Serial rapist sentenced to life in prison in DeKalb County
Marieo Terrell Kearney> Courtesy of DeKalb County Sheriff's Office
DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. - A 40-year-old man will spend the rest of his life behind bars after being convicted in a violent 2019 sexual assault that led investigators to link him to multiple other rape cases.
What we know:
On March 12, a DeKalb County jury found Marieo Terrell Kearney guilty of rape, aggravated sodomy, kidnapping, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in connection with the assault of a woman in a parking lot on May 27, 2019.
DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Nora Polk, who presided over the trial, sentenced Kearney on April 17 to life without the possibility of parole, plus five additional years to be served consecutively.
According to the investigation, officers with the DeKalb County Police Department responded to a report of a rape near I-20 and I-285 around 9:30 p.m. on May 27, 2019. A 35-year-old woman told officers that after arguing with her boyfriend outside a laundromat on Glenwood Road, a man in a blue or green sedan approached her. When she ignored him, he pointed a gun and threatened to shoot her unless she got in the car.
The man, later identified as Kearney, drove her to a parking lot on Snapfinger Road, ordered her out of the vehicle, forced her to undress, and sexually assaulted her. He then searched her purse for money, and when he found none, threw her belongings on the ground and told her to leave. The woman ran into nearby woods and called her boyfriend, then the police. She was later treated at Grady Memorial Hospital, where a rape kit was completed. DNA collected matched Kearney, linking him to this and other unsolved rape cases in the area.
Dig deeper:
During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence connecting Kearney to three additional assaults:
April 16, 2019: Kearney arranged to meet a sex worker at her Decatur apartment, where he pulled a gun, forced her to undress, and raped her. He recorded the assault using the victim’s phone after forcing her to give up her passcode, then stole her belongings and threatened her.
May 2, 2019: A woman walking near Memorial Drive accepted a ride from a man who instead drove to a parking lot, pulled a gun, and raped her. He later dropped her off at a MARTA station. DNA from the rape kit matched Kearney.
Sept. 22, 2011: A woman who had arrived from Pennsylvania accepted a ride from Kearney in Morrow. He later sprayed her with pepper spray, broke her arm, and raped her in a parking lot. Surveillance video and DNA evidence identified Kearney as the suspect. Although initially prosecuted in 2012, that case ended in a mistrial, and Kearney later pleaded guilty to aggravated assault.
The May 2019 case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Kelsey Devitto of the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Unit, with assistance from ADA Furhawn Shah, investigators Katrina Calderon and Chrissa Lynch, and Victim Advocate Britney Winley. Former DKPD Detective J.L. Lewis led the initial investigation.
Kearney’s conviction and sentencing mark the conclusion of a years-long pursuit of justice for multiple victims across metro Atlanta.