ATLANTA — An Atlanta man will spend the next five decades behind bars after he pleaded guilty to multiple rape and sexual assault cases, but police believe he could be linked to even more.
The Dekalb County District Attorney's Office stated that Demetrius Samuel Roam, 22, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault, aggravated assault strangulation, aggravated assault with intent to rape, armed robbery, kidnapping, aggravated sodomy and rape.
It stems from two assaults of two women back in October 2020, just within a week’s span.
On Oct. 17, 2020, according to investigators, a 20-year-old victim told the DeKalb County Police Department that she agreed to meet up with a man through social media. The victim said she met the man, later determined to be Roam, at an apartment complex off Shallowford Road and was attacked as they were walking towards his apartment.
The victim said Roam grabbed her from behind and dragged her into an apartment where he forced her into a bathroom at knife-point and ordered her to get undressed. Police said the victim tried to grab the knife, but was cut in the process. The victim was eventually able to shove Roam out of the bathroom, and, when she felt safe to leave the bathroom, she ran to a neighbor for help.
Already a few steps ahead, the neighbor had called DeKalb police to the scene after hearing the victim's screams. When police arrived, they found blood from the victim in the bathroom. Police said the victim's purse, credit cards and phone were missing.
Days later, police responded to another call at the same area off Shallowford Road where they met a 22-year-old woman who also said she met a man online and planned to meet him at the apartment complex.
While she was walking toward the apartment, she said an unknown man began following her as she walked towards the apartment. She said the man spoke to her, saying he needed to check his laundry before turning toward her. As the victim walked past the laundry room, she said the man grabbed her and pushed her in a closet.
The victim said the man told her to undress as she felt a knife at her side. She then ran away once he let her out the closet after raping her.
In the victim's description of the suspect to police, she noted a very distinct feature on the front of the man’s neck: a red tattoo.
DeKalb police learned over time this was not the suspect's first probable victims, but just the most recent. During the police investigation, Roam was determined to be a suspect in a 2019 rape case at a complex that had gone cold. Investigators showed Roam to the two victims in the 2020 assaults, and both victims confirmed him as the one who attacked them. Roam was arrested and held without bond at the DeKalb County jail.
When questioned, he reportedly admitted to assaulting one of the victims, though he told police he offered to pay her. He initially denied knowing about the second assault, but later told police, "I didn't mean to hurt her. She grabbed the knife."
Roam also later led police to the disposal of the victims’ belongings behind the apartment. Everything was found, aside from the phone, which Roam said he kept.
According to officials, Roam has been linked to several other assaults, including: an additional rape at the same complex in 2020; an attempted assault at the complex the year before; two rapes in Clayton County in October and December 2019; and four rapes in Birmingham, Alabama between September 2019 and 2020. According to the D.A.’s office, there is a possibility that Roam could be responsible for other unreported assaults.
Roam was sentenced to 50 years plus life on probation by the DeKalb County Superior Court. In addition Roam must register as a sex offender and is banned from social media.
