DECATUR, GA — A Decatur man has been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to a rape charge tied to a sexual assault that happened 36 years ago in DeKalb County.
Prosecutors say 67-year-old Moses Robinson was identified only after new DNA testing linked him to evidence collected when the victim reported the attack in 1990. DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston said the case sat unresolved for decades before a task force focused on old sexual assault kits helped uncover a suspect. Robinson pleaded guilty this week, and a judge later imposed a sentence that allows the possibility of parole after 14 years.
Attack began in the victim’s apartment at Misty Waters
Authorities said the assault took place on Jan. 13, 1990, at the Misty Waters Apartment complex. Prosecutors said the victim was in bed early that morning when a man kicked in her back door, entered her bedroom and pulled her into the living room.
According to officials, the attacker told her he had a knife before pinning her to the floor and sexually assaulting her. Investigators said he remained in the apartment for about two hours, speaking with the victim before leaving. The details of that encounter were central to a case that would remain open for decades as detectives waited for a way to identify the assailant.
Sexual assault kit sat untested for years
After the attack, the victim contacted police and went to Grady Memorial Hospital for a sexual assault examination. Evidence gathered during that exam was preserved, but it was not tested for years because the Georgia Bureau of Investigation did not have a suspect to compare it against.
That changed once the Georgia Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Task Force, known as GASAKI, began working through previously unsolved cases. DeKalb County officials said the task force’s efforts helped transform long-unexamined evidence into a workable lead. The breakthrough gave investigators a name and put an end to a mystery that had lasted for more than three decades.
DNA testing linked Robinson to the evidence
Officials said DNA testing connected the preserved sexual assault kit to Robinson, who was later identified as the man tied to the case. The match turned a cold case into a prosecution that moved forward in 2025.
A DeKalb County grand jury indicted Robinson in August 2025. He was arrested that same month and has remained in the DeKalb County Jail without bond since then. The case shows how advances in forensic testing can revive old investigations when physical evidence has been kept intact, even if no suspect was identified at the time of the original crime.
Guilty plea ends a 36-year search for accountability
Robinson pleaded guilty on Tuesday, bringing the long-running case to a close in court. A judge then sentenced him to life in prison with the possibility of parole after he serves 14 years.
District Attorney Sherry Boston said the result reflected years of effort to solve cases that had gone unanswered for far too long. The sentence does not erase the harm described by prosecutors, but it gives the victim and investigators a formal resolution in a case that had remained open since 1990. For DeKalb County officials, it is also a reminder that old evidence can still matter.
How old evidence can reopen unsolved sexual assault cases
The Robinson case illustrates the broader purpose of initiatives like GASAKI, which were created to review sexual assault kits from crimes that were never solved. In this case, evidence from the original hospital exam remained available long enough for later DNA work to provide an answer.
Officials did not say whether other similar cases in DeKalb County are awaiting testing or whether additional suspects could be identified through the same process. What is clear is that the original decision to preserve the evidence made the later prosecution possible. After 36 years, the case moved from uncertainty to conviction and sentencing.
DeKalb County case closes with a prison term and parole eligibility
Robinson’s sentence includes the possibility of parole after 14 years, but the life term reflects the seriousness of the charge and the age of the case. He had remained in custody without bond since his arrest in August 2025.
For prosecutors, the resolution marks the end of a case that stretched across multiple decades, from the 1990 assault to the DNA match and the guilty plea this week. The outcome also underscores the role of preserved evidence in identifying suspects long after a crime occurs. In this case, the testing turned a forgotten kit into the key piece of proof.
