie, La., at the time of the attacks and targeted women inside their homes between January and July 1986. Investigators described a pattern in which the attacker broke into homes at night through windows while armed with knives or screwdrivers and hid his identity with masks or other coverings.
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The crimes sparked widespread fear across Jefferson Parish, leading to a multi-agency task force that included the FBI. Despite an extensive investigation, the suspect remained unidentified for decades.
The case was reopened in 2021 by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit. Investigators reviewed evidence collected in the 1980s and submitted it for modern DNA testing.
In March 2023, detectives developed a DNA profile and entered it into the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System, known as CODIS. Less than a month later, authorities received a match identifying Bluain, who was already imprisoned in Georgia.
Investigators then traveled to Georgia and obtained a DNA sample that prosecutors said further confirmed Bluain’s connection to the crimes. Detectives also linked him to one of the attacks through palm print evidence.
Prosecutors said Bluain moved to the Atlanta area in the late 1980s after leaving Louisiana. He was later convicted in Georgia on charges that included rape, aggravated sodomy, kidnapping with bodily injury and burglary.
During the Louisiana trial, Bluain denied the allegations and claimed law enforcement fabricated evidence against him. Jurors rejected those claims and convicted him on all six counts.
Bluain now faces six mandatory life sentences in Louisiana without the possibility of parole, probation or suspension of sentence. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 14.
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